Royal Opera House, ROH2

Nawang Sangdrol, who now lives in Brooklyn, New York

A new work ‘Numinous City’ (working title) inspired by the true story of a Tibetan nun, Nawang Sangdrol, is in development for the Royal Opera House, ROH2. Sangdrol was imprisoned in the notorious Drapchi prison, Tibet, from age 15 for shouting ‘long live the Dalai Lama!’ in public.

During her 11 year incarceration she was tortured and many of her friends did not survive. An extraordinary thing also happened: a cassette machine was smuggled into Drapchi and she and other nuns managed to record a series of songs that were consequently smuggled out and became famous as ‘The Drapchi Songs’ – the consequences of which, for her and the other nuns, were dire.

Perhaps with some irony, her release was finally negotiated on humanitarian grounds under the Bush government.

It sounds like something straight out of a Hollywood movie but while protesting in Tibet, a monk who was also protesting saw her and fell in love with her. They were both incarcerated in Drapchi, but never met. By the time Sangdrol was finally released he had escaped Tibet to India; she had no recollection of seeing him, but he called every day and eventually she was sufficiently curious to travel back to India where they fell in love and married.

The recording that plays on this page was made during the development period in Philadelphia, March 2010, it is of ‘Ga Sho (May You Be Loved)’ and features Rebecca Siler, soprano, Maren Montalbano, mezzo-soprano and Daniel Neer, tenor. It is from a tradition within Tibet that when saying farewell, you touch foreheads together and say ‘tse ring, ga sho’ which means ‘May you live long, may you be loved’.

Development of Numinous City has been commissioned by ROH2, the development arm of the Royal Opera House.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.