Zhou Long and His Pulitzer Winning "Madame White Snake"

The 2011 winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Music, Zhou Long was honored by The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers in New York City this week.

57-year-old Zhou won the Pulitzer Prize for his opera "Madame White Snake", which is adapted from a classical transformation myth.

Yingying brings us more on Zhou Long and his opera.

The opera "Madame White Snake" by composer Zhou Long won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for music in April.

Zhou said he didn't expect to win the award, but feels "very honored" to be the first Chinese-American composer to win.

"I have won other grants, awards, commissions, but I feel this one is special because it is only offered to Americans, and, as a Chinese-American, this year I'm the first Asian-American to win for music. Also, my work, the opera "Madame White Snake," is the first opera in half century to win the Pulitzer, so I feel very surprised by the honor."

Madame White Snake is based on a widely-known Chinese legend. It is the story of a powerful white snake demon who transforms into a beautiful woman so as to experience love. She meets her true love, Xu Xian, at the West Lake in Hangzhou and marries him.

However, a curious Abbot sees right through her human form. When the Abbot learns that Madame White Snake is pregnant, he is horrified by what he considers a violation of all of the traditional taboos of race and religion, the divine and the profane.

He decides to intervene and he confronts her husband. Not surprisingly, disaster strikes: Madame White Snake is betrayed by her husband and, in the moment of betrayal, she is tragically transformed back into a snake.

In its long journey through the centuries, this simple myth has become an icon in the hearts and minds of the Chinese people. The story has been adapted into movies, TV series, and dramas.

The opera version of "Madame White Snake" was produced in 2010 at Opera Boston. With a libretto by Cerise Lim Jacobs, composer Zhou Long features a blend of different music styles in the opera, though he says there are not as many Chinese elements in the opera as many people expected.

After the Boston debut, the work traveled to Beijing where it was performed in English with Chinese subtitles. It was applauded by audiences in both places.

"The Chinese legend was displayed in the form of opera. It's quite innovative."

"I feel proud to see Chinese traditional culture being introduced to foreigners.

"I was so intrigued because the story is so beautiful and I love the idea of doing it in opera as that will connect us to our Chinese neighbors here in Boston and in Asia in China.

"This is a genuine product of China-US cooperation. The drama is directed and produced by Americans. It rules out the stereotyped Chinese elaboration of the tale."

According to the judges of 2011 Pulitzer Prize, Zhou Long's work is "a deeply expressive opera that draws on a Chinese folk tale to blend the musical traditions of the East and the West."

Composer Zhou Long was born in Beijing in 1953, but his family was moved to the countryside during China's Cultural Revolution.

"I was sent to the countryside as a teenager and some people described me as country accordion player, so I brought my accordion to the country to play on the farm and entertain colleagues, and there was no hope. I worked every day, very hard work, and then no music, only playing on the accordion. And today I've become a composer and a professor and I'm the first Asian-American Pulitzer prize winner for music. I feel amazed."

In 1983, Zhou Long graduated from the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. In 1985, he moved to the United States to attend Columbia University and later became a US citizen. He has taught at the University of Missouri in Kansas City.

In 2003, Zhou received a lifetime achievement award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

A critic for the Boston Globe wrote that "Zhou's score is often quite inventive in its fusing of Eastern and Western traditions, and there is some arresting instrumental and vocal writing…"

After living in the US for years, Zhou Long says he now adopts a different perspective on China's history and culture.

"As we, including myself, are now living in American society, we can look at China's traditional culture in a more objective way."

The composer hopes that now that he has won the Pulitzer Prize, "Madame White Snake" can be performed in New York City, which he now considers his home.　

For CRI, I'm Yingying.