The NIU School of Music presents All of US a chamber opera in one act, Friday, September 25 at 5 p.m. in the Music Building Recital Hall. The performance is free of charge. An artist discussion will follow the performance.
All of US is an anti-Asian hate chamber orchestra composed by Hippocrates Ching Nam Ching, associate professor of Music Theory and Composition at State University of New York Binghamptom, features guest artists Madelyn Deininger, Ho Eui Holly Bewlay, Esther Yi-Am Tilen Sheild (vocalists), Rui Jin (piano) and Hyun Chae Kim (gayageum). It will feature a string quartet of NIU Music students, Gabriel Roethle (violin), Keira Specht (violin), Trevor Bitner (viola) and Kacee Dugas (cello).
Cheng’s chamber opera was composed in collaboration with librettist K. Maya Kanazawa, and was originally commissioned by Allied Solutions Center for the Performing Arts. The world premiere of All of US was June 2024 in Carmel, Indiana.
All of US tells the story of Yi Xiao Guan and Min-Ji Seondeok, two strangers brought together by defending teenager Emiko Ko-Hime. They share a moment and then face leaving and going to back to their own lives. Each realizes tehy share something with the others that they should not let go of.
All of US (2024)
Chamber opera in one act
2026 Illinois Performance
Libretto by Maya Kanazawa
Conducted by Jingqi Zhu
