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"Paradise Interrupted" Marries Traditional and Contemporary Ideas for a New Kind of Chinese Opera

Paradise Interrupted
Julia Lynn Photography

 Spoleto Festival USApresents the world premiere of Huang Ruo and Jennifer Wen Ma’s Paradise Interrupted, an arresting new opera marrying Chinese tradition dating from the Ming Dynasty with contemporary Western idioms. Artist Jennifer Wen Ma first got the idea for Paradise Interrupted while doing a contemporary art installation in Beijing. Jennifer, who is best known to global audiences for her work on the opening and closing ceremonies at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, also directed and designed Paradise Interrupted for Spoleto USA.

Jeanette Guinn is a professor in the Arts Management Program in College of Charleston’s School of the Arts and is pleased to have former students working in the US, Europe and Australia. After interning at the South Carolina Arts Commission during graduate school, Jeanette spent 25 great years working as an arts manager.