May 5, 2025 • 22 mins
What does it mean to be fearless? To be American? To pursue your dreams against all odds? These questions lie at the heart of "Fearless," a groundbreaking new opera by composer Derrick Wang that tells the extraordinary true story of Hazel Ying Lee, one of the few Chinese-American women to serve as a pilot during World War II.
Derrick Wang, known for his critically acclaimed opera "Scalia-Ginsburg" about the unlikely friendship between Supreme Court Justices, brings his unique creative voice to this remarkable story of courage and determination. Wang joins us alongside OperaDelaware's Kerriann Otaño to discuss the journey of creating this world premiere production, which opens May 16th in Wilmington.
The opera approaches Hazel's story through an innovative narrative lens, told from the perspective of her fictional younger sister Iris. This framing device allows audiences to experience Hazel's remarkable achievements through a deeply personal connection, humanizing a historical figure who defied expectations and broke barriers. As Wang explains, "Rather than minimize the challenges and twists and turns of her story to fit into a neat little package, I wondered what if the structure of this musical drama embraced the unexpected paths that Hazel took?"
For OperaDelaware, premiering "Fearless" represents their ongoing commitment to redefining what opera can be. As the 11th oldest opera company in America, they're challenging preconceptions about opera being intimidating or inaccessible. With "Fearless" sung entirely in English and featuring tuneful, melodic music that audiences can connect with immediately, the production creates a direct emotional impact while maintaining the artistic excellence opera lovers expect.
Beyond the performances (May 16th and 18th), OperaDelaware has organized special community events including a free preview at Market Street Music (May 1st) and a presentation at the Air Mobility Command Museum (May 4th) featuring discussions about the Women Airforce Service Pilots and their historical significance. These events reflect the company's dedication to making opera relevant and accessible to diverse audiences throughout Delaware.
Experience this powerful new American opera that celebrates courage, challenges expectations, and honors an unsung hero whose remarkable life reminds us all what it truly means to be fearless. Don't miss your chance to be part of this historic world premiere—visit operadelaware.org for tickets today!
The Delaware Division of the Arts, a branch of the Delaware Department of State, is committed to supporting the arts and cultivating creativity to enhance the quality of life in Delaware. Together with its advisory body, the Delaware State Arts Council, the Division administers grants and programs that support arts programming, educate the public, increase awareness of the arts, and integrate the arts into all facets of Delaware life. Learn more at Arts.Delaware.Gov.
Delaware State of the Arts is a weekly podcast that presents interviews with arts organizations and leaders who contribute to the cultural vibrancy of communities throughout Delaware. Delaware State of the Arts is provided as a service of the Division of the Arts, in partnership with NEWSRADIO 1450 WILM and 1410 WDOV.
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Episode Transcript
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Andy Truscott (00:06):
For Delaware State of the Arts, I'm Andy
Truscott.
My guests today areOperaDelaware's Kerriann Otaño
and composer Derek Wang.
Derek Wang is a composer andinterdisciplinary creator whose
work lives at the intersectionof music, storytelling and
social change, of music,storytelling and social change.
He is best known for hiscritically acclaimed opera
(00:30):
Scalia-Ginsburg, inspired by theunlikely friendship between US
Supreme Court Justices AntoninScalia and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
With a background in both musicand law, wang brings a creative
voice to contemporary opera.
His latest work, fearless,tells the extraordinary true
story of Chinese-Americanaviator Hazel Ying Li,
celebrating courage, identityand the power of unheard voices.
(00:52):
And founded in 1944, operaDelaware is the only
professional company in thefirst state and one of the
oldest in the country.
Known for bold productions,community engagement and
artistic excellence, operaDelaware has built a national
reputation for its innovativeprogramming, including world
premieres and revivals of rarelyperformed works.
With a home in Wilmington and amission that bridges tradition
(01:15):
and innovation, opera Delawarecontinues to captivate audiences
while elevating the operaticart form for new generations.
Today we'll speak with themabout their upcoming world
premiere of Fearless inWilmington, delaware.
And Derek and Carrie-Anne,welcome and, as we kind of kick
off here, derek, tell me whatdrew you to the story of Hazel
Ying Lee, and how did her lifeinspire the creation of this new
(01:38):
work?
Derrick Wang (01:39):
Fearless, how did I come to hear about Hazel Ying
Lee?
Well, I had learned about theWomen Air Force Service pilots
through a former classmate ofmine who happened to be related
to one of these pilots, thoughnot Hazel Ying Lee, and then one
day I came upon informationspecifically about one pilot in
particular, hazel Ying Lee, andher story captured my
(02:00):
imagination.
She was unique among her fellowWomen Air Force service pilots
in many ways.
For example, she was moreseasoned she was over 30 when
she joined.
She had already experienced warin person, being on the ground
in Canton Province during theSecond Sino-Japanese War, and
she had gone to greater lengthsin order to pursue her dream of
(02:21):
flying, and so those aspects ofher story drew me in.
Andy Truscott (02:27):
Kerianne talk to me about how Opera Delaware came
to champion and, in essence,acquire the ability to kind of
launch a world premiere such asthis.
Kerriann Otano (02:36):
So Opera Delaware is presenting the world
premiere of Fearless on May16th and May 18th.
But this is not our firstendeavor with this opera.
So originally it wascommissioned and we did a
workshop performance of it in2022.
That was like a preview.
(02:56):
We had artists come to town towork on it, derek had prepared
the score and the libretto,which is the text for the music,
and we got to present, just foran intimate audience of about
100 people, highlights of whatwould turn into this opera
eventually.
So what's so cool and soexciting about Delaware being
(03:18):
the launching pad for thisexciting opera is that our
audience has gotten to beinvolved in different iterations
of the process.
So they've met Derek throughScalia Ginsburg, which is an
opera we presented a few yearsago.
It was the most well-attendedopera in the history of Opera
Delaware, which is such anincredible thing to say,
especially about contemporaryopera, and really speaks to the
(03:41):
skill and the creativity thatDerek brings to opera.
We got to introduce ouraudiences to Derek at that point
and then again when we did theworkshop, and then again last
year when Derek rewrote theending of Puccini's Turandot,
which, famously, the composerleft uncompleted at the time of
his death.
Derek came in and wrote a newending for it, based on the
(04:04):
original sketches and intentionsof the composer.
So Derek has had a longrelationship with Opera Delaware
.
This show is really the comingtogether of an arts organization
that really believes insupporting our artists and Derek
is, I think, a big part of ourteam and our family here at
(04:25):
Opera Delaware and we love tokind of champion him.
So it's an honor that this hasworked out so beautifully,
because what Derek does isspecial and deserves a major,
major platform and we're honoredto be a part of that.
Andy Truscott (04:39):
Derek, as you kind of wear the two hats right
of both composer and librettist,how do you balance the
storytelling and the musicaldemands of opera as a whole and
of this show in particular?
Derrick Wang (04:51):
I've come to realize that each piece I write
has at its heart a burningquestion, one that fuels the
creative process and can unifythe entire work.
My mission as composer andlibrettist is to discover and
explore that question throughmusic and words, and when I'm
writing both the music and words, I do try to make sure that
(05:12):
they are unified in some way.
So, for example, when writingScalia-Ginsburg and doing the
research for that, I discoveredthe burning question to be who
are we to judge and be judged?
And that question gave me apremise, which is that United
States Supreme Court justicesare being judged by a higher
power, and it gave me astylistic approach, which is
(05:35):
that, like a Supreme Courtopinion, the score of
Scalia-Ginsburg is a mosaic ofallusions to influential
statements of the past.
And the question also gave me acentral relationship, which is
the unlikely friendship of twoideologically opposed judges.
And for Fearless, the burningquestion that emerged was how
(05:58):
does our lived experience affecthow we perceive the events in
our lives?
And to answer that question, Irealized through my research and
my writing that the story couldbe told from a specific point
of view, the viewpoint, perhaps,of someone who shared many of
Hazel Ying Lee's lifeexperiences, but perhaps chose
(06:26):
not to follow that path exactly.
And so the story of Fearless istold by Hazel's younger sister,
iris, who is an invented orfictional character, but one
inspired by the facts of Hazel'smany siblings and childhood
friends.
And so it is through thisviewpoint and the lived
experiences of this characterthat we experience Hazel's
accomplishments and adventures.
Andy Truscott (06:46):
Talk to me about some of the unique artistic or
logistical challenges inbringing Hazel Ying Lee's story
to the operatic stage.
Kerriann Otano (06:54):
I would first just say that one of the it's a
unique challenge when you'retaking a real person that we
have pictures of and we havewritten history about Hazel
Yingley taking it.
So it's real beyond just what'swritten on the page, and I
think that's what's so beautifulabout the approach that Derek
has taken with having this storybeing told from the perspective
(07:18):
of one of her siblings.
So the concept is that Iris,hazel's younger sister, has been
asked to do a school projectwhere she is going to talk about
, write a letter, to write aletter about her favorite
American.
And so it starts at thebeginning of the opera her
conceptualize who is my favoriteAmerican.
I want to talk about Hazelbecause she's my favorite
(07:42):
American and I think just eventhat as a starting point.
What does it mean to be anAmerican?
What does it mean to be a hero?
What does it mean to be aninspiration?
And I love the way that Derekhas taken this person, who is
larger than life, who is anAmerican hero and a trailblazer,
and also humanized her in sucha beautiful way that it feels
like she's my own sister, itfeels like she's my own friend,
(08:04):
and I think that he's taken aunique challenge of opera that
can feel so grand andintimidating and made it feel
really accessible through thestorytelling that he's chosen to
pursue here.
Andy Truscott (08:18):
The opera titled Fearless.
What does that word mean in thecontext of Hazel Ying Lee's
story and this production?
Derrick Wang (08:26):
Fearless is a word that was used on the record to
describe Hazel Ying Lee, and soit became very significant and
certainly a way to sum up HazelYing Li's approach to life.
I think also it is a useful wayto talk about the fact that
(08:47):
Hazel Ying Li and her family andmany people in a similar
situation, they lived in anatmosphere where there was a
certain healthy amount of fearthat they had to have to get
through the day.
The story begins during theGreat Depression, for example, a
difficult time for everyone inthe United States.
It proceeds through the SecondSino-Japanese War, a part of
(09:12):
history that is perhaps lesstalked about when we think about
World War II, but certainly apivotal one, and that was a time
in which certainly fearpervaded a lot of the atmosphere
.
And then, of course, the ideaof serving in the military,
which I think, for a lot ofpeople perhaps not the people
(09:34):
serving themselves, althoughthey display bravery in the face
of their fear and they overcomeit, but certainly there are the
people who love them and careabout them and who worry about
them every day, and there's acertain amount of fear in that,
and so, in a sense, fearless isnot only the story of one pilot
(09:55):
who happens to have displayedfearlessness in her life, but
it's also about the peoplearound her and in her life
learning to acknowledge andgrapple with, and perhaps let go
of, their fear.
Andy Truscott (10:09):
How did you approach writing an opera that
centers on an Asian Americanwoman in a genre that has
traditionally lacked that kindof representation?
Derrick Wang (10:18):
That is a very interesting question.
I think one of the first stepswas to focus on the specific
lives of Hazel Ying Lee and herfamily, and so, rather than try
to paint with a broad brush andput forth some kind of
(10:39):
representative experience thatpurports to stand for what
everyone of a certain backgroundgoes through although they
might find resonances we mightall find resonances in the story
frankly, I think it was reallyimportant to focus on the facts
on the ground, or in the air, asit were.
The facts of Hazel Ying Lee'slife were such that her life had
(11:02):
many twists and turns thatwouldn't necessarily fit into
what we think of as afirst-generation American story.
So just as Hazel Ying Leedefied the preconceived
expectations that society hadfor her, hazel's story itself
defies the preconceivedexpectations that we today might
have about her kind ofnarrative.
For example, a stereotypicalstory might go as follows A
(11:27):
family leaves their old countryin search of a better life in
America.
They arrive in the UnitedStates, things are challenging,
but they press on in pursuit ofthe American dream.
Perhaps they achieve it, orperhaps they're disappointed,
but they press on in pursuit ofthe American dream.
Perhaps they achieve it, orperhaps they're disappointed,
but they and we learn manythings along the way, and that's
one way of telling a story, butit doesn't always account for
the complexities of someone'slife.
(11:48):
Although Hazel and her siblingswere born in the United States,
the effects of the GreatDepression forced some of them
to leave the United States for anumber of years, despite the
threat of war elsewhere.
It was only later, afterexperiencing some of the horrors
of war, that Hazel returned tothe United States.
Hazel's story is full of thesetwists that don't fit into a
(12:09):
prescribed pattern, but thesetwists are informed by the
community that she was born intoand the way that she was
perceived.
And so it's not simply a matterof telling a story where people
happen to look a certain way orthe characters happen to have a
certain background.
The kinds of things thathappened in their lives would
(12:32):
not have happened but for theparticular circumstances of
their birth and upbringing.
And so, as mentioned, there'sthis challenge when you write
about a real life person, thereis the risk that one could
modify the story to fit apreconceived formula, because
(12:54):
the formula perhaps has beencommercially successful, or the
formula makes us feel good aboutourselves, very good vibes only
kind of thing it allows us toavoid, uh, maybe, tackling some
difficult questions that wewouldn't otherwise want to
tackle, and so that wascertainly an artistic challenge
(13:16):
in bringing this story to thestage, especially bearing in
mind that there isn't thefullest historical record, there
are gaps, she didn't have abiographer following her around.
Rather than minimize thechallenges, the twists and turns
of her story to fit into a neatlittle package, I wondered what
(13:39):
if the structure of thismusical drama embraced the
unexpected paths that Hazel took?
What I came to realize, in away, is that Fearless tells a
story about going back in orderto move forward, and what that
means in the music and the wordsand the structure of this work,
is that the music, like thestory, goes back in order to
(14:03):
move forward, and it does sofrom the perspective of one
character, hazel's youngersister.
And so you'll hear musicalthemes, simple and tuneful, and
these themes are played and sungwhen Hazel and her family do
certain things or have certainthings happen to them.
And then, like Hazel and herfamily, we'll go back to these
(14:26):
musical themes and, as the storyprogresses, these simple tunes
will, I hope, take on a greatermeaning for us all.
Andy Truscott (14:36):
I want to take just a minute here to remind our
listeners.
You're listening to DelawareState of the Arts on News Radio
1450, wilm and 1410, wdov.
Kirianne talk to me a littlebit about why it was so
important to premiere Fearlesshere in Delaware and what does
that mean for an organizationsuch as Opera Delaware.
Kerriann Otano (14:57):
So at Opera Delaware we have a long history.
You know.
We are more than 75 years oldwe are the 11th oldest opera
company in the country and it'sinteresting because in opera
across the board, we're dealingwith a lot of preconceived
notions.
We're dealing with a lot of theideas that people have of what
opera is and who opera is for,and so, without ever even
(15:20):
experiencing it, or maybe justexperiencing it one time in
their youth, there are a lot ofpeople that we encounter who say
I don't think that opera is forme.
What I am obsessed with indoing this world premiere is
that this is an opera about realAmerican heroes.
This is an opera that is sungin English, with all the
(15:40):
traditional talent and trainingand hard work that goes into
that.
These are professional operasingers making their debuts here
at Opera Delaware or returningto Opera Delaware, who have
major careers or have majorcareers in front of them.
But they are singing somethingthat they immediately connect to
because it's sung in Englishand it removes that barrier of
(16:01):
the translation that so oftenhappens when we do opera.
You know the artist is singingin Italian, so the audience has
to read the translation and keepup with what the artists are
doing on stage.
With this, there's so much moreimmediacy.
So I think for me, theimportant thing about this world
premiere at Opera Delaware isabsolutely, yes, any opportunity
(16:21):
to support Derek Wang.
I want to be a part of that,but it's also about challenging
people's ideas of what opera isand how opera needs to be, and
creating more immediacy For meas an opera singer, for me as a
lover of opera.
I want to tear down any barriersthat make people feel like
opera is intimidating orinaccessible.
(16:44):
They're not going to understandit.
The thing that I guarantee youwith Derek's work, with Scalia
Ginsburg, with Fearless, withthe way that Derek approaches
writing, is music that istuneful and beautiful and
hummable and melodic.
You're going to want to singsome of these pieces yourself.
Music that is approachable butis also just as grand and just
(17:07):
as rich in storytelling andorchestration as any opera that
you would want to see.
So I think that Opera Delawarehas this really unique
opportunity to redefine opera inthis state, to redefine how
people see it and how peopleapproach it, and I'm so happy to
be able to share this withDelawareans, who so often feel
like they have to leave thestate to experience high quality
(17:30):
art.
You don't need to leave thestate.
We bring it to you.
Andy Truscott (17:34):
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rgb(252, 252, 253);">Otaño talk to me
about how Opera Delaware isengaging audiences and
communities in other ways otherthan just coming to the
performance.
Kerriann Otano (17:42):
Yeah.
So it's really limiting, Likewe can only do an opera so many
times because of the cost ofhiring an entire orchestra and
the crew, the costume design,the set design, the space is all
incredibly limiting.
So we have a short window wherewe can actually present
Fearless to you.
There's a student performanceon May 14th that is available
(18:05):
for students to request ticketsfor them and their families to
attend for free, the final dressrehearsal.
There's opening night on May16th and there's the closing
matinee on May 18th and that isa very compact amount of time to
try to serve as many people inDelaware as we can.
So in addition to that, we havetwo events.
On May 1st we're performing afree preview event at Market
(18:26):
Street Music, which is righthere in Wilmington, Delaware.
It's at First and CentralPresbyterian Church and that's
going to be at 1230.
So you can get just a littlepreview, just a little taste,
during a lunchtime performancehere in Wilmington.
On May 4th, we're going down tothe AMC Museum, the Air Mobility
Command Museum in Dover,Delaware, and we're going to be
(18:48):
doing a preview performance anda panel discussion with members
of the cast with.
Derek Wang will be there.
The conductor of the show, BenMcKenna will be there and
representatives, historians,from the Air Mobility Command
Museum will be there to speakabout the WASPs, the Women Air
Force Service Pilots, Hazel YingLee, World War II, what these
(19:10):
aviators, what they were doing,what their lives were like.
There will also be reenactorsthere who are part of the Air
Mobility Command Museum and thebeautiful thing is like come to
the Air Mobility Museum and justexplore and then join us for
this preview performance,because there are so many
incredible.
There's so much incrediblehistory.
So of course, we want everybodyto come to opening night on May
(19:31):
16th that is sponsored byDogfish Head.
There's a lot to kind of packinto the next couple of weeks.
I'm going to be running on highoctane, but it's so much to
celebrate in the first date.
Andy Truscott (19:44):
Derek, talk to me about what conversations you
hope this opera sparks after thecurtain falls.
Derrick Wang (19:50):
First of all, I hope it will inspire audiences
to learn more about Hazel YingLee.
We're not going to covereverything about Hazel's life or
about the history of the WomenAir Force Service Pilots, but I
do hope it is an engagingintroduction to the topic.
I might note that in thehistory of the Women Air Force
Service Pilots might note thatin the history of the Women Air
(20:14):
Force Service pilots folks inDelaware might be interested to
know that of the two majorheadquarters of the Women Air
Force Service pilots one was inNewcastle, delaware.
I agree with Carrie Ann that Ido hope that audiences will find
that the experience ofattending the opera is an
engaging and immediate one forthem.
The experience of attending theopera is an engaging and
immediate one for them and Ihope that we all emerge with a
(20:35):
sense of what more is possiblein this historic and evolving
and beautiful art form.
Andy Truscott (20:41):
Derek, was there a moment during the creation of
Fearless that felt especiallypowerful or impactful for you?
Derrick Wang (20:49):
I would say it was in the discovery that Hazel
Ying Lee's life, the lives ofher family members, did not
necessarily fit the formula thatperhaps I thought they did when
I first read some accounts ofher life, and that led me to
re-examine my research andre-examine how I approached the
(21:10):
piece, because, as the sayinggoes, you know, truth is
stranger than fiction.
And so there are things thathappen in these people's lives
that if we didn't say it was atrue story, people would sort of
be like what's that all about?
Where did that come from?
How is that even possible?
And so I think it really wasthat grappling that I mentioned
(21:31):
earlier, the productive strugglein figuring out how do I honor
the fact that this story doesn'tfit into a preconceived formula
.
Andy Truscott (21:43):
Eric Carrie-Anne.
Thank you so much for joiningme today.
As Carrie-Anne mentioned, youcan learn more about Opera
Delaware and Fearless atwwwoperaorg.
For Delaware State of the Arts, I'm Andy
Truscott.
My guests today areOperaDelaware's Kerriann Otaño
and composer Derek Wang.
Derek Wang is a composer andinterdisciplinary creator whose
work lives at the intersectionof music, storytelling and
social change, of music,storytelling and social change.
He is best known for hiscritically acclaimed opera
(00:30):
Scalia-Ginsburg, inspired by theunlikely friendship between US
Supreme Court Justices AntoninScalia and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
With a background in both musicand law, wang brings a creative
voice to contemporary opera.
His latest work, fearless,tells the extraordinary true
story of Chinese-Americanaviator Hazel Ying Li,
celebrating courage, identityand the power of unheard voices.
(00:52):
And founded in 1944, operaDelaware is the only
professional company in thefirst state and one of the
oldest in the country.
Known for bold productions,community engagement and
artistic excellence, operaDelaware has built a national
reputation for its innovativeprogramming, including world
premieres and revivals of rarelyperformed works.
With a home in Wilmington and amission that bridges tradition
(01:15):
and innovation, opera Delawarecontinues to captivate audiences
while elevating the operaticart form for new generations.
Today we'll speak with themabout their upcoming world
premiere of Fearless inWilmington, delaware.
And Derek and Carrie-Anne,welcome and, as we kind of kick
off here, derek, tell me whatdrew you to the story of Hazel
Ying Lee, and how did her lifeinspire the creation of this new
(01:38):
work?
Derrick Wang (01:39):
Fearless, how did I come to hear about Hazel Ying
Lee?
Well, I had learned about theWomen Air Force Service pilots
through a former classmate ofmine who happened to be related
to one of these pilots, thoughnot Hazel Ying Lee, and then one
day I came upon informationspecifically about one pilot in
particular, hazel Ying Lee, andher story captured my
(02:00):
imagination.
She was unique among her fellowWomen Air Force service pilots
in many ways.
For example, she was moreseasoned she was over 30 when
she joined.
She had already experienced warin person, being on the ground
in Canton Province during theSecond Sino-Japanese War, and
she had gone to greater lengthsin order to pursue her dream of
(02:21):
flying, and so those aspects ofher story drew me in.
Andy Truscott (02:27):
Kerianne talk to me about how Opera Delaware came
to champion and, in essence,acquire the ability to kind of
launch a world premiere such asthis.
Kerriann Otano (02:36):
So Opera Delaware is presenting the world
premiere of Fearless on May16th and May 18th.
But this is not our firstendeavor with this opera.
So originally it wascommissioned and we did a
workshop performance of it in2022.
That was like a preview.
(02:56):
We had artists come to town towork on it, derek had prepared
the score and the libretto,which is the text for the music,
and we got to present, just foran intimate audience of about
100 people, highlights of whatwould turn into this opera
eventually.
So what's so cool and soexciting about Delaware being
(03:18):
the launching pad for thisexciting opera is that our
audience has gotten to beinvolved in different iterations
of the process.
So they've met Derek throughScalia Ginsburg, which is an
opera we presented a few yearsago.
It was the most well-attendedopera in the history of Opera
Delaware, which is such anincredible thing to say,
especially about contemporaryopera, and really speaks to the
(03:41):
skill and the creativity thatDerek brings to opera.
We got to introduce ouraudiences to Derek at that point
and then again when we did theworkshop, and then again last
year when Derek rewrote theending of Puccini's Turandot,
which, famously, the composerleft uncompleted at the time of
his death.
Derek came in and wrote a newending for it, based on the
(04:04):
original sketches and intentionsof the composer.
So Derek has had a longrelationship with Opera Delaware
.
This show is really the comingtogether of an arts organization
that really believes insupporting our artists and Derek
is, I think, a big part of ourteam and our family here at
(04:25):
Opera Delaware and we love tokind of champion him.
So it's an honor that this hasworked out so beautifully,
because what Derek does isspecial and deserves a major,
major platform and we're honoredto be a part of that.
Andy Truscott (04:39):
Derek, as you kind of wear the two hats right
of both composer and librettist,how do you balance the
storytelling and the musicaldemands of opera as a whole and
of this show in particular?
Derrick Wang (04:51):
I've come to realize that each piece I write
has at its heart a burningquestion, one that fuels the
creative process and can unifythe entire work.
My mission as composer andlibrettist is to discover and
explore that question throughmusic and words, and when I'm
writing both the music and words, I do try to make sure that
(05:12):
they are unified in some way.
So, for example, when writingScalia-Ginsburg and doing the
research for that, I discoveredthe burning question to be who
are we to judge and be judged?
And that question gave me apremise, which is that United
States Supreme Court justicesare being judged by a higher
power, and it gave me astylistic approach, which is
(05:35):
that, like a Supreme Courtopinion, the score of
Scalia-Ginsburg is a mosaic ofallusions to influential
statements of the past.
And the question also gave me acentral relationship, which is
the unlikely friendship of twoideologically opposed judges.
And for Fearless, the burningquestion that emerged was how
(05:58):
does our lived experience affecthow we perceive the events in
our lives?
And to answer that question, Irealized through my research and
my writing that the story couldbe told from a specific point
of view, the viewpoint, perhaps,of someone who shared many of
Hazel Ying Lee's lifeexperiences, but perhaps chose
(06:26):
not to follow that path exactly.
And so the story of Fearless istold by Hazel's younger sister,
iris, who is an invented orfictional character, but one
inspired by the facts of Hazel'smany siblings and childhood
friends.
And so it is through thisviewpoint and the lived
experiences of this characterthat we experience Hazel's
accomplishments and adventures.
Andy Truscott (06:46):
Talk to me about some of the unique artistic or
logistical challenges inbringing Hazel Ying Lee's story
to the operatic stage.
Kerriann Otano (06:54):
I would first just say that one of the it's a
unique challenge when you'retaking a real person that we
have pictures of and we havewritten history about Hazel
Yingley taking it.
So it's real beyond just what'swritten on the page, and I
think that's what's so beautifulabout the approach that Derek
has taken with having this storybeing told from the perspective
(07:18):
of one of her siblings.
So the concept is that Iris,hazel's younger sister, has been
asked to do a school projectwhere she is going to talk about
, write a letter, to write aletter about her favorite
American.
And so it starts at thebeginning of the opera her
conceptualize who is my favoriteAmerican.
I want to talk about Hazelbecause she's my favorite
(07:42):
American and I think just eventhat as a starting point.
What does it mean to be anAmerican?
What does it mean to be a hero?
What does it mean to be aninspiration?
And I love the way that Derekhas taken this person, who is
larger than life, who is anAmerican hero and a trailblazer,
and also humanized her in sucha beautiful way that it feels
like she's my own sister, itfeels like she's my own friend,
(08:04):
and I think that he's taken aunique challenge of opera that
can feel so grand andintimidating and made it feel
really accessible through thestorytelling that he's chosen to
pursue here.
Andy Truscott (08:18):
The opera titled Fearless.
What does that word mean in thecontext of Hazel Ying Lee's
story and this production?
Derrick Wang (08:26):
Fearless is a word that was used on the record to
describe Hazel Ying Lee, and soit became very significant and
certainly a way to sum up HazelYing Li's approach to life.
I think also it is a useful wayto talk about the fact that
(08:47):
Hazel Ying Li and her family andmany people in a similar
situation, they lived in anatmosphere where there was a
certain healthy amount of fearthat they had to have to get
through the day.
The story begins during theGreat Depression, for example, a
difficult time for everyone inthe United States.
It proceeds through the SecondSino-Japanese War, a part of
(09:12):
history that is perhaps lesstalked about when we think about
World War II, but certainly apivotal one, and that was a time
in which certainly fearpervaded a lot of the atmosphere
.
And then, of course, the ideaof serving in the military,
which I think, for a lot ofpeople perhaps not the people
(09:34):
serving themselves, althoughthey display bravery in the face
of their fear and they overcomeit, but certainly there are the
people who love them and careabout them and who worry about
them every day, and there's acertain amount of fear in that,
and so, in a sense, fearless isnot only the story of one pilot
(09:55):
who happens to have displayedfearlessness in her life, but
it's also about the peoplearound her and in her life
learning to acknowledge andgrapple with, and perhaps let go
of, their fear.
Andy Truscott (10:09):
How did you approach writing an opera that
centers on an Asian Americanwoman in a genre that has
traditionally lacked that kindof representation?
Derrick Wang (10:18):
That is a very interesting question.
I think one of the first stepswas to focus on the specific
lives of Hazel Ying Lee and herfamily, and so, rather than try
to paint with a broad brush andput forth some kind of
(10:39):
representative experience thatpurports to stand for what
everyone of a certain backgroundgoes through although they
might find resonances we mightall find resonances in the story
frankly, I think it was reallyimportant to focus on the facts
on the ground, or in the air, asit were.
The facts of Hazel Ying Lee'slife were such that her life had
(11:02):
many twists and turns thatwouldn't necessarily fit into
what we think of as afirst-generation American story.
So just as Hazel Ying Leedefied the preconceived
expectations that society hadfor her, hazel's story itself
defies the preconceivedexpectations that we today might
have about her kind ofnarrative.
For example, a stereotypicalstory might go as follows A
(11:27):
family leaves their old countryin search of a better life in
America.
They arrive in the UnitedStates, things are challenging,
but they press on in pursuit ofthe American dream.
Perhaps they achieve it, orperhaps they're disappointed,
but they press on in pursuit ofthe American dream.
Perhaps they achieve it, orperhaps they're disappointed,
but they and we learn manythings along the way, and that's
one way of telling a story, butit doesn't always account for
the complexities of someone'slife.
(11:48):
Although Hazel and her siblingswere born in the United States,
the effects of the GreatDepression forced some of them
to leave the United States for anumber of years, despite the
threat of war elsewhere.
It was only later, afterexperiencing some of the horrors
of war, that Hazel returned tothe United States.
Hazel's story is full of thesetwists that don't fit into a
(12:09):
prescribed pattern, but thesetwists are informed by the
community that she was born intoand the way that she was
perceived.
And so it's not simply a matterof telling a story where people
happen to look a certain way orthe characters happen to have a
certain background.
The kinds of things thathappened in their lives would
(12:32):
not have happened but for theparticular circumstances of
their birth and upbringing.
And so, as mentioned, there'sthis challenge when you write
about a real life person, thereis the risk that one could
modify the story to fit apreconceived formula, because
(12:54):
the formula perhaps has beencommercially successful, or the
formula makes us feel good aboutourselves, very good vibes only
kind of thing it allows us toavoid, uh, maybe, tackling some
difficult questions that wewouldn't otherwise want to
tackle, and so that wascertainly an artistic challenge
(13:16):
in bringing this story to thestage, especially bearing in
mind that there isn't thefullest historical record, there
are gaps, she didn't have abiographer following her around.
Rather than minimize thechallenges, the twists and turns
of her story to fit into a neatlittle package, I wondered what
(13:39):
if the structure of thismusical drama embraced the
unexpected paths that Hazel took?
What I came to realize, in away, is that Fearless tells a
story about going back in orderto move forward, and what that
means in the music and the wordsand the structure of this work,
is that the music, like thestory, goes back in order to
(14:03):
move forward, and it does sofrom the perspective of one
character, hazel's youngersister.
And so you'll hear musicalthemes, simple and tuneful, and
these themes are played and sungwhen Hazel and her family do
certain things or have certainthings happen to them.
And then, like Hazel and herfamily, we'll go back to these
(14:26):
musical themes and, as the storyprogresses, these simple tunes
will, I hope, take on a greatermeaning for us all.
Andy Truscott (14:36):
I want to take just a minute here to remind our
listeners.
You're listening to DelawareState of the Arts on News Radio
1450, wilm and 1410, wdov.
Kirianne talk to me a littlebit about why it was so
important to premiere Fearlesshere in Delaware and what does
that mean for an organizationsuch as Opera Delaware.
Kerriann Otano (14:57):
So at Opera Delaware we have a long history.
You know.
We are more than 75 years oldwe are the 11th oldest opera
company in the country and it'sinteresting because in opera
across the board, we're dealingwith a lot of preconceived
notions.
We're dealing with a lot of theideas that people have of what
opera is and who opera is for,and so, without ever even
(15:20):
experiencing it, or maybe justexperiencing it one time in
their youth, there are a lot ofpeople that we encounter who say
I don't think that opera is forme.
What I am obsessed with indoing this world premiere is
that this is an opera about realAmerican heroes.
This is an opera that is sungin English, with all the
(15:40):
traditional talent and trainingand hard work that goes into
that.
These are professional operasingers making their debuts here
at Opera Delaware or returningto Opera Delaware, who have
major careers or have majorcareers in front of them.
But they are singing somethingthat they immediately connect to
because it's sung in Englishand it removes that barrier of
(16:01):
the translation that so oftenhappens when we do opera.
You know the artist is singingin Italian, so the audience has
to read the translation and keepup with what the artists are
doing on stage.
With this, there's so much moreimmediacy.
So I think for me, theimportant thing about this world
premiere at Opera Delaware isabsolutely, yes, any opportunity
(16:21):
to support Derek Wang.
I want to be a part of that,but it's also about challenging
people's ideas of what opera isand how opera needs to be, and
creating more immediacy For meas an opera singer, for me as a
lover of opera.
I want to tear down any barriersthat make people feel like
opera is intimidating orinaccessible.
(16:44):
They're not going to understandit.
The thing that I guarantee youwith Derek's work, with Scalia
Ginsburg, with Fearless, withthe way that Derek approaches
writing, is music that istuneful and beautiful and
hummable and melodic.
You're going to want to singsome of these pieces yourself.
Music that is approachable butis also just as grand and just
(17:07):
as rich in storytelling andorchestration as any opera that
you would want to see.
So I think that Opera Delawarehas this really unique
opportunity to redefine opera inthis state, to redefine how
people see it and how peopleapproach it, and I'm so happy to
be able to share this withDelawareans, who so often feel
like they have to leave thestate to experience high quality
(17:30):
art.
You don't need to leave thestate.
We bring it to you.
Andy Truscott (17:34):
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rgb(252, 252, 253);">Otaño talk to me
about how Opera Delaware isengaging audiences and
communities in other ways otherthan just coming to the
performance.
Kerriann Otano (17:42):
Yeah.
So it's really limiting, Likewe can only do an opera so many
times because of the cost ofhiring an entire orchestra and
the crew, the costume design,the set design, the space is all
incredibly limiting.
So we have a short window wherewe can actually present
Fearless to you.
There's a student performanceon May 14th that is available
(18:05):
for students to request ticketsfor them and their families to
attend for free, the final dressrehearsal.
There's opening night on May16th and there's the closing
matinee on May 18th and that isa very compact amount of time to
try to serve as many people inDelaware as we can.
So in addition to that, we havetwo events.
On May 1st we're performing afree preview event at Market
(18:26):
Street Music, which is righthere in Wilmington, Delaware.
It's at First and CentralPresbyterian Church and that's
going to be at 1230.
So you can get just a littlepreview, just a little taste,
during a lunchtime performancehere in Wilmington.
On May 4th, we're going down tothe AMC Museum, the Air Mobility
Command Museum in Dover,Delaware, and we're going to be
(18:48):
doing a preview performance anda panel discussion with members
of the cast with.
Derek Wang will be there.
The conductor of the show, BenMcKenna will be there and
representatives, historians,from the Air Mobility Command
Museum will be there to speakabout the WASPs, the Women Air
Force Service Pilots, Hazel YingLee, World War II, what these
(19:10):
aviators, what they were doing,what their lives were like.
There will also be reenactorsthere who are part of the Air
Mobility Command Museum and thebeautiful thing is like come to
the Air Mobility Museum and justexplore and then join us for
this preview performance,because there are so many
incredible.
There's so much incrediblehistory.
So of course, we want everybodyto come to opening night on May
(19:31):
16th that is sponsored byDogfish Head.
There's a lot to kind of packinto the next couple of weeks.
I'm going to be running on highoctane, but it's so much to
celebrate in the first date.
Andy Truscott (19:44):
Derek, talk to me about what conversations you
hope this opera sparks after thecurtain falls.
Derrick Wang (19:50):
First of all, I hope it will inspire audiences
to learn more about Hazel YingLee.
We're not going to covereverything about Hazel's life or
about the history of the WomenAir Force Service Pilots, but I
do hope it is an engagingintroduction to the topic.
I might note that in thehistory of the Women Air Force
Service Pilots might note thatin the history of the Women Air
(20:14):
Force Service pilots folks inDelaware might be interested to
know that of the two majorheadquarters of the Women Air
Force Service pilots one was inNewcastle, delaware.
I agree with Carrie Ann that Ido hope that audiences will find
that the experience ofattending the opera is an
engaging and immediate one forthem.
The experience of attending theopera is an engaging and
immediate one for them and Ihope that we all emerge with a
(20:35):
sense of what more is possiblein this historic and evolving
and beautiful art form.
Andy Truscott (20:41):
Derek, was there a moment during the creation of
Fearless that felt especiallypowerful or impactful for you?
Derrick Wang (20:49):
I would say it was in the discovery that Hazel
Ying Lee's life, the lives ofher family members, did not
necessarily fit the formula thatperhaps I thought they did when
I first read some accounts ofher life, and that led me to
re-examine my research andre-examine how I approached the
(21:10):
piece, because, as the sayinggoes, you know, truth is
stranger than fiction.
And so there are things thathappen in these people's lives
that if we didn't say it was atrue story, people would sort of
be like what's that all about?
Where did that come from?
How is that even possible?
And so I think it really wasthat grappling that I mentioned
(21:31):
earlier, the productive strugglein figuring out how do I honor
the fact that this story doesn'tfit into a preconceived formula
.
Andy Truscott (21:43):
Eric Carrie-Anne.
Thank you so much for joiningme today.
As Carrie-Anne mentioned, youcan learn more about Opera
Delaware and Fearless atwwwoperaorg.
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