LOS ANGELES — On July 12, Los Angeles-based nonprofit opera company Angels Vocal Art (AVA) celebrated its 20th anniversary with a fundraising concert for the international production of the Chinese classic opera The Savage Land at Steinway Piano Gallery Pasadena.
Launching the International Opera Initiative
Marking two decades of artistic achievement, AVA officially announced the launch of its International Opera Initiative, a long-term program dedicated to fostering cross-cultural collaboration through opera. The initiative's inaugural production will be the Chinese classic opera The Savage Land.
The project will bring together directors, conductors, designers, musicians, and performers from the United States, Europe, and China to reinterpret The Savage Land through an internationally recognized production model. By combining Eastern and Western artistic perspectives, AVA hopes to introduce Chinese opera to a broader global audience and strengthen cultural dialogue through the performing arts.
From the artistic seed planted by Carlo Bergonzi's masterclasses in Pasadena in 2006 to today's ambitious international initiative, AVA is embarking on the next chapter of its artistic journey—one that seeks to bring Chinese opera to the world stage through The Savage Land.
A Concert Celebrating Twenty Years of Artistic Excellence
Artists, music educators, patrons, community leaders, and members of the media gathered in Pasadena to celebrate AVA's 20th anniversary and witness the beginning of a new chapter in the company's history.
Under the musical direction of AVA Artistic Director Kristof Van Grysperre, the concert featured soprano Jessica Sandidge and acclaimed Chinese tenor Li Zhentao (Tom Lee), who performed works by Puccini, Mozart, Verdi, Dvorak, and other renowned composers. Excerpts from the Chinese classic opera The Savage Land were among the evening's highlights, symbolically pointing toward AVA's next major artistic endeavor.
Performing in Mandarin, soprano Jessica Sandidge delivered “Ah! My Brother Huzi,” a celebrated aria from the Chinese classic opera The Savage Land. Her elegant vocal artistry and expressive interpretation earned enthusiastic applause, making the performance one of the evening's most memorable moments.
In addition to her operatic performances, Sandidge delighted the audience with an intimate guitar-and-vocal set. Accompanying herself on a small guitar, she performed with effortless charm, adding a warm, relaxed touch to the evening's elegant program.
Chinese tenor Li Zhentao (Tom Lee) also delivered a compelling performance, earning enthusiastic applause for his powerful voice and expressive artistry.
The evening's program brought together masterpieces from the Western operatic repertoire alongside selections from the Chinese classic opera The Savage Land, reflecting AVA's commitment to fostering artistic dialogue across cultures and offering a glimpse of its ambitious international vision for the future.
As a partner of the event, Steinway Piano Gallery Pasadena provided the venue for the concert. Bo Feng, head of the gallery and a master’s degree holder in piano performance, congratulated AVA on its twenty-year artistic journey in his welcoming remarks and expressed his hope to continue supporting high-quality opera productions, music education, and international cultural exchange.
Twenty Years Ago, It All Began in Pasadena
AVA’s artistic story begins in 2006.
That year, legendary Italian tenor Carlo Bergonzi held a series of vocal masterclasses in Pasadena, California. One of the 20th century’s most influential Verdi tenors, Bergonzi brought an exacting professional commitment to opera and a deep dedication to nurturing young singers. His philosophy profoundly influenced AVA’s subsequent direction.
Art must be passed on, and young artists need a real stage. Over time, this belief became a defining artistic principle that AVA has upheld for twenty years.
In an interview, AVA Artistic Director and CEO Kristof Van Grysperre recalled that Carlo Bergonzi had held his masterclasses in Pasadena twenty years earlier. Two decades later, the community had gathered in the same city once again—this time to celebrate AVA’s twenty-year artistic journey.
Van Grysperre said that while AVA is an opera organization, one of its central missions is to discover and cultivate emerging opera talent preparing to enter the professional stage. AVA not only provides training for young artists, but also gives them opportunities to work and perform alongside seasoned professionals, gaining experience in real production and performance environments.
He noted that AVA does more than produce opera. The organization has continually considered how opera can build a more direct and meaningful connection with contemporary audiences. In both repertoire selection and production approaches, AVA does not shy away from modern works or contemporary forms of expression. Instead, it seeks to ensure that opera continues to be understood and felt in a new era.
Over the past twenty years, AVA has presented full opera productions, concerts, masterclasses, and arts education programs while gradually developing a training system for emerging artists. Its educational work extends beyond singers to collaborative pianists, opera conductors, vocal coaches, and other professional disciplines.
Through guidance from professional mentors, systematic training, and practical stage experience, young artists are able to build professional expertise within a complete opera production environment and gradually advance toward broader professional opportunities.
Many Languages on One Stage, Music as a Common Language
During the event, Jessica Sandidge performed works in French, Italian, Czech, and Mandarin, vividly demonstrating opera’s ability to transcend language and culture.
In an interview, Sandidge said she was delighted to perform with AVA, with Kristof Van Grysperre at the piano. She also said she was especially looking forward to hearing Li Zhentao perform and hoped audiences would enjoy the 20th anniversary celebration.
Speaking about the Chinese opera The Savage Land, Sandidge said she had only recently begun learning about the work through Van Grysperre’s introduction. She described the opera as very beautiful and deeply affecting, and expressed interest in the possibility of participating in a future production.
AVA board member Li Meiling said that through music and opera, AVA brings a spirit of harmony and connection to the community. In her view, music knows no borders and is itself a unique common language.
Li noted that people from different countries, with different forms of dress, songs, and cultural backgrounds, can come together through music, understand one another, and form connections. That, she said, is what makes music so precious and so powerful.
For Its Next Twenty Years, AVA Turns to The Savage Land
At the 20th anniversary celebration, AVA formally unveiled its major future international arts program, the International Opera Initiative.
The first project in this long-term international initiative is the Chinese classic opera The Savage Land.
AVA artistic project planner Ange Yang said in an interview that she was delighted to celebrate AVA’s 20th anniversary in Pasadena alongside guests from across the community. On this important occasion, AVA also formally announced plans to present a new production of The Savage Land in the summer of 2027.
As an overseas Chinese and a pianist, Yang said she feels a particularly deep sense of anticipation for the project. She hopes to introduce this outstanding Chinese opera to a wider audience and allow artists and audiences from different cultural backgrounds to experience the artistic power of Chinese opera together.
Unlike traditional approaches to producing Chinese opera overseas, AVA is proposing a concept with a stronger emphasis on international and cross-cultural collaboration:
An international professional opera production team will lead the production framework, bringing Chinese and Western artists together to reinterpret a Chinese operatic classic through the artistic language and professional practices of the international opera stage.
AVA plans to assemble directors, conductors, professional orchestras, stage designers, and production teams from Europe and the United States, while working in close collaboration with artists from China and the Chinese community. While respecting the original cultural meaning and artistic spirit of The Savage Land, the project will explore the work on multiple levels, including stage language, musical expression, and international production practices.
AVA hopes to address a thought-provoking question:
Can Chinese opera do more than simply “go abroad” and instead truly enter the international system of operatic artistic exchange?
That question lies at the heart of what makes AVA’s international production of The Savage Land especially noteworthy.
He Played Jiao Daxing Twenty Years Ago; Two Decades Later, His Connection to The Savage Land Continues
Chinese tenor Tom Lee said in an interview that the concert was not only a celebration of AVA’s 20th anniversary, but also an opportunity to begin a conversation with audiences ahead of the planned 2027 production of The Savage Land.
Lee said he was very pleased to accept Kristof’s invitation to participate in the concert. In his view, The Savage Land is a highly representative classic of Chinese opera and a work of significant artistic value.
Even more meaningfully, Lee took part in a production of The Savage Land twenty years ago, performing the important role of Jiao Daxing.
Twenty years ago, he portrayed Jiao Daxing onstage. Two decades later, he came to AVA’s 20th anniversary celebration and once again found himself speaking about the opera.
Lee said he hopes he may have another opportunity to perform in The Savage Land next year. He also hopes this Chinese operatic classic can be introduced to the United States, allowing more international audiences to discover and appreciate the art of Chinese opera.
This artistic connection spanning two decades creates a particularly moving resonance between The Savage Land and AVA’s 20th anniversary.
Alex Xu, an advisor to AVA’s Advisory Committee, said he was honored to be invited to AVA’s 20th anniversary event.
He recalled that AVA’s artistic roots can be traced to Carlo Bergonzi’s 2006 masterclasses in Pasadena. Bergonzi’s pursuit of operatic excellence and his commitment to nurturing young artists became an important spiritual foundation for AVA’s work over the years.
Xu said AVA has consistently emphasized opera education and the cultivation of young artistic talent throughout its twenty-year history. After learning of AVA’s plans to produce The Savage Land in 2027, he expressed great anticipation for the project and said he hopes to see the work on a Los Angeles stage next year, introducing Chinese opera to more audiences.
More Than Simply Bringing a Chinese Opera Overseas
Kristof Van Grysperre said AVA hopes the international production of The Savage Land will explore new ways of presenting Chinese classic opera on the international stage.
He noted that AVA’s artistic spirit is rooted in Carlo Bergonzi’s love of opera and his steadfast belief in cultivating young artists. For twenty years, AVA has believed that opera is not only a stage art, but also a bridge connecting culture, education, and people.
Through The Savage Land project, AVA hopes to collaborate with artists from different countries and cultural backgrounds, introduce Chinese opera to a wider international audience, and foster deeper exchange and understanding between cultures.
For AVA, the international production of The Savage Land is not simply about taking a Chinese opera overseas.
The real challenges are:
How can artists from different cultural backgrounds come to understand a Chinese story together?
How can the production preserve the cultural core of the work while allowing international audiences to enter the story through a familiar operatic language?
And how can Chinese opera truly participate in the global dialogue of operatic art?
These are among the major questions AVA hopes to explore in the years ahead.
From Stage to Screen: Creating an International Visual Record of Chinese Opera
Notably, AVA’s international production plan for The Savage Land extends beyond the stage.
AVA also announced plans to develop a documentary and an opera film based on The Savage Land.
The documentary is intended to chronicle the international production team’s entire creative process, from project planning, casting, and musical preparation to rehearsals and the final performance. Cameras will enter rehearsal rooms and backstage spaces to capture the collaborative journey of Chinese and Western artists as languages, cultures, and artistic ideas meet and interact.
At the same time, AVA plans to use professional multi-camera filming and cinematic post-production to create an opera film of The Savage Land.
The resulting footage is expected to reach international audiences through digital platforms, giving those unable to attend the theater an opportunity to encounter and appreciate Chinese opera.
AVA hopes the project will be more than a record of a single performance.
It may also become a visual document of an era in Chinese opera’s journey toward the international stage.
Twenty Years Later, Setting Out Once Again
From Carlo Bergonzi’s masterclasses in Pasadena in 2006 to the launch of the international production plan for The Savage Land today, AVA has traveled a twenty-year artistic journey.
Across those two decades, artists onstage have changed, young singers have grown, and new conductors, collaborative pianists, and vocal coaches have moved toward professional careers.
Yet AVA has remained committed to one belief:
The life of opera lies in its inheritance—and in its continual rediscovery.
Now, at the milestone of its 20th anniversary, AVA has chosen the Chinese classic opera The Savage Land as the starting point for its International Opera Initiative.
It is both a new artistic adventure and a new invitation from an opera organization with twenty years behind it to the world stage.
For AVA, twenty years is a moment to look back. The Savage Land is a new beginning. From legendary tenor Carlo Bergonzi’s masterclasses to two decades of artistic legacy, AVA opens a new chapter of international collaboration with the Chinese classic opera The Savage Land