Hamer Hall, Arts Centre Melbourne
October 6, 2018

“Passion” is an interesting word, with many and varied meanings, so why does Chinese composer, Tan Dun title his latest epic work Buddha Passion?

Described as “an opera in six acts that tells of love, forgiveness, sacrifice and salvation” Buddha Passion was jointly commissioned by the Melbourne Symphony together with the Dresdner Musikfestspiele, New York Philharmonic and Los Angeles Philharmonic. Having already received its Dresden premiere, this one-off event at the Melbourne Festival under the direction of the composer is its first Australian performance. Further performances are scheduled for Hong Kong in November and Los Angeles in February.

In addition to a large orchestra and chorus, the work employs a quartet of opera singers, a pipa soloist and dancer, a Mongolian-born Khoomei overtone singer who also plays the Morin Khuur (horsehead fiddle) and a female Chinese folk-rock vocalist.

Such a grand conception with its religious narratives and the major role the score gives to the chorus make the work in reality a post-modern oratorio that takes stylistic elements from east and west and fuses them together using Tan’s distinctive musical language.

Inspired by two years studying one of China’s most important Buddhist sites, the Magao Caves, Tan’s libretto...