A Beijing-born composer who worked in the fields during the Cultural Revolution has become the first Chinese winner of a Pulitzer for music, the prize board announced yesterday. Zhou Long’s first opera, Madame White Snake is not only an east-meets-west triumph stylistically; it was co-commissioned by Opera Boston and the Beijing Music Festival.
The English-language work, which had its premiere in Boston in February last year, draws on a centuries-old Chinese folktale. A snake demon gives up immortality and meditates for a thousand years in order to transform into a beautiful woman and experience love, but ultimately meets only with betrayal. Librettist Cerise Lim Jacobs emphasises above all the humanity in this classic tale of metamorphosis.
The 57-year-old Zhou is an American citizen and a professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City’s Conservatory of Music and Dance. His work for the Kronos Quartet and other major American ensembles is distinctive for its blending of ancient Chinese musical traditions with Western instruments.
New York’s Pulitzer Prize for journalism and the arts is in its 95th year, but has only presented a music category since 1943. Past winners include Steve Reich (2009) and Ornette Coleman (2007).
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