Delaware State of the Arts Podcast
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.
Delaware State of the Arts Podcast
S12 E48: Delaware State of the Arts - OperaDelaware and Derrick Wang's FEARLESS
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.
For Delaware State of the Arts, I'm Andy Truscott. My guests today are OperaDelaware's Kerriann Otaño and composer Derek Wang. Derek Wang is a composer and interdisciplinary creator whose work lives at the intersection of music, storytelling and social change, of music, storytelling and social change. He is best known for his critically acclaimed opera Scalia-Ginsburg, inspired by the unlikely friendship between US Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. With a background in both music and law, wang brings a creative voice to contemporary opera. His latest work, fearless, tells the extraordinary true story of Chinese-American aviator Hazel Ying Li, celebrating courage, identity and the power of unheard voices.
Andy Truscott:And founded in 1944, opera Delaware is the only professional company in the first state and one of the oldest in the country. Known for bold productions, community engagement and artistic excellence, opera Delaware has built a national reputation for its innovative programming, including world premieres and revivals of rarely performed works. With a home in Wilmington and a mission that bridges tradition and innovation, opera Delaware continues to captivate audiences while elevating the operatic art form for new generations. Today we'll speak with them about their upcoming world premiere of Fearless in Wilmington, delaware. And Derek and Carrie-Anne, welcome and, as we kind of kick off here, derek, tell me what drew you to the story of Hazel Ying Lee, and how did her life inspire the creation of this new work?
Derrick Wang:Fearless, how did I come to hear about Hazel Ying Lee? Well, I had learned about the Women Air Force Service pilots through a former classmate of mine who happened to be related to one of these pilots, though not Hazel Ying Lee, and then one day I came upon information specifically about one pilot in particular, hazel Ying Lee, and her story captured my imagination. She was unique among her fellow Women Air Force service pilots in many ways. For example, she was more seasoned she was over 30 when she joined. She had already experienced war in person, being on the ground in Canton Province during the Second Sino-Japanese War, and she had gone to greater lengths in order to pursue her dream of flying, and so those aspects of her story drew me in.
Andy Truscott: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 as this.
Kerriann Otano:So Opera Delaware is presenting the world premiere of Fearless on May 16th and May 18th. But this is not our first endeavor with this opera. So originally it was commissioned and we did a workshop performance of it in 2022. That was like a preview. We had artists come to town to work on it, derek had prepared the score and the libretto, which is the text for the music, and we got to present, just for an intimate audience of about 100 people, highlights of what would turn into this opera eventually.
Kerriann Otano:So what's so cool and so exciting about Delaware being the launching pad for this exciting opera is that our audience has gotten to be involved in different iterations of the process.
Kerriann Otano:So they've met Derek through Scalia Ginsburg, which is an opera we presented a few years ago.
Kerriann Otano:It was the most well-attended opera in the history of Opera Delaware, which is such an incredible thing to say, especially about contemporary opera, and really speaks to the skill and the creativity that Derek brings to opera. We got to introduce our audiences to Derek at that point and then again when we did the workshop, and then again last year when Derek rewrote the ending of Puccini's Turandot, which, famously, the composer left uncompleted at the time of his death. Derek came in and wrote a new ending for it, based on the original sketches and intentions of the composer. So Derek has had a long relationship with Opera Delaware. This show is really the coming together of an arts organization that really believes in supporting our artists and Derek is, I think, a big part of our team and our family here at Opera Delaware and we love to kind of champion him. So it's an honor that this has worked out so beautifully, because what Derek does is special and deserves a major, major platform and we're honored to be a part of that.
Andy Truscott:Derek, as you kind of wear the two hats right of both composer and librettist, how do you balance the storytelling and the musical demands of opera as a whole and of this show in particular?
Derrick Wang:I've come to realize that each piece I write has at its heart a burning question, one that fuels the creative process and can unify the entire work. My mission as composer and librettist is to discover and explore that question through music and words, and when I'm writing both the music and words, I do try to make sure that they are unified in some way. So, for example, when writing Scalia-Ginsburg and doing the research for that, I discovered the burning question to be who are we to judge and be judged? And that question gave me a premise, which is that United States Supreme Court justices are being judged by a higher power, and it gave me a stylistic approach, which is that, like a Supreme Court opinion, the score of Scalia-Ginsburg is a mosaic of allusions to influential statements of the past. And the question also gave me a central relationship, which is the unlikely friendship of two ideologically opposed judges.
Derrick Wang:And for Fearless, the burning question that emerged was how does our lived experience affect how we perceive the events in our lives? And to answer that question, I realized through my research and my writing that the story could be told from a specific point of view, the viewpoint, perhaps, of someone who shared many of Hazel Ying Lee's life experiences, but perhaps chose not to follow that path exactly. And so the story of Fearless is told by Hazel's younger sister, iris, who is an invented or fictional character, but one inspired by the facts of Hazel's many siblings and childhood friends. And so it is through this viewpoint and the lived experiences of this character that we experience Hazel's accomplishments and adventures.
Andy Truscott:Talk to me about some of the unique artistic or logistical challenges in bringing Hazel Ying Lee's story to the operatic stage.
Kerriann Otano:I would first just say that one of the it's a unique challenge when you're taking a real person that we have pictures of and we have written history about Hazel Yingley taking it. So it's real beyond just what's written on the page, and I think that's what's so beautiful about the approach that Derek has taken with having this story being told from the perspective of one of her siblings. So the concept is that Iris, hazel's younger sister, has been asked to do a school project where she is going to talk about, write a letter, to write a letter about her favorite American. And so it starts at the beginning of the opera her conceptualize who is my favorite American. I want to talk about Hazel because she's my favorite American and I think just even that as a starting point.
Kerriann Otano:What does it mean to be an American? What does it mean to be a hero? What does it mean to be an inspiration? And I love the way that Derek has taken this person, who is larger than life, who is an American hero and a trailblazer, and also humanized her in such a beautiful way that it feels like she's my own sister, it feels like she's my own friend, and I think that he's taken a unique challenge of opera that can feel so grand and intimidating and made it feel really accessible through the storytelling that he's chosen to pursue here.
Andy Truscott:The opera titled Fearless. What does that word mean in the context of Hazel Ying Lee's story and this production?
Derrick Wang:Fearless is a word that was used on the record to describe Hazel Ying Lee, and so it became very significant and certainly a way to sum up Hazel Ying Li's approach to life.
Derrick Wang:I think also it is a useful way to talk about the fact that Hazel Ying Li and her family and many people in a similar situation, they lived in an atmosphere where there was a certain healthy amount of fear that they had to have to get through the day.
Derrick Wang:The story begins during the Great Depression, for example, a difficult time for everyone in the United States. It proceeds through the Second Sino-Japanese War, a part of history that is perhaps less talked about when we think about World War II, but certainly a pivotal one, and that was a time in which certainly fear pervaded a lot of the atmosphere. And then, of course, the idea of serving in the military, which I think, for a lot of people perhaps not the people serving themselves, although they display bravery in the face of their fear and they overcome it, but certainly there are the people who love them and care about them and who worry about them every day, and there's a certain amount of fear in that, and so, in a sense, fearless is not only the story of one pilot who happens to have displayed fearlessness in her life, but it's also about the people around her and in her life learning to acknowledge and grapple with, and perhaps let go of, their fear.
Andy Truscott:How did you approach writing an opera that centers on an Asian American woman in a genre that has traditionally lacked that kind of representation?
Derrick Wang:That is a very interesting question. I think one of the first steps was to focus on the specific lives of Hazel Ying Lee and her family, and so, rather than try to paint with a broad brush and put forth some kind of representative experience that purports to stand for what everyone of a certain background goes through although they might find resonances we might all find resonances in the story frankly, I think it was really important to focus on the facts on the ground, or in the air, as it were. The facts of Hazel Ying Lee's life were such that her life had many twists and turns that wouldn't necessarily fit into what we think of as a first-generation American story. So just as Hazel Ying Lee defied the preconceived expectations that society had for her, hazel's story itself defies the preconceived expectations that we today might have about her kind of narrative. For example, a stereotypical story might go as follows A family leaves their old country in search of a better life in America. They arrive in the United States, things are challenging, but they press on in pursuit of the American dream. Perhaps they achieve it, or perhaps they're disappointed, but they press on in pursuit of the American dream. Perhaps they achieve it, or perhaps they're disappointed, but they and we learn many things along the way, and that's one way of telling a story, but it doesn't always account for the complexities of someone's life. Although Hazel and her siblings were born in the United States, the effects of the Great Depression forced some of them to leave the United States for a number of years, despite the threat of war elsewhere. It was only later, after experiencing some of the horrors of war, that Hazel returned to the United States.
Derrick Wang:Hazel's story is full of these twists that don't fit into a prescribed pattern, but these twists are informed by the community that she was born into and the way that she was perceived. And so it's not simply a matter of telling a story where people happen to look a certain way or the characters happen to have a certain background. The kinds of things that happened in their lives would not have happened but for the particular circumstances of their birth and upbringing. And so, as mentioned, there's this challenge when you write about a real life person, there is the risk that one could modify the story to fit a preconceived formula, because the formula perhaps has been commercially successful, or the formula makes us feel good about ourselves, very good vibes only kind of thing it allows us to avoid, uh, maybe, tackling some difficult questions that we wouldn't otherwise want to tackle, and so that was certainly an artistic challenge in bringing this story to the stage, especially bearing in mind that there isn't the fullest historical record, there are gaps, she didn't have a biographer following her around.
Derrick Wang:Rather than minimize the challenges, the 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? What I came to realize, in a way, is that Fearless tells a story about going back in order to move forward, and what that means in the music and the words and the structure of this work, is that the music, like the story, goes back in order to move forward, and it does so from the perspective of one character, hazel's younger sister. And so you'll hear musical themes, simple and tuneful, and these themes are played and sung when Hazel and her family do certain things or have certain things happen to them. And then, like Hazel and her family, we'll go back to these musical themes and, as the story progresses, these simple tunes will, I hope, take on a greater meaning for us all.
Andy Truscott:I want to take just a minute here to remind our listeners. You're listening to Delaware State of the Arts on News Radio 1450, wilm and 1410, wdov. Kirianne talk to me a little bit about why it was so important to premiere Fearless here in Delaware and what does that mean for an organization such as Opera Delaware.
Kerriann Otano:So at Opera Delaware we have a long history. You know. We are more than 75 years old we are the 11th oldest opera company in the country and it's interesting because in opera across the board, we're dealing with a lot of preconceived notions. We're dealing with a lot of the ideas that people have of what opera is and who opera is for, and so, without ever even experiencing it, or maybe just experiencing it one time in their youth, there are a lot of people that we encounter who say I don't think that opera is for me. What I am obsessed with in doing this world premiere is that this is an opera about real American heroes. This is an opera that is sung in English, with all the traditional talent and training and hard work that goes into that. These are professional opera singers making their debuts here at Opera Delaware or returning to Opera Delaware, who have major careers or have major careers in front of them. But they are singing something that they immediately connect to because it's sung in English and it removes that barrier of the translation that so often happens when we do opera. You know the artist is singing in Italian, so the audience has to read the translation and keep up with what the artists are doing on stage. With this, there's so much more immediacy. So I think for me, the important thing about this world premiere at Opera Delaware is absolutely, yes, any opportunity to support Derek Wang. I want to be a part of that, but it's also about challenging people's ideas of what opera is and how opera needs to be, and creating more immediacy For me as an opera singer, for me as a lover of opera.
Kerriann Otano:I want to tear down any barriers that make people feel like opera is intimidating or inaccessible. They're not going to understand it. The thing that I guarantee you with Derek's work, with Scalia Ginsburg, with Fearless, with the way that Derek approaches writing, is music that is tuneful and beautiful and hummable and melodic. You're going to want to sing some of these pieces yourself. Music that is approachable but is also just as grand and just as rich in storytelling and orchestration as any opera that you would want to see. So I think that Opera Delaware has this really unique opportunity to redefine opera in this state, to redefine how people see it and how people approach it, and I'm so happy to be able to share this with Delawareans, who so often feel like they have to leave the state to experience high quality art. You don't need to leave the state. We bring it to you.
Andy Truscott:<span data-v-f58c64a0="" class="transcript-element" data-mindex="0" data-eindex="30" data-key="030Kerriann10. 744" style="--tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-pan-x: ; --tw-pan-y: ; --tw-pinch-zoom: ; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-ordinal: ; --tw-slashed-zero: ; --tw-numeric-figure: ; --tw-numeric-spacing: ; --tw-numeric-fraction: ; --tw-ring-inset: ; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,. 5); --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-blur: ; --tw-brightness: ; --tw-contrast: ; --tw-grayscale: ; --tw-hue-rotate: ; --tw-invert: ; --tw-saturate: ; --tw-sepia: ; --tw-drop-shadow: ; --tw-backdrop-blur: ; --tw-backdrop-brightness: ; --tw-backdrop-contrast: ; --tw-backdrop-grayscale: ; --tw-backdrop-hue-rotate: ; --tw-backdrop-invert: ; --tw-backdrop-opacity: ; --tw-backdrop-saturate: ; --tw-backdrop-sepia: ; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 253);">Kerriann</span><span data-v-f58c64a0="" class="transcript-element" data-mindex="0" data-eindex="31" data-key="031 10. 784" style="--tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-pan-x: ; --tw-pan-y: ; --tw-pinch-zoom: ; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-ordinal: ; --tw-slashed-zero: ; --tw-numeric-figure: ; --tw-numeric-spacing: ; --tw-numeric-fraction: ; --tw-ring-inset: ; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,. 5); --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-blur: ; --tw-brightness: ; --tw-contrast: ; --tw-grayscale: ; --tw-hue-rotate: ; --tw-invert: ; --tw-saturate: ; --tw-sepia: ; --tw-drop-shadow: ; --tw-backdrop-blur: ; --tw-backdrop-brightness: ; --tw-backdrop-contrast: ; --tw-backdrop-grayscale: ; --tw-backdrop-hue-rotate: ; --tw-backdrop-invert: ; --tw-backdrop-opacity: ; --tw-backdrop-saturate: ; --tw-backdrop-sepia: ; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 253);"> </span><span data-v-f58c64a0="" class="transcript-element" data-mindex="0" data-eindex="32" data-key="032Otaño11. 867" style="--tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-pan-x: ; --tw-pan-y: ; --tw-pinch-zoom: ; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-ordinal: ; --tw-slashed-zero: ; --tw-numeric-figure: ; --tw-numeric-spacing: ; --tw-numeric-fraction: ; --tw-ring-inset: ; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,. 5); --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-blur: ; --tw-brightness: ; --tw-contrast: ; --tw-grayscale: ; --tw-hue-rotate: ; --tw-invert: ; --tw-saturate: ; --tw-sepia: ; --tw-drop-shadow: ; --tw-backdrop-blur: ; --tw-backdrop-brightness: ; --tw-backdrop-contrast: ; --tw-backdrop-grayscale: ; --tw-backdrop-hue-rotate: ; --tw-backdrop-invert: ; --tw-backdrop-opacity: ; --tw-backdrop-saturate: ; --tw-backdrop-sepia: ; background-color: rgb(252, 252, 253);">Otaño</span> talk to me about how Opera Delaware is engaging audiences and communities in other ways other than just coming to the performance.
Kerriann Otano:Yeah. So it's really limiting, Like we can only do an opera so many times because of the cost of hiring an entire orchestra and the crew, the costume design, the set design, the space is all incredibly limiting. So we have a short window where we can actually present Fearless to you. There's a student performance on May 14th that is available for students to request tickets for them and their families to attend for free, the final dress rehearsal. There's opening night on May 16th and there's the closing matinee on May 18th and that is a very compact amount of time to try to serve as many people in Delaware as we can. So in addition to that, we have two events. On May 1st we're performing a free preview event at Market Street Music, which is right here in Wilmington, Delaware. It's at First and Central Presbyterian Church and that's going to be at 1230. So you can get just a little preview, just a little taste, during a lunchtime performance here in Wilmington.
Kerriann Otano:On May 4th, we're going down to the AMC Museum, the Air Mobility Command Museum in Dover, Delaware, and we're going to be doing a preview performance and a panel discussion with members of the cast with. Derek Wang will be there. The conductor of the show, Ben McKenna will be there and representatives, historians, from the Air Mobility Command Museum will be there to speak about the WASPs, the Women Air Force Service Pilots, Hazel Ying Lee, World War II, what these aviators, what they were doing, what their lives were like. There will also be reenactors there who are part of the Air Mobility Command Museum and the beautiful thing is like come to the Air Mobility Museum and just explore and then join us for this preview performance, because there are so many incredible. There's so much incredible history. So of course, we want everybody to come to opening night on May 16th that is sponsored by Dogfish Head. There's a lot to kind of pack into the next couple of weeks. I'm going to be running on high octane, but it's so much to celebrate in the first date.
Andy Truscott:Derek, talk to me about what conversations you hope this opera sparks after the curtain falls.
Derrick Wang:First of all, I hope it will inspire audiences to learn more about Hazel Ying Lee. We're not going to cover everything about Hazel's life or about the history of the Women Air Force Service Pilots, but I do hope it is an engaging introduction to the topic. I might note that in the history of the Women Air Force Service Pilots might note that in the history of the Women Air Force Service pilots folks in Delaware might be interested to know that of the two major headquarters of the Women Air Force Service pilots one was in Newcastle, delaware. I agree with Carrie Ann that I do hope that audiences will find that the experience of attending the opera is an engaging and immediate one for them. The experience of attending the opera is an engaging and immediate one for them and I hope that we all emerge with a sense of what more is possible in this historic and evolving and beautiful art form.
Andy Truscott:Derek, was there a moment during the creation of Fearless that felt especially powerful or impactful for you?
Derrick Wang:I would say it was in the discovery that Hazel Ying Lee's life, the lives of her family members, did not necessarily fit the formula that perhaps I thought they did when I first read some accounts of her life, and that led me to re-examine my research and re-examine how I approached the piece, because, as the saying goes, you know, truth is stranger than fiction. And so there are things that happen in these people's lives that if we didn't say it was a true 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 was that grappling that I mentioned earlier, the productive struggle in figuring out how do I honor the fact that this story doesn't fit into a preconceived formula.
Andy Truscott:Eric Carrie-Anne. Thank you so much for joining me today. As Carrie-Anne mentioned, you can learn more about Opera Delaware and Fearless at wwwoperaorg.
