San Francisco Opera seeks China staging for The Monkey King

As technology and trade dominate headlines about US-China relations, San Francisco Opera is working to bring its production of The Monkey King to China, building on cultural connections that the opera company's general director Matthew Shilvock sees as central to the relationship.

For Shilvock, the opera's adaptation of the Chinese classic reflects how San Francisco's strengths in technology and the arts can bring people together across the Pacific.

"I think you see in San Francisco so clearly these two pillars of humanity," he said in an interview with China Daily. "You have the pillar of technology, and then you have the pillar of art and culture, and the two things come together in this wonderful connection here in San Francisco."

The legendary figure from the 16th-century Chinese novel Journey to the West made his Western operatic debut in San Francisco in November. Commissioned by San Francisco Opera in partnership with the Chinese Heritage Foundation of Minnesota, the production received widespread acclaim following its sold-out world premiere.

Critics praised its incorporation of traditional Peking opera movements and puppetry, alongside a musical style blending Western and Chinese instruments. Shilvock said the production showed how a shared story, music and art could connect audiences, "reminding us all that we are humans together".

The connection between technology and culture also extended to the production's supporters. Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang and his wife, Lori, donated $5 million to The Monkey King and serve as honorary chairs of its committee.

Now, the opera company is working with Beijing-based Armstrong Music & Arts to explore how to bring the production to Chinese audiences, including at opera houses in Shanghai and Shenzhen.

"We continue to have lots of conversations," Shilvock said. "We are working very closely with our partners in China, Armstrong Music & Arts, who are well established in Beijing, and they take cultural work all across China."

The discussions include how best to use China's new performance venues, which he described as "beautiful opera houses that we would be so honored to be bringing The Monkey King to." No time frame was announced, but Shilvock said the company looked forward to making the tour happen "very, very soon".

The production builds on San Francisco Opera's previous adaptation of another Chinese classic, Dream of the Red Chamber, which premiered in San Francisco in 2016 before touring Hong Kong, Beijing, Wuhan and Changsha in 2017.

According to Armstrong Music & Arts, which served as the touring agent, Dream of the Red Chamber marked the first time a large-scale original Western-commissioned opera production had toured Chinese cities.

For Shilvock, both productions demonstrate the role San Francisco can play as a gateway between the United States and China, drawing on its decades of ties with Shanghai.

"We have seen that whether it's been The Monkey King or Dream of the Red Chamber, these pieces again find commonality across cultures," he said. "That can happen in San Francisco in a way unlike anywhere else in America or anywhere else in the world."

Those connections are also being developed through music education and institutional partnerships. San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie visited Shanghai in April on his first international trip as mayor. The mayor visited the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, Shanghai Grand Opera House and other institutions and signed memorandums of understanding there.

One MOU was between San Francisco Opera and Shanghai Grand Opera House.

"Through this partnership, we are establishing a framework for joint productions, artist exchanges, and projects like The Monkey King — expanding global audiences and reinforcing San Francisco's place on the world stage," said Lurie in a statement during the April trip.

San Francisco and Shanghai established their sister-city relationship in 1980, making San Francisco the first US city to form such a relationship with China. The ties also have a strong local foundation, with more than one in five San Franciscans of Chinese background, giving the city the highest concentration of residents of Chinese heritage in the United States.

Shilvock said that the city's historic ties with China and wealth of arts institutions give the city a distinctive role in sustaining connections across the Pacific.

"San Francisco has an amazing collection of artistic organizations for quite a small city," he said, pointing to its opera, symphony, ballet, museums and theater.

"We also have then this connection as being really the closest city to China in America, and again this long historic relationship with China," he said. As the United States and China develop their relationship, he hopes cultural ties will advance alongside technological connections.

Art and culture, he said, help people make sense of a world being reshaped by new technologies, a role he sees reflected in The Monkey King and its potential tour to China.

"It's so important that we make sure we're building that bridge and strengthening that cultural bridge across the Pacific Ocean," Shilvock said.