Composer Huang Ruo and librettist Bao-Long Chu on Bound

Composer Huang Ruo and librettist Bao-Long Chu’s opera Bound premiered at Houston Grand Opera in 2014. Bound will have its West Coast premiere at Seattle Opera June 9–18, with Huang Ruo conducting. The composer-librettist team recently spoke with Seattle Opera to discuss the inspiration for their riveting new work.

Stage director Desdemona Chiang on Bound

Desdemona Chiang is a Taiwanese-born American director and writer based in Seattle, Wash., and Ashland, Oreg. She works in a variety of genres, including new plays, Shakespeare, and musicals. Chiang is known for her visceral, no-nonsense approach to theatre, with her distinct point of view as an immigrant and Asian American woman and an interest in using storytelling to spark social discourse. Chiang will direct Bound at Seattle Opera, June 9–18, 2023.

Soldier stories that inspired an opera

Opera Memphis production of The Falling and the Rising. Photo by Ziggy Mack.

The Falling and the Rising is a new American opera. It explores the sacrifice, duty, and human connection experienced by members of the armed services and is based on interviews and true stories from dozens of Army veterans. The story is told by an unnamed female soldier. After being injured in a roadside attack, she is placed in an induced coma. In her dreamlike state she encounters fellow service members who share their stories with her.

Below, meet three of the real soldiers who helped inspire the opera.