(Credit: Kelly Redinger)

On Nov. 26, 2021, Edmonton Opera will present the digital premiere of composer Vivian Fung’s two operatic scenes, “Grover and Friends,” and “Alarm.”

The premieres come as part of the company’s Wild Rose Opera Project and will stream on their website, Facebook, and YouTube pages. The works are based on the oral history of Fung’s family, who lived in Cambodia until the Khmer Rouge drove them out, forcing them into a journey that eventually ended in Canada by way of Paris. Both works will feature soprano Xin Wang and percussionist Ryan Scott.

“I went to visit Cambodia for the first time in 2019 with my family – parents, son, and husband – and with some detective work, we were able to find my family’s former home and the hospital that my aunt ran, still standing all these years later but now abandoned,” says Fung. “I look forward to returning and to continuing to understand more about their past.”

The Wild Rose Opera Project is a series of four short operatic works which seeks to explore mental health through performance and characters with ties to the Alberta community. The series will launch on Nov. 19 and is supported by EPCOR’s Heart + Soul Fund.