Seven Days: Vermont's Independent Voice

Rhapsody in Bloom

The lotus flower grows in the mucky water of still ponds and lakes, but its petals, which unfurl one at a time, are clean and bright — unstained despite the environment. Su Lian Tan, a Middlebury College professor of music, and renowned flutist, draws on that metaphor of thriving through adversity in a brand-new chamber opera about the gender stereotypes Chinese American women, and perhaps women of all cultures, face. But don’t compare this opera to the works of Rossini or Donizetti. With a libretto by award-winning poet Anne Babson, Lotus Lives toys with the art form, overlapping elements of rap, Chinese folk music and dance-club beats with a stunning video set by Tim Bartlett.