Fresno Famous

July 31st Friday at 7 PM * Sisters of Manzanar and Other Musical Tales of the Japanese American Experience

Fresno Art Museum, Bonner Auditorium * 2233 North First Street (Between Clinton & McKinley)

Western opera became popular in Japan during the Meiji era, and by the 1930s a number of home-grown operas had been created in the western style. Before World War II the most important Japanese opera was Yamada's Kurofune (The Black Ships), which was premiered in 1940. After the war, the premiere of Ikuma Dan’s opera Yuzuru (1952) led to a renewal of interest in the form, which has continued to develop ever since. Featuring Miwako Isano, Haruna Shiokawa, and Elyse Nakajima, California Opera presents a Night in honor of Japanese-Americans to highlight pre-war through post-war sagas, including The Sisters of Manzanar, a one-act opera by present day New York composer Paul Stuart, which addresses experience of Japanese Americans in U.S. internment camps after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.

Festival Events are Free with donations welcome at the door in order to promote a greater interest in, exposure to, and attendance of opera in Fresno -made possible, in part, through the Community Enrichment Program of the Fresno Arts Council, the Bonner Family Foundation, Exxon Mobile, Bank of the West, Fred Schlotthauer Memorial Education Fund, AZCAL Management, and Pure Sense, among other individual and corporate sponsors of the Annual International Vocal Competition, and the Festival Finale performances! For more information, please see http://www.calopera.org/opera_events.html

Location: Fresno Art Museum, Bonner Auditorium * 2233 North First Street, 2233 North First Street, Fresno
Starts: 2009 Jul 31 - 7:00pm
Ends: 2009 Jul 31 - 9:00pm
Website: http://www.calopera.org