An empire at stake; two powerful men in love with the same exquisite, inscrutable woman; and a plot that will change the course of history. Feng Yi Ting is the historic account of Diao Chan, a legendarily beautiful woman who was the central figure in a dangerous rivalry. This classic Chinese story of love, corruption, and political intrigue is retold under the direction of Canadian film and theater director Atom Egoyan, who returns to the Festival following his work in 2008 directing Liam Neeson in Beckett’s “Eh Joe.”

Guo Wenjing—one of China’s most important contemporary composers, whose opera Night Banquet was praised as “wonderfully strange and ultimately involving” (New York Times) at Lincoln Center Festival 2002—depicts the fateful moment when Diao and her lover meet in the Feng Yi Ting, or “Phoenix Pavilion,” where she encourages him to eliminate his rival and thus save the emperor of the Han Dynasty.

Written for two singers—a Beijing opera tenor and a Sichuan opera soprano, plus a small ensemble—Guo’s spellbinding score combines Chinese and Western musical instruments and traditions to create music that is unmistakably contemporary but also evocative of something ancient, echoed through set designs by Tony-winning Derek McLane; costumes by Han Feng, known for her work on The Metropolitan Opera’s Madama Butterfly; and video by Hong Kong–based visual artist Tsang Kin-wah.

Sung in Chinese with Chinese and English supertitles