Moss Sutra
青苔经
From Lost to Boundless
“Imagine I’m a tiny green moss, living on a chilly continent. How would I see the world? And are we really so certain of who we are? The opera explores the idea of finding our inner divinity amidst a world of fragmented identities and blurred histories.”
The Moss Sutra, a new chanting music drama by Chinese opera performer, composer, and poet Qian Yi, presents an abstract, sutra-like structure with layers of obstacles and liberation, as well as dream-like dimensions. Overcoming each obstacle advances the mind and awareness, leading to a new expansion in the search and wandering toward transcendence. The opera narrates a journey from profound loss to boundless freedom.
The score draws from various forms of chanting traditions, from Chinese opera, oratorio, cantata, as well as Western contemporary opera and minimalism.
The libretto, composed in English, presents a series of interconnected fragments, each thematically related scene, some historical, some mythical. A snow-capped mountain is visited by a deity. A woman’s dancing fan transforms into a lover. A village girl, unable to reach the ancestral setting of the divine music tonality, was pushed into the sea by the sea god. The frustrated British Lord Elgin resolves to destroy a royal palace garden in China. A child emerges from the garden’s ashes and narrates the tale of a young Zen Buddhist monk who dedicated his youth to his master’s silver magic. An ancient oracle master bids farewell to his young disciple. A patch of lowly moss awakens in an expansive garden as its self-assured sense dissipates like fog into the morning light.
— Qian Yi • William Youmans
The following samples are excerpts of work in progress.
Moss_Sutra The Moss Chant In An Encompassing Garden
Three Female Vocalists
Soprano Mezzo—Soprano
The Instrumentation part of the song was exported as a midi file from the score
Moss_Sutra The Ambient Song Variation #2
New Cells
A total Midi File exported from the score
Moss_Sutra Epilogue
A Traveler After All
Soprano Qian Yi
Mezzo—Soprano Qian Yi
Male Chanters Jeo Chapple
Paul Whelan
Cello Player Audrey Chen
Moss_Sutra The Ambient Song Variation #5
Happy Moss
A total Midi File exported from the score
Three Crustal Mirages
Wave Files exported from the Scores