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The Silk Road was the first transcontinental highway of the ancient world, a vast network of routes that connected China with western Asia, the Mediterranean, and the Indian subcontinent. From the first millennium B.C. through the middle of the second millennium A.D. adventurers, traders, emissaries, monks, and pilgrims traveled along this network bringing luxury goods and new ideas and religions to the diverse communities it linked. The concept of the Silk Road is central to Wenji: Eighteen Songs of a Nomad Flute. Cai Wenji was abducted by a nomadic tribe called the Xiongnu, and thus was forced into a nomadic |
lifestyle. The conflict that Wenji faces in this opera: either to return to her home in China or leave her husband and children behind, further reinforces her nomadic and unsettled existence. The design of the set also reflects nomadic culture. As director Rinde Eckert explains in the Asia Source interview. "The idea of the Silk Road was important, as there was a Silk Road exhibit at the Asia Society, and the set is made largely of silk cloth. There's no sense that everything is hidden. We've tried to expose everything on stage to reflect nomadic culture." |
