Libretto by Deborah Brevoort; music by Wang Lu
A Chinese girl adopted by an American woman returns to her birthplace in rural China looking for her birth mother who abandoned her in a local market during the one child policy era. As she struggles to navigate her past and find her place in the world, she meets an orphanage worker and a mysterious woman consumed with grief over the loss of her infant daughter. Under the light of the full moon, The Red Thread explores motherhood—biological, adoptive, and spiritual—and the weight of love and loss using Chinese and European musical traditions.
The Red Thread received a Discovery Grant from Opera America in 2025.
