Xian Introduces Seattle Audiences to Iris Unveiled

By Kurt Loft

Consider it a cultural fusion, a meeting of two disparate but compatible forces on stage. The visual and musical styles of Peking opera and its Western counterpart may seem like opposites, but when blended they produce intriguing similarities: emotional highs, dramatic twists and aching pathos. 

With Iris Dévoilée (Iris Unveiled), Chinese-French composer Qigang Chen bridges Eastern and Western musical cultures while creating an intriguing sound world of unexpected colors and textures. The result is a compelling mix of Eastern elements — Peking opera-style singing in Mandarin, melodic motifs and traditional Chinese instrumentation — with modern Western orchestral writing and operatic vocals. 

Seattle Symphony audiences can experience the dramatic and sensuous textures of Iris Unveiled during next month’s staging (February 12, 14 & 15, 2026) under the baton of Music Director Xian Zhang. Paired with Chen’s visionary oratorio is Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony, composed under the threat of totalitarianism and a defining masterpiece of the 20th century.

Chen’s work is cast in nine states or moods. “The music lures listeners into a dream world across nine distinct movements, each unveiling a unique facet of the complex female protagonist — like nine petals forming the flower of Iris,” Zhang said.

She compares the work to Gustav Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde (The Song of the Earth), as both make use of solo voices and large orchestra. “To me, it is the counterpart to Das Lied,” she said. “While Mahler masterfully portrays Asian poetry and beauty from a Western perspective, Chen achieves the same from within Chinese culture, reaching out to Western listeners with luscious and hypnotic impressionist sonorities.” 

Chen may not be a familiar name to most, but audiences worldwide have embraced his eclectic body of work over the years. Born in China in 1951, he was particularly sensitive to the sounds of musical instruments and their possibilities at a young age, and he began a serious study of the arts in school. He emigrated to France in 1983, studying extensively with the famed composer Olivier Messiaen, whose compositional detail and nuance had a profound impact on Chen’s own musical style. A decade later, he became a French citizen.

But Chen didn’t fall into a nationalistic camp. Instead, he wove elements of the French styles of Ravel, Debussy and Messiaen into indigenous Chinese patterns and sounds, finding similarities that made his music feel free and unforced. In Iris, we hear Italian bel canto opera techniques alongside the phrasing and unique tonalities of Peking opera, with added textures of the pipa, or “Chinese lute”; erhu, a two-stringed bowed instrument; and guzheng, also known as zheng, a Chinese zither. When incorporating the traditions and style of Peking Opera, Chen chose to examine the idea of the male gaze toward female characters and how that perspective affects the storytelling.

“In 2000, I collaborated on the full-evening ballet, Raise the Red Lantern,” Chen told the Santa Barbara Independent. “This project gave me the opportunity to work with [Peking] opera singers, which led to a more in-depth understanding of that genre, and this in turn had an impact on composing Iris Dévoilée.” 

One Chinese soprano with strong ties to the work is Meng Meng, who sang in the world premiere 24 years ago and has continued to appear in various performances of it since then. She will reprise her position as the work’s Peking opera vocal soloist in the Seattle production. “I haven’t seen anybody else who’s capable of doing the role so well, at such a convincing level,” Zhang said. “You will see her wearing this Peking opera headpiece with the traditional makeup and style of the genre. It’s very distinctive and striking.”

Meng Meng will be joined by two Western-style opera soloists, sopranos Mei Gui Zhang and Tess Altiveros, as well as three musicians who are experts in their traditional Chinese instruments: Yang Jin (pipa), Cathy Yang (erhu) and Lucina Yue (zheng). These women, with Xian at the helm, will give their interpretation of Chen’s work in what will be a breathtaking spectacle of the divine feminine. 

As for the text itself, Chen always expects varying reactions from women, especially those unfamiliar with the magnified emotion of Peking opera and the nine “moods” or movements of the work: Ingenious, Chaste, Libertine, Sensitive, Tender, Jealous, Melancholic, Hysterical and Voluptuous. “I would imagine the female audiences’ reaction would vary considerably, depending on their nationalities and ages,” he added.  

Completed in 2001, the work received international attention two years later when EMI/Virgin Classics released an album devoted to Chen’s music, including Iris, and his international presence grew from there. In 2005, Chen won the Grand Prix de la Musique Symphonique in recognition of his career achievements. In 2008, he was invited to be the music director for the 2008 Olympic Opening Ceremony in Beijing and composed its official theme song. And in 2013, the French government awarded him the prestigious Chevalier de l’Ordre des arts et des lettres, a high honor that recognizes significant contributions to the French arts. 

While the composer devised an elaborate literary program to explain Iris, it needs no introduction, notes the British online newspaper The Independent, which reviewed a 2015 performance by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales under the baton of Xian: “Its 42 minutes slipped by in a gorgeous sequence of atmospheres, often dreamlike, occasionally furiously galvanized in a delicately constructed sonic labyrinth.” 

In reviewing the same performance, The Guardian newspaper noted that “Iris is essentially a sensuous love song addressed to the flower-like woman of the title, possibly a courtesan … the score is utterly beguiling.” 

Music Director Xian Zhang is generously sponsored by Dr. and Mrs. Charles and Lisa Simonyi and an anonymous donor. 

Xian Zhang’s position is generously underwritten as the Harriet Overton Stimson Music Director.