In the beginning, playing music was secondary. What mattered most was that friends gathered together.
Cantonese opera has been transformed and shaped by performers, musicians, organizers, and family members whose stories and memories connect us to this living art form. Through their words, photographs, and audio recordings, we hear the dedication that keeps this music alive in communities across Canada.
The following interviews share how Cantonese opera has evolved over generations. Each offers a distinct perspective, and together they trace how Cantonese opera has been sustained not only on formal stages, but in the less visible spaces that hold communities together: living rooms, basements, rehearsal halls, community centres, and social clubs. These stories remind us that Cantonese opera is not only a legacy of the past, but a living, resonant practice today.
Kin Tsang Yu
As president of the Yuet Sing Cantonese Music Club in Montréal, Kin Tsang Yu represents a generation deeply rooted in community practice. Yuet Sing remains a vital gathering space for amateur musicians and opera enthusiasts to rehearse, perform, and share their love of the repertoire–a place where friends have gathered for decades to make music together.
Julie Jai
Living between Toronto and Whitehorse, Julie Jai shares the story of her parents, Beatrice and Raymond Jai, whose lives were shaped by Cantonese opera. Deeply involved in opera communities in Vancouver and Toronto, they helped sustain diasporic performance networks across Canada. Julie grew up within this world, sometimes performing as a child, but always absorbing the music, language, and rhythms of opera as part of her everyday life. Today, her work to preserve her parents’ legacy reflects a personal act of care and cultural transmission, ensuring their voices continue to resonate for future generations.
Rosa Cheng
In Vancouver, Rosa Cheng, founder and artistic director of Vancouver Cantonese Opera, brings the art form into new creative territory. Passionate about Cantonese opera, she explores how community performance can evolve through “fusion operas” that combine traditional performance with contemporary stories and bilingual presentation. In this interview, she speaks about the fusion opera The Prop Master’s Dream.
Alice Chan
Finally, Alice Chan, President and Director of Toronto’s Starlight Chinese Opera Performing Arts Centre, cultivates appreciation for Cantonese opera among younger generations and the greater public. A graduate of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, Chan has dedicated her career to performance, teaching, and mentorship. Through public workshops, concerts, youth programs, and outreach, she fosters intergenerational transmission of the art form.
