This fall, Portland Opera is proud to present the next installment of the Our Oregon Project, Shizue: An American Story, which illuminates the remarkable life of Shizue Iwatsuki. From a wealthy family trained in the arts of poetry and ikebana, Shizue married Kamegoro and followed him to his orchard in Hood River, Oregon. Like thousands of other Japanese Americans, she experienced both hope and horror in America—from the luscious taste of fresh strawberries from their fields to the injustice in America’s incarceration camps. But through it all, Shizue rose above and reached beyond, embodying the concept of gaman, which means “enduring the seemingly unbearable with patience and dignity.”
Portland Opera’s Our Oregon project commissions youth operas that highlight the experiences of Oregonians through a variety of lenses. This unique multi-year project began in 2022 with Beatrice: a 50-minute youth opera inspired by the life and story of Beatrice, Morrow Cannady, and it will continue in future seasons with operas about Latinx and Native American Oregonian heroes. After the world premiere, this show embarks on a two-month, multi-city tour.
