Composer Huang Ruo Joins Diane Paulus at American Repertory Theater

Composer Huang Ruo joins American Repertory Theater Terrie and Bradley Bloom Artistic Director Diane Paulus for a conversation about his music, recent projects, and his A.R.T. commission, The Weeping Camel, at A.R.T.'s next virtual Behind the Scenes event Tuesday, FEBRUARY 9 at 7:30PM.

Single tickets of $20 with a pay-what-you-can option and series packages with tiered pricing are available at AmericanRepertoryTheater.org/Behind-the-Scenes.

On FEBRUARY 9, audiences will get to know composer Huang Ruo, named one of the world's leading young composers by The New Yorker, as he talks with Terrie and Bradley Bloom Artistic Director Diane Paulus about past projects and his A.R.T. commission, The Weeping Camel, a new production that will be co-directed by Paulus and Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui (Jagged Little Pill), adapted from the Academy Award-nominated documentary film.

Composer Huang Ruo's vibrant and inventive musical voice draws equal inspiration from Chinese ancient and folk music, Western avant-garde, experimental, noise, natural and processed sound, rock, and jazz to create a seamless, organic integration using a compositional technique he calls "Dimensionalism."

"Duality exists in my music, as it does in life and in the Universe," he recently explained in an interview published by Ricordi. "I am interested in contrasting points, the space and time between them, and how these two points travel, interact, interchange, and integrate with one another. I believe that who and where we are, and when we exist ultimately defines our music."

Ruo's diverse compositional works span from orchestra, chamber music, opera, theater, and dance, to cross-genre, sound installation, architectural installation, multimedia, experimental improvisation, folk rock, and film. They include A Dust in Time: Passacaglia for Strings, created during the pandemic; An American Soldier with libretto by David Henry Hwang (Opera Theatre of St. Louis, 2018); the installation opera Paradise Interrupted (Spoleto Festival USA, 2015, and Lincoln Center Festival, 2016); and Dr. Sun Yat-Sen (Santa Fe Opera, 2014). His new opera M. Butterfly will receive its world premiere with the Santa Fe Opera in a future season. See below for a full bio.

The Behind the Scenes series with the writers, directors and composers who are making new work at the A.R.T. includes multimedia events featuring songs and scenes from the shows in development; conversation about process, research, and collaboration; and interactive Q&As with the audience. Following the events, ten raffle-winning ticket holders, the series sponsors, and all A.R.T. donors of $500 or more will be eligible to continue the conversation "backstage" in the Virtual Green Room with the artists and A.R.T. staff.