SIFA 2023: ANGEL ISLAND

Between 1910 and 1940, as new immigrants flowed through the immigration station on Angel Island in the San Francisco Bay, Chinese immigrants faced massive discrimination because of America’s earliest racist immigration legislations. This captivating one-act music-theatre performance tells their stories.

Composed by Huang Ruo, the music of ANGEL ISLAND is inspired by the Chinese poems carved on the wooden walls of the detention centre on Angel Island, and the events and stories emerging from the era in which the legislations were passed. Tackling perennial and global issues of xenophobia, sexism, and systematic racial and gender discrimination, ANGEL ISLAND weaves a story of immigration, discrimination, and confinement – bringing history into the reality of our current lives. Performed by Del Sol Quartet and Taipei Chamber Singers.