Huang Ruo
I acquired the fee for this opera from Houston Grand Opera again in 2013, for his or her Music of Houston initiative, and I discovered this Houston-based story about Diane Tran. I used to be drawn to Diane’s story on the time as a result of I’m very excited about Asian American tales—not solely due to my very own cultural background, but in addition due to the experiences of younger Asian Individuals. Many second-generation Asian Individuals really feel an uncomfortable relationship with their cultural heritage. They had been born and raised in America, English is their first language, American tradition is their tradition—and but, do they really feel like they belong fully?

Sure explores how these younger individuals are typically pulled between competing duties: to their schoolwork, to offer for his or her households, and to the cruel realities of life. I wished to make use of this opera to discover these contradictions.

Bao-Lengthy Chu
I’m a Vietnamese refugee myself—my household came to visit in 1975—and though we had a unique expertise than Diane’s household, I really feel a way of connection to any story about Vietnamese Individuals residing with loss. When Huang approached me about creating this piece in regards to the Vietnamese American expertise, I initially thought I wished to jot down about my mom. My mother and father had been born in North Vietnam and misplaced every part when the nation divided in 1952. After shifting south to rebuild their lives, they misplaced every part as soon as once more in 1975, once they got here to America. I wished to inform that story of loss and grief, and the way these emotions can flip into guilt. However I wanted a body to make it translate to an viewers.

It was by luck that I discovered Diane’s story, which supplied exactly the framing I wanted. Diane was residing with a generational trauma that numerous Vietnamese refugees dwell with. There’s a loss that I believe each Vietnamese refugee carries with them day by day. And I believe America typically forgets that the thought of crossing our bodies of water to succeed in new shores is, in some ways, ingrained the American lifestyle. So it simply made sense for me to jot down this story in a means that not solely displays my specific Vietnamese American expertise, but in addition resonates with all of us as human beings.

Nina Yoshida Nelsen as Khanh and Lei Xu as Diane in Sure at Houston Grand Opera in 2014. © Mayra Beltran / Houston Chronicle

Seattle Opera
Did you interpolate a few of your personal mom’s experiences into the character of the mom within the opera?

Bao-Lengthy Chu
Oh, 100%. The information story about Diane was very temporary. We all know what occurred along with her night time in jail, however we do not know the prologue, so to talk—or what occurred afterwards. So I had the luxurious of taking that body and filling out the main points. The character of the mom within the opera is fictional, however she helps us discover extra deeply the connection between mom and daughter. It was essential to the story to have that perspective.

Seattle Opera
The title of the piece displays the state of affairs that the principle character, Diane Tran, finds herself in—she’s “sure” to conflicting obligations. Are you able to inform me what it means to you to be “sure” to one thing?

Bao-Lengthy Chu
“Sure” is such a wealthy phrase as a result of it has a number of layered meanings. It reverberates by means of all of the characters within the story in numerous methods. For one, it implies a form of tethering to the previous, which we see within the character of the mom. She is sure by loss, by guilt, by grief. She’s sure by reminiscences, and you may see within the piece how these reminiscences hang-out her. Alternatively, Diane is sure to the principles of younger maturity: to attending faculty and doing her homework. However as a result of she had been left to maintain her siblings, she’s additionally sure by responsibility to her household. She has to make these robust choices between attending faculty and dealing to help her siblings. And at last, the choose is sure to the regulation. Being a choose means you’re sure to make robust choices.

As people, we incessantly must make onerous choices. Some choices are benign, however others depart a wake of grief. In a means, all of us must bear this form of weight of being human, being aware of sorrows, and grief, and loss.

Information protection of Diane Tran’s sentencing on KHOU-11 in Houston in 2012.

Seattle Opera
What do you hope audiences will get out of this story?

Huang Ruo
I bear in mind seeing an interview with the true Diane Tran, the place she tearfully admitted, “I assumed my household was completely happy.” I’m positive this isn’t a singular expertise. So many younger folks develop up not realizing what is going on on with their mother and father, pondering every part is okay till in the future the underside falls out. Every character within the opera has their very own wrestle, their very own dilemmas and motivations. While you juxtapose these characters, it turns into a vivid reflection of American society. I would like audiences to have the ability to see themselves of their tales and perhaps even perceive their very own dilemmas a bit higher.

Seattle Opera
How has your perspective on this story modified because you wrote the piece in 2014?