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DESCRIPTION:July 17th In San Francisco New Opera  "Echoes of Eureka", a powerful 
 seven-movement opera about Chinese immigration to California  by Artistic 
 Director, Eric 
 Tua\nhttps://www.piedmontchoirs.org/spotlight-echoes-of-eureka\nGolden Gate 
 Festival: Spotlight Concert 5\nPEBCC & Vox Aurea\nIn collaboration with the 
 Chinese Historical Society of America\nFriday, July 17, 2026\n4 PM          
                  \nECHOES OF EUREKA \nA NEW OPERA BRIDGING HISTORY AND 
 HOPE\nCLICK HERE FOR THE DIGITAL PROGRAM!\nPiedmont East Bay Children’s 
 Choir proudly presents Echoes of Eureka, a powerful seven-movement opera by 
 Artistic Director, Eric Tuan. This inspiring new work brings to life a 
 pivotal chapter of California’s history, shedding light on the struggles 
 and resilience of Chinese immigrants in the 19th century. Echoes of Eureka 
 emerges as a timely piece, resonating with contemporary conversations on 
 justice, inclusion, and belonging.\n\nEchoes of Eureka follows the true 
 story of Charley Wei Lum, a young Chinese immigrant who arrived in 1880s 
 California and settled in Eureka, a thriving redwood logging town that 
 housed the largest Chinese community in the state outside of San Francisco. 
 During the height of the Gilded Age—a period of deep economic inequality 
 and rising anti-immigrant sentiment—Charley and his community faced 
 devastating violence. In 1885, an angry mob expelled Eureka’s 300 Chinese 
 residents, forcing them onto a steamship bound for San Francisco. Charley 
 narrowly escaped lynching thanks to a compassionate clergyman. In the 
 aftermath, the exiled Chinese community took the unprecedented step of 
 filing a federal lawsuit—the first known attempt at seeking reparations 
 in U.S. history. The ways they fought back included several foundational 
 Supreme Court cases, including Wong Kim Ark, which established the basis 
 for birthright citizenship. \n\nComposer Eric Tuan reflects, "I first heard 
 this story in a book called Driven Out by historian Jean Pfaelzer, which 
 documents the hundreds of anti-Chinese deportations and lynchings that took 
 place in California. I composed the seven-movement opera, narrating the 
 story in collaboration with Jean Pfaelzer, fellow historian Alex Service, 
 and Humboldt Asians & Pacific Islanders in Solidarity. We’re very 
 grateful to have received a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts 
 to support the opera and presented the world premiere at our Making History 
 Concert on April 12, 2025 followed by performances in Eureka itself in May 
 2025. The resonances with our national life are striking, and I hope 
 you’ll attend one of our upcoming performances.”\nECHOES OF\nEUREKA\nA 
 New Opera\nBridging History and Hope\nImage: Courtesy of Cal Poly Humboldt 
 Library Special CollectionsECHOES OF EUREKA\nT A B L E O F C O N T E N T 
 S\n01\n03\n07\n08\n18\n19\n21\n23\n25\nAbout the Opera\nWelcome 
 Letters\nProgram\nSynopsis & Libretto\nSingers\nAbout the Artists\nAbout 
 the Choir\nLeadership & Staff\nAcknowledgementsABOUT THE OPERA\nEchoes of 
 Eureka is a new choral opera which sheds light\non the struggles and 
 resilience of Chinese immigrants\nto California during the 19th century. 
 Commissioned by\nScott Ziegler and Shirley Pao in honor of their 
 children\nZia and Veda, the opera was composed for the Piedmont\nEast Bay 
 Children’s Choir by Artistic Director Eric Tuan.\nImage: Courtesy Clarke 
 Historical Museum\nEchoes of Eureka follows the true story of “Charley” 
 Wei\nLum, a young Chinese immigrant who arrived in 1880s\nCalifornia and 
 settled in Eureka, a thriving redwood log-\nging town that housed one of 
 the largest Chinese com-\nmunities in the state outside of San Francisco. 
 During\nthe height of the Gilded Age—a period of deep 
 economic\ninequality and rising anti-immigrant sentiment—Charley\nand his 
 community faced devastating violence. In 1885,\nan angry mob expelled 
 Eureka’s 300 Chinese residents,\nforcing them onto a steamship bound for 
 San Francisco.\nCharley narrowly escaped lynching thanks to a 
 compas-\nsionate clergyman.In the aftermath, the exiled Chinese community 
 took the\nunprecedented step of filing a federal lawsuit—the first\nknown 
 attempt at seeking reparations in U.S. history.\nThe Chinese communities of 
 California continued their\nresistance through several foundational Supreme 
 Court\ncases including Wong Kim Ark, which established the ba-\nsis for 
 birthright citizenship. Echoes of Eureka emerges as\na timely piece, 
 resonating with contemporary conversa-\ntions on justice, inclusion, and 
 belonging.\nEchoes of Eureka is a collaboration with Humboldt Asians\nand 
 Pacific Islanders in Solidarity and Cal Poly Humboldt;\npoets Emily Jiang 
 and Daryl Ngee Chinn; historians Jean\nPfaelzer (author of “Driven 
 Out”) and Alex Service; part-\nner choir Vox Aurea, directed by Sanna 
 Salminen; and\nchoreographer Daniel Raaflaub. We are deeply grateful\nto be 
 in community with these amazing artists, thinkers,\nand creators.Welcome 
 from PEBCC’s Artistic Director\nAround ten years ago, I picked\nup a copy 
 of Jean Pfaelzer’s re-\nmarkable work of history, Driven\nOut. I was 
 shocked to learn of the\nhundreds of anti-Chinese depor-\ntations and 
 lynchings that had taken place across the\nAmerican West, alongside the 
 heroic efforts of Chinese\ncommunities to fight back through lawsuits and 
 mass civ-\nil disobedience. Despite being a lifelong California res-\nident 
 of Chinese descent, I had never heard any of this\nbefore.\nI was 
 particularly haunted by the story of one particu-\nlar young man, 
 “Charley” Wei Lum, who lived in the red-\nwood logging town of Eureka 
 on California’s foggy north-\nern coast. When an angry white mob expelled 
 Eureka’s\nChinese community in 1885, Charley was nearly lynched\nafter 
 trying to say goodbye to his white neighbors. Only\nthe timely intervention 
 of a sympathetic minister saved\nhim from the scaffold.\nCharley’s story 
 echoes uncannily across the years into\nour own time. Eureka’s Chinese 
 community was accused\nof bringing crime and taking away jobs from “real 
 Amer-\nicans”. They were deported en masse and fought back\nin the courts 
 to seek redress. And amid the chaos, their\nneighbors made choices about 
 whether to stand up or\nstay silent.\nThis is an old story - but it is your 
 story, too. When you\ncarry it away into the world, who will you 
 be?\nArtistic Director and ComposerWelcome from Jean Pfaelzer\nSpeak 
 Memory\nProfessor Jean Pfaelzer is an interna-\ntionally recognized scholar 
 and public\nintellectual in the fields of American\nHistory, Asian American 
 Studies, Cul-\ntural & Literary Studies, Gender Studies, and Slavery. 
 Writing\nabout multi-racial stories and hidden histories drawn from\nburied 
 archives, Jean is committed to finding and giving voice\nto individuals and 
 experiences that have been overlooked\nor silenced for far too long in 
 American history. Jean’s book\nDriven Out was the inspiration for Echoes 
 of Eureka.\nThe Chinese called it Pai Hua, or The Driven Out. My jour-\nney 
 into this history began in the 1970s when I moved\nwith my six-year-old 
 daughter into a cabin in the redwood\nforest of remote Humboldt County to 
 begin my career as\na temporary professor of American Studies. Each 
 morning\nI would drive south through a little community of beach\ncottages, 
 damp and empty in the chilled fog and gray\nlight of California’s north 
 coast, past jagged rocks and\npowerful crashing waves, where tall white 
 egrets guard-\ned the fern prairies, finally climbing the hill to 
 Humboldt\nState University (now Cal Poly Humboldt)—my first aca-\ndemic 
 job. I was living on Yurok land. That year President\nNixon resigned; the 
 following spring the last American\nsoldier was killed in Vietnam. And 
 Vietnamese refugees,\nmany “boat people,” slowly found their way to the 
 United\nStates, many to California. The Civil Rights movement was\ntracking 
 victories of access to voting rights and education.\nOur spirits were 
 hopeful.\nHumboldt State then had an unusual mix of white and\ntribal 
 students. But in my classes and in the hallways andat tense meetings 
 demanding that Native American his-\ntory and myths be taught, I noticed 
 the complete ab-\nsence of Asian American students. I was born and 
 raised\nin Los Angeles. This did not look like the California I\nknew. When 
 I asked about the absence of Asian kids, I\nwas told by a local poet that 
 Chinese parents would not\nsend their kids to HSU because ninety years 
 earlier, Chi-\nnese immigrants—gardeners, domestic servants, 
 fisher-\nmen, merchants, laundry workers, cooks—had been driv-\nen 
 out—purged—from the lumber town of Eureka.\nFor hundreds and hundreds 
 of years before gold miners\nand the lumber companies arrived in Humboldt, 
 Yurok\npeople lived in small clans along the lagoons. They called\nthe land 
 Oketo—“there where it is calm.” Within a year\nI left Humboldt for a 
 regular professorship at Univ. Cali-\nfornia San Diego, but I had fallen in 
 love with the coun-\nty and bought a share in a rustic cabin. As I returned 
 to\nHumboldt every year, I remained haunted by the missing\nstudents. And 
 as with other places of great beauty, I was\ndisturbed by the history of 
 violence embedded in the\nlandscape.\nThirty years later I decided to find 
 the story of the miss-\ning Asians. On the first day of my quest, sitting 
 at a\ncloudy microfilm reader at the UC Berkeley library, I dis-\ncovered a 
 much larger story and I began to follow the\nfootsteps of thousands of 
 Chinese people who were vi-\nolently thrown onto rail cars, steams, or 
 logging rafts,\nmarched out of town, expelled not just from Eureka 
 but\nfrom towns along the Pacific Coast to the rocky Moun-\ntains, from 
 Seattle and Portland, into the Siskiyou Moun-\ntains, down through the arid 
 Central valley to Los Ange-\nles. Between 1850 and 1906 there were close to 
 two\nhundred rounds, designed to rid the United States of\nChinese 
 people.\nI also learned that the Chinese fought every effort to\nexpel them 
 from the coast, from orchards and vine-\nyards. In Wing Hing vs. the city 
 of Eureka (1885-6) theyfiled the first lawsuit for reparations. In San Jose 
 they\nused trespass law to sue against police harassment. In\nTruckee they 
 bought rifles from China. The Chinese gar-\ndeners organized vegetable 
 boycotts against hotels and\nhouseholds that supported the anti-Chinese 
 purges.\nKidnapped Chinese prostitutes fled. Elsewhere they re-\nturned 
 laundry, neatly folded but still dirty.\nI believe that “tellings” knit 
 communities together and let\nhealing begin. People on the run do not stop 
 to tell their\nstories. But in history, monuments, stories, and 
 song—\n“echoes” bring us to truth, and to justice that 
 repairs.\nWelcome from HAPI\nHumboldt Asians & Pacific Islanders in 
 Solidarity (HAPI)\nbuilds and empowers our community by amplifying 
 di-\nverse voices and perspectives for a more engaged and\ninclusive 
 future. We are honored to have supported\nEchoes of Eureka, a 
 groundbreaking and transformative\nwork with special resonance with our 
 community. HAPI\nand our Eureka Chinatown Project deeply appreciate 
 the\nwell-researched approach that Eric Tuan has taken to\ndepict vividly 
 the historical events occurring around the\nEureka Chinatown expulsions. 
 Eric’s ability to transform\nhistorical facts into moving drama and 
 dynamic lyricism\nbrings this story into contemporary meaning. It is a 
 great\ngift.\n-Humboldt Asians & Pacific Islanders in Solidarity 
 (HAPI)PROGRAM\nEchoes of Eureka\nEric Tuan (b. 1990)\nCommissioned by Scott 
 Ziegler and Shirley Pao,\ndedicated to Zia and Veda,\nfor the Piedmont East 
 Bay Children’s Choir\nI.\nII.\nIII.\nIV.\nV.\nVI.\nVII.\nThis is the 
 Story of Charley Wei\nWipe Out the Plague Spots (Text from The\nHumboldt 
 Times and the memoir of the Rev.\nCharles Huntington, courtesy of Alex 
 Service.)\nSolidarity\nBoarding the Boats\nInterlude: Now Comes Wing 
 Hing\nWhy Should I Leave?\nDoes the Land Forget? ( Text excerpted from 
 “The\nWater Book of Questions” by Daryl Ngee Chinn.\nUsed by permission 
 of the poet.)\nEchoes\nPiedmont East Bay Children’s Choir\nEric Tuan, 
 Conductor and Artistic Director\nKymry Esainko, Collaborative 
 Pianist\nDaniel Raaflaub, ChoreographerSYNOPSIS\nEchoes of Eureka sets the 
 scene with a narrative prologue\n(“This is the Story of Charley Wei”) 
 before depicting the\nmob violence that drove the Chinese community 
 from\nEureka in 1885 (“Wipe Out the Plague Spots”). A sym-\npathetic 
 minister saves Charley from being lynched on\na scaffold, leading to a 
 reflection on what it means to\nstand together against violence 
 (“Solidarity”). As the Chi-\nnese community boards the ships that will 
 carry them\nto San Francisco, they protest by sharing their names\nand 
 stories (“Boarding the Boats”). Upon arriving in San\nFrancisco, they 
 file suit for reparations (“Interlude: Now\nComes Wing Hing”) and fight 
 back against their mass\ndeportation (“Why Should I Leave”). The opera 
 con-\ncludes by inviting us to reflect on the powerful ambigu-\nity of 
 historical memory (“Does the Land Forget?”) and\ninsisting that while 
 this is an old story, it is our story too\n(“Echoes”).\nLibretto\nI. 
 This is the Story of Charley Wei\nThis is the story of Charley 
 Wei:\nEighteen years old, resident of Eureka, Gold Mountain,\nHome to 
 redwoods, sky, and sea.In eighteen hundred and eighty five,\nCharley and 
 his neighbors were expelled.\nPacked onto ships, houses burned 
 down,\nBusinesses looted, threatened with the noose, driven out\n-\nBecause 
 they were Chinese.\nIn San Francisco they regrouped, fought back, resisted 
 in\nthe courts -\nMade history.\nThis is an old story, but it is your story 
 too.\nWhen you carry it away into the world,\nWho will you be?\nII. Wipe 
 Out the Plague Spots\nText: adapted from articles in the Humboldt Times, 
 gra-\nciously shared by Humboldt County historian Alex Ser-\nvice. Inspired 
 by Jean Pfalezer’s book Driven Out and the\nmemoir of the Rev. Charles 
 Huntington.\nWipe out the plague spots!\nDid you hear the news?\nCouncilman 
 Kendall’s been shot!\nCaught in a shootout between two Chinese gangsters, 
 up\nfrom San Francisco.\nThose Chinese. They’re always bringing crime - 
 bloody\nbrawls, opium dens, and God knows what else.\nThis is the last 
 straw. This leper’s colony is a curse to the\ncity. Goodbye to Chinatown 
 - all three hundred of them.\nThey must go!\nThis leprous, pestilential 
 hellhole - this leper’s colony is a\ncurse to the city.\nWhat are you 
 doing here? Can’t you read the sign?“Any Chinese seen on the street 
 after three o’clock to-day\nwill be hung to this gallows.”\nGrab your 
 things and take them to the wharf. The boats for\nSan Francisco are sailing 
 tonight, and you’d better be on\nthem.\nWhy? What have I done?\nYou are 
 Chinese, and you must go.\nYou must leave today. No Chinese person can live 
 in Hum-\nboldt County.\nGoodbye to Chinatown!\nThe Chinese must never 
 return. They must go! Say good-\nbye to Chinatown.\nIt’s nearly three 
 o’clock. The Chinese should all be at the\nwharf by now.\nLook! There’s 
 one we haven’t caught yet! And entering a\nwhite man’s 
 house.\nWhere’s that Chinese boy who just ran in?\nCharley is here on his 
 way to the wharf. He is a member of\nour church, and just called to say 
 goodbye and ask for our\nprayers.\nOut of the way! We want him now.\nWe 
 want him now! Wipe out the plague spots! Hang the\nChinese!\nBoys, take 
 that rope off that boy’s neck! If you hang him\nyou’ll hang him over my 
 dead body!III. Solidarity\nWho will you be?\nIV. Boarding the Boats\nText: 
 Composer’s paraphrase of “Early Departure from\nBaidi City” by Li Bai 
 (701-762), and remembrances based\non Alex Service’s research on the 
 plaintiffs of the court\ncase Wing Hing vs. The City of Eureka, census 
 records\nfrom Humboldt County, and newspaper advertisements\nfor Chinese 
 businesses in Eureka.\nI left at dawn amid the fog,\nFour hundred miles in 
 just one day.\nThe monkeys mock me on the way,\nMy boat sweeps on past 
 rocky cliffs.\nMy name is Wong Hing. I’m forty-five years old and am 
 a\nmerchant from Guangdong.\nMy name is Sam Lee. I’m twenty-four years 
 old. I run the\n“New Chinese Laundry” on the corner of 4th Street and 
 E\nStreet.\nMy name is Yee Hop. I’m sixty years old and I’m a 
 bookkeep-\ner.\nMy name is Sieu Lin. I’m married to Yee Hop and I’m 
 here\nwith my son.\nMy name is Yee Ban On. I’m twelve years old.\nMy name 
 is Kang Hop. I’m sixty-two years old and married.\nI run a store selling 
 groceries, lacquerware, and clothing at\n4th Street and F Street.My name is 
 Hop Sing. I’m fifty-five years old and I’m a wash-\nerman.\nMy name is 
 Tom. I’m twenty-four years old and I’m a servant\nin the house of a 
 clergyman.\nMy name is Chan Woo. I’m twenty-five years old and I own\na 
 laundry.\nMy name is Woc Ho. I’m thirty-five years old and I work on\nthe 
 railroad.\nMy name is Charles. I’m twenty-two years old and I’m a 
 ser-\nvant for a local farmer.\nMy name is Jim. I’m thirty-eight years 
 old and I’m a lumber-\nman.\nMy name is Lung Mow. I’m twenty-nine years 
 old and I’m a\ncigar maker.\nMy name is Charlie Mok. I’m twenty-eight 
 years old. I run a\ngrocery store and employment office on E Street, 
 between\n4th and 5th.\nMy name is Hin Yee. I’m thirty-nine years old and 
 I’m a ped-\ndler.\nMy name is Ah Cow. I’m sixty years old and I own a 
 laundry.\nI came to Eureka with my wife and five of my cousins.\nMy name is 
 Leong Cook. I’m forty-five years old and I’m a\ntailor.\nMy name is Ah 
 Yung. I’m thirty-three years old and I’m a\ncook for the Flanagan 
 family.My name is Jow Lum. I’m twenty-nine years old and I 
 clean\nwool.\nMy name is Wong Chung Hai. I run a grocery and 
 clothing\nstore on E Street, between 4th and 5th.\nMy name is Mong Ching. 
 I’m forty years old. I’m a cook in a\nshingle mill.\nMy name is Chong 
 Quin. I’m thirty years old and I iron\nclothes in a laundry.\nMy name is 
 Fook Loui. I’m twenty-one years old and I’m a\ncook.\nMy name is Sing 
 Chung. I run the F Street Laundry between\n4th and 5th Streets.\nMy name is 
 Lun Kee. I sell fruits and confectionary.\nMy name is Mary. I’m thirty 
 years old and I’m a housekeeper.\nMy name is Wong Tai Sing. I’m 
 twenty-three years old and\nI’m a cook. I have a scar on the left side of 
 my forehead.\nMy name is Fong Chu. I’m forty-three years old and I was 
 a\ngold miner in the Sierra foothills.\nMy name is Yung King. I’m 
 twenty-four years old and I’m\nfrom a family of goldsmiths.\nMy name is 
 Lum Poy. I’m twenty-three years old and I’m a\nshoemaker.\nMy name is 
 Jake. I’m thirty-two years old, and I’m a cook for\nthe family of a 
 carpenter.My name is La Lung. I run a grocery store on the south side\nof 
 Chinatown.\nMy name is Ar Yung. I’m forty-seven years old and I’m a 
 gold\nminer in the Siskiyou Mountains.\nMy name is Sing Lee. I’m a 
 painter and carpenter.\nMy name is Sun Sing Kee. I’m a butcher and run a 
 grocery\nstore.\nMy name is Jim. I’m thirty four years old and I work at 
 the\nVance Hotel.\nMy name is Chan Mon. I’m twenty-nine years old, and 
 I’m a\nfisherman.\nMy name is Ah How. I’m forty years old, and I run a 
 laundry\nwith my husband Tam.\nMy name is Tung Sing. I run a washing and 
 ironing business-\nes on the northeast corner of 4th Street and E 
 Street.\nMy name is Ah Chung. I’m thirty-one years old. I’m a cook 
 in\na hotel.\nMy name is Suen Ying. I’m twenty-one years old and I 
 was\nborn here in California.\nInterlude: Now Comes Wing Hing\nNow comes 
 Wing Hing - plaintiff!\nVersus the City of Eureka - defendant!\nNow comes 
 Wing Hing by his Attorney Thomas D. Riordan,\nand complains of the 
 defendant The City of Eureka:The said action is brought to recover 
 thousands of dollars in\ndamages, due to a riot created by a mob of 
 disorderly and\nriotous persons.\nOn the 27th day of February 1885, the 
 rioters broke into\nthe premises of Wing Hing and Company.\nThe said 
 rioters destroyed their goods, and drove the mem-\nbers, and clerks, and 
 agents, and servants from their store\nand from their city.\nTherefore 
 plaintiff demands judgment against the defendant\nfor the sum of one 
 hundred and thirty two thousand eight\nhundred and twenty dollars, together 
 with his costs of suit.\nV. Why Should I Leave?\nText: Emily Jiang\nWhy? 
 Why should I leave?\nI’ve toiled these fields,\nI’ve worked this 
 land.\nI’ve sown so many\nseeds by hand.\nWhy? Why should I leave?\nI met 
 my wife\nWhile tending the land.\nWe’re raising children,\nTaught them to 
 stand.\nWhy must I leave at others’ command?\nI’ve done nothing 
 wrong.\nI must take a stand.You may take away my house,\nBut you can’t 
 take away my home.\nYou may take away my clothing,\nBut you can’t take 
 away my dignity.\nYou may take away my money,\nBut I will always be rich in 
 spirit.\nYou may take away my food,\nBut I will grow more.\nI stand as long 
 as I can\nAgainst injustice,\nAgainst tyranny.\nI stand as long as I 
 can\nFor my human rights,\nFor all human decency.\nI stand as long as I 
 can\nAgainst fear and ignorance,\nAgainst mobs of hate.\nI stand as long as 
 I can\nFor curiosity and understanding,\nFor empathy and love.\nAnd when I 
 can no longer stand,\nWhen I must rest and sit a while,\nOthers will stand 
 in my stead.\nUnited, we stand.\nDivided, we fall.\nWe stand for 
 freedom\nTo choose our homes,To raise our families,\nTo live our 
 dreams.\nVI. Does The Land Forget?\nText: Excerpted from “The Water Book 
 of Questions” by\nDaryl Ngee Chinn. Used by permission of the poet.\nDoes 
 the land forget?\nDoes the land deny?\nDoes the air remember?\nHow do we 
 talk without words?\nDo the animals and trees pass down memories,\nlike 
 horses standing silently next to one another?\nWhat is our language?\nWhat 
 is memory? Is it stories or rumors?\nIs it in a book never opened,\na stone 
 in rain?\nVII. Echoes\nThis is the story of Charley Wei:\nEighteen years 
 old, resident of Eureka, Gold Mountain.\nThis is an old story, but it is 
 your story too.\nWhen you carry it away into the world,\nWho will you 
 be?SINGERS\nE N S E M B L E\nC U R R E N T\nNicolas Adams\nRoya 
 Agarwal\nPhoebe An\nNora Bell\nAlexis Byrnes\nLaura Caceres Spears\nEmiko 
 Critchlow\nJoshua Daniel\nIsaac Ets-Hokin\nAnjali Falbo-Nicosia\nOlivia 
 Gamper\nZoe Grundy\nDaniel Hinton\nViolet Irie\nSarah Khan-Akselrod\nAudrey 
 Levin\nEmber McCall\nAyla Montanez\nAinsley Mullane\nGeorgia 
 Orcharton\nSophi Ouyang\nNora Pfister\nElodie Plauché\nJosie 
 Renaud\nMichael Sidbury\nFelix Sudat\nLisa Treichler\nMatilda 
 Trenkle\nMurielle Vance\nAviram Vartanian\nBeatrix Vartanian\nZofia 
 Wang\nMignon La’Niyah Michelle\nWilliams\nZuri Zkiyah Nia 
 Williams\nAlexandria Wilson\nCaroline Wolferson\nMolly Wolferson\n2 0 2 4 - 
 2 5\nE N S E M B L E\nKarena Che\nElana Cortes\nIlana Eustace-Shoham\nKeira 
 Lee\nMaeve McMullen\nLoki Olsen\nVeda Pao-Ziegler\nCarys Pligavko\nRafael 
 Rajan\nLaurna Sudat\nMei Takeuchi\nNaomi WalkerABOUT THE ARTISTS\nEric 
 Tuan—Artistic Director & Conductor—An alum and\nlongtime faculty member 
 of PEBCC, Eric began as Artis-\ntic Director of the organization in July 
 2019. Tuan cur-\nrently serves as the director of the Stanford Early 
 Music\nSingers, and served for twelve years as founding Artistic\nDirector 
 of the chamber chorus Convivium and Director\nof Music at Christ Episcopal 
 Church, Los Altos. In addi-\ntion to his work as a professional singer, 
 keyboardist, and\ncomposer, his choral music has been widely 
 performed\nthroughout the United States and Europe. Tuan received\nhis 
 Master of Music degree at the University of Cam-\nbridge with the support 
 of a Gates Cambridge Scholar-\nship, and his undergraduate degree from 
 Stanford Uni-\nversity.\nKymry Esainko—Collaborative Pianist—Kymry 
 Esainko is\nprincipal pianist for the Santa Rosa Symphony and en-\njoys 
 playing chamber music with many of his orchestra\ncolleagues. He plays with 
 Piedmont Community Church\nand with the chorus at LOPC, and loves playing 
 for both\nhis daughter Stella with Ensemble and his son Kai with\nPacific 
 Boychoir. He also performs regularly at Flower\nPiano every September in 
 Golden Gate Park. An accom-\nplished jazz and improvisatory pianist, Kymry 
 plays with\nMatt Small’s Crushing Spiral Ensemble and the silent 
 film\nensemble Club Foot Orchestra. Kymry graduated from\nOberlin College 
 and Conservatory of Music with degrees\nin piano performance and American 
 history. He lives in\nOakland with his vocalist/trombonist wife Becca, his 
 son\nKai, daughter Stella, and a menagerie of cats and dogs.\nDaniel 
 Raaflaub—Choreographer— Daniel Raaflaub be-\ngan his musical education 
 at an early age in the choir\nschool of the Basel Boys Choir 
 (Knabenkantorei Basel),\nwhere he gained valuable experience as both a 
 chorister\nand soloist. In the cultural capital of Vienna, he studiedvoice, 
 acting, and dance at the prestigious University of\nMusic and Performing 
 Arts, and took part in various mas-\nterclasses, including “Camera 
 Acting.” Over the past 15\nyears, Daniel Raaflaub has performed on 
 musical theatre,\ndrama, and concert stages across Switzerland, Germa-\nny, 
 and Austria. With leading roles in productions such\nas Chess, Godspell, 
 Jesus Christ Superstar, and RENT, he\nhas established himself as a 
 versatile artist. Today, Dan-\niel Raaflaub is a sought-after vocal 
 pedagogue and guest\nlecturer, working as a vocal coach for numerous 
 projects\nand choirs both nationally and internationally. As a cho-\nral 
 stage director and choreographer in Switzerland (e.g.\nKnabenkantorei 
 Basel, OYENGA Gospel Choir Basel) as\nwell as internationally (e.g. Vox 
 Aurea in Finland, Kristina\nAcademy Children’s Choir in Kenya), he 
 creates compel-\nling and inspiring musical dramaturgy. His tireless 
 ded-\nication has earned him multiple awards at international\nchoir 
 festivals.ORGANIZATIONAL BIO\nThe internationally acclaimed Piedmont East 
 Bay Chil-\ndren’s Choir (PEBCC) offers children throughout 
 San\nFrancisco’s East Bay an outstanding program of mu-\nsic training and 
 choral performance. Started in 1982 by\nfounding Executive Director Susan 
 Rahl with Artistic Di-\nrector Robert Geary, the Choir has performed with 
 the\nBarenaked Ladies, Berkeley Symphony, John Denver,\nThe Mark Morris 
 Dance Group, Oakland Symphony, San\nFrancisco Choral Society, San Francisco 
 Opera, San Fran-\ncisco Symphony, Volti, San Francisco Choral Society, 
 at\nnational and regional conventions of the American Cho-\nral Directors 
 Association, Chorus America and Organi-\nzation of American Kodaly 
 Educators. In recent years,\nthey sang with Joyce di Donato in EDEN and 
 premiered\nMichael Gilbertson’s Denial with Volti and the San 
 Fran-\ncisco Chamber Orchestra. In addition to vigorous pro-\ngramming of 
 innovative new music commissions and pre-\nmieres, the Choir is a leading 
 force in international choral\nactivities, with far-reaching 
 collaborations, high marks in\ncompetitions world-wide, and the 
 establishment of the\nGolden Gate International Children’s and Youth 
 Choral\nFestival in 1991.\nEnsemble from PEBCC has earned grand prizes, 
 first priz-\nes and gold medals at prestigious competitions across\nEurope, 
 Asia and the Americas. In 2024, the Choir\nearned first prize in the senior 
 children’s choir category\nand the coveted “Young Choir of the World” 
 title at the\nLlangollen International Musical Eisteddfod in Wales,\nafter 
 earning two second prizes at the same competi-\ntion in 2017. In 2014, the 
 Choir attended the Interna-\ntional Youth Music Festival in Bratislava, 
 Slovak Repub-\nlic and won the Grand Prix Award for Choral Music and\nfour 
 gold medals. In 2010, the Choir earned first prize in\nContemporary Music 
 and second prize in the Children’s\nChoir category at the 2010 Kathaumixw 
 InternationalChoral Festival in British Columbia, Canada. In 2008, 
 En-\nsemble was the only choir to win three gold medals at\nthe Grand Prix 
 St. Petersburg (Russia) Choral Festival. In\n2006, they earned two gold 
 medals at the Hong Kong\nInternational Children’s Choral Festival. In 
 2003, Geary\nled the Choir to a special award for highest score 
 among\nequal voice choirs and a second prize in contemporary\nmusic at the 
 prestigious Guido D’Arezzo competition in\nGorizia, Italy and in 2000 
 Ensemble became the first and\nonly American children’s choir then to 
 date to earn a first\nprize at the Choral Olympics/ World Choir 
 Games.\nRecognizing that the creation of art is a forward-look-\ning and 
 forward-thinking endeavor, the Choir has com-\nmissioned and premiered 
 dozens of new works by living\ncomposers including Sue Bohlin, Kui Dong, 
 Stacy Garrop,\nAnne Hege, Jacqueline Hairston, Olli Kortekangas, 
 Pekka\nKostiainen, Kirke Mechem, Zae Munn, Melissa Dunphy,\nPablo Ortiz, 
 Eric Tuan, Mark Winges, Robin Estrada, Jens\nIbsen, and many others.BOARD 
 OF DIRECTORS\nAmy Hillyard\nKatherine Wolfe\nJim Trenkle\nTony 
 Ouyang\nPresident\nVice President,\nDevelopment\nCommittee 
 Chair\nTreasurer, Finance\nCommittee Chair\nSecretary, Governance 
 and\nNominating\nCommittee Chair\nYiting Jin\nPoppy Crum\nYogeeta 
 Gamper\nMia Atkinson\nFellow\nCOMMITTEE MEMBERS\nErica Orcharton\nBalvinder 
 (Val) Hansra\nJames Bell\nShirley Tong\nFei Ouyang\nAmber McClure\nQali 
 Vartanian\nGovernance\nAudit\nFinance\nAudit 
 Chair\nDevelopment\nFinance\nDevelopment\nSTAFF\nEric Tuan\nJill 
 Dineen\nArtistic Director\nExecutive Director\nTate Bissinger\nAnastasia 
 Morris\nRon LeGaux\nNatalie Titone\nJessica Rauf\nGreg Rosas\nMarina 
 Zubareva\nLinda McMullen\nMick Lim\nMadeline Ashburn\nCamp and 
 Production\nDirector\nProgram Director\nFinance Director\nDevelopment 
 Manager\nOffice Manager\nRegistrar\nProgram Manager\nProgram Assistant 
 PD\nProgram Assistant TD\nFestival CoordinatorFOUNDERS\nSusan Emmett 
 Rahl\nRobert Geary\nCommitted to innovative, socially relevant,\nand 
 cutting-edge programming, PEBCC fo-\ncuses on amplifying marginalized 
 voices\nthrough its commissioning program and pro-\nvides youth singers the 
 opportunity to work\nwith living composers to premiere new music\nand share 
 it broadly with our communities.\nWith your support, you can help us 
 continue\nto provide and share our programs with your\ndonation today!\nTAP 
 TO DONATEACKNOWLEDGMENTS\nWe wish to share our heartfelt gratitude for all 
 of the\npartners who have made Echoes of Eureka possible.\nSpecial thanks 
 go to:\nOur partner organizations in Humboldt County, who\nhave supported 
 the project from the very beginning\nand hosted us for an amazing weekend 
 tour in Eureka\nand Arcata.\nHumboldt Asians and Pacific Islanders in 
 Solidarity\nMorris Graves Museum of Art\nEureka Chinatown Project\nCal Poly 
 HumboldtPoets Emily Jiang and Daryl Ngee Chinn, who have\nwoven their 
 powerful words into the fabric of Echoes\nof Eureka.\nEmily Jiang Daryl 
 Ngee Chinn\nHistorians Jean Pfaelzer and Alex Service, who have\nbeen so 
 generous in sharing their stories, research,\nand primary source materials 
 during the creation of\nthe opera.\nJean Pfaelzer\nAlex Service\nOur 
 partner choir Vox Aurea in Finland and their con-\nductor Sanna Salminen, 
 who hosted us for the Eu-\nropean premiere and connected us to the 
 amazing\nDaniel Raaflaub, whose choreography has added an\nentirely new 
 layer of artistry to the opera.\nVox Aurea\nDaniel Raaflaub\nThank you to 
 the incredible Daniel Raaflaub who has\ninfused the opera with his 
 choreography, shaping its\nmovement and storytelling with a depth and 
 artistry\nthat has become truly integral.Thank you to the Oakland Asian 
 Cultural Center\n(OACC) for collaborating with PEBCC to hold an\nEchoes of 
 Eureka performance.\nThe Oakland Asian Cultural Center (OACC) 
 builds\ncommunity through arts and culture in the heart of\nOakland’s 
 Chinatown. For over 40 years, OACC has\npresented performances, 
 exhibitions, workshops, and\nfestivals that celebrate Asian American, 
 Native Ha-\nwaiian, and Pacific Islander heritage while 
 fostering\nsolidarity across Oakland’s diverse communities.\nThank you to 
 the Chinese Historical and Cultural\nProject (CHCP) for collaborating with 
 PEBCC to hold\nan Echoes of Eureka performance.\nFounded in 1987, the 
 Chinese Historical and Cultur-\nal Project (CHCP) is a nonprofit based in 
 Santa Clara\nCounty, California, who promotes, educates, and pre-\nserves 
 Chinese and Chinese American history and\nculture through community 
 outreach activities.And the singers, parents, and staff of the 
 Piedmont\nEast Bay Children’s Choir, who have worked so hard\nto bring 
 this piece to life.\nPiedmont East Bay Children’s Choir\nThis project is 
 supported in part by an award from the\nNational Endowment for the 
 Arts.Echoes of Eureka tells a powerful and often-over-\nlooked story from 
 California’s history — a story of\nresilience, injustice, and the 
 enduring fight for be-\nlonging. More than just a historical retelling, 
 this op-\nera invites us to reflect on the ways our past contin-\nues to 
 shape the present.\nWe believe that music has the power to spark 
 con-\nversation, deepen understanding, and build empa-\nthy across time and 
 communities. Your reflections\nhelp us understand how this story resonates 
 with\nyou — what it made you feel, what it made you\nquestion, and what 
 it helped you see in a new light.\nThank you for sharing your experience 
 with us. Your\nresponse helps ensure these voices — once silenced\n— 
 are heard and remembered.\n 
 https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2026/06/03/18886541.php
SUMMARY:In SF New Opera "Echoes of Eureka", a seven-movement opera about Chinese Immigrants
LOCATION:In San Francisco a New Opera  "Echoes of Eureka", which is a powerful 
 seven-movement opera about Chinese immigration to California  by Artistic 
 Director, Eric Tua will be presented at the Chinese Historical Society
URL:https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2026/06/03/18886541.php
DTSTART:20260617T230000Z
DTEND:20260618T003000Z
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