Liliʻu

Set in 1895, when Queen Liliʻuokalani was imprisoned for almost a year in Iolani Palace for her alleged knowledge of an attempt to take back the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi, Liliʻu tells the story of the Queen's life at a time of great upheaval. Denied visitors except for one female companion, Liliʻuokalani depended on secret messages and news that would come to her as wrapping for flowers. Liliʻuokalani used her voice to encode hope and seeds of cultural renewal in her writings and musical compositions. Liliʻuokalani’s advocacy for the revival of Hawaiian music and culture is her greatest legacy as seen through her various acts of cultural preservation and through her voice as a composer—a spark of hope in the darkness.

The development of Liliʻu is supported in part by OPERA America Women Composers: Discovery Grants program, supported by the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation; by the Western Arts Alliance Advancing Indigenous Performance Native Launchpad program with funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts; and by The Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement and Kamehameha Schools through the E OLA (Empowering ʻŌiwi Leadership Award) program. Development of the libretto was supported in part by the American Composers Forum through the 2021 McKnight Visiting Composer Program and by Marble House Project, a not-for-profit organization.