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FULL PALE COURAGE (Kyong Mee Choi) Chicago IL 2022 CCPA Music Conservatory Roosevelt University
Information on the Performance
- Work Title: Pale Courage
- Composer: Kyong Mee Choi
- Libretto: Bianca Lee Libretto Text, Libretto Index
- Venue & Opera Company: Merle Reskin Theatre, Chicago, Illinois, CCPA Music Conservatory - Roosevelt University
- Recorded: March 18, 2022
- Type: Staged Opera Live
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE
Pale Courage’ is a three-act opera based on the true story of the composer’s grand-aunt who chose starvation as a way to fight for her dreams. At the beginning of the 20th century, Korea faced a struggle between traditional Confucian values and emerging Western ideologies. In 1910, Japan abolished the king of Joseon and annexed Korea. American missionaries entered Korea and began to establish Western-style women’s education institutions. Born in 1904, Lady Jade Song was the daughter of a wealthy and eminent nobleman. She had mastered Chinese literature, calligraphy, embroidery, and other aspects of culture required of Korean high-class women of that time, and was considered suitable for housewives and mothers. However, she wanted to be independent and make her own decisions. Also, she did not want a matchmade marriage, which was the custom of the nobility. Finding an opportunity to go to school and get a Western education, Lady Jade Song begged her father to send her to school. Being a traditionalist, her father refused and compelled her to obey him and marry a man of the same class he had arranged for. Seeing her dreams slipping away, she chose to fight with the only means she had—by refusing to eat. Tragically, her objection via starvation did not change her father’s mind and she died. He subsequently blamed her for ruining the family name and ancestors’ legacy. Later, when Lady Jade Song’s meant-to-be husband Seon-Bi Lee was informed of the manner of her death he mourned deeply and decided to open himself to new ideas.