Santa Fe Opera to Premiere Work by Chinese Composer Huang Ruo

The Santa Fe Opera will feature the American premiere of a work by Chinese composer Huang Ruo.

At a press conference on Thursday, the company announced that it will replace the production of Judith Weir's Miss Fortune with the American premiere of opera "Dr. Sun Yat-Sen" by the New York-based Chinese composer in the 2014 season.

Opera General Director Charles MacKay said in the announcement that Huang's music is "exotic and distinctive, with a lovely lyrical quality which makes it very approachable for the voice."

Born in 1976 in China, Ruo started learning piano and composition from his father, a well-known Chinese composer when he was six. After graduating from Shanghai Conservatory of Music, Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio, and Juilliard School in New York City, Ruo received first prizes in International Composition Competition in Luxembourg with "MO" (2008) and Celebrate Asia! composition competition with "The Yellow Earth" (2010).

Ruo's first opera "Dr. Sun Yat-Sen" follows the story of the Chinese revolutionary, Sun Yat-Sen, who overthrew the monarchy to established a republic in 1911.

The three-act opera, which had the world premiere in Hong Kong last year, will feature tenor Warren Mok as the title role.