There are three core biographical elements that are intermingled throughout Dragon Ladies Don’t Weep, a co-production between Australia’s Chamber Made and CultureLink Singapore which premiered as part of Melbourne’s extensive Asia TOPA festival: first, Margaret Leng Tan’s artistic relationship with the American minimalist composer, John Cage; second, her lifetime experience of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder; and third, the passing of Tan’s mother in December 2018. Director Tamara Saulwick brings these elements together in what she describes as a “sonic portrait … a collage of some of the key forces that have shaped the life and career of Margaret Leng Tan.”

The Singaporean Tan is an American new music and avant-garde icon – “the diva of avant-garde pianism”, as one writer puts it. She is known firstly as the preeminent interpreter of Cage’s piano music – Cage was her mentor for over a decade – but is also recognisable for her boundary-breaking work with toy pianos and other unconventional instruments. “The toy piano’s Rubinstein’, says one music critic; “the queen of the toy piano”, said another. Her...