Echoes of Eureka

World Premiere of a New Opera Bridging History and Hope

Piedmont East Bay Children’s Choir will proudly present the world premiere of Echoes of Eureka, a powerful seven-movement opera by Artistic Director, Eric Tuan, at the Making History Concert on April 12, 2025. This powerful new work brings to life a pivotal chapter of California’s history, shedding light on the struggles and resilience of Chinese immigrants in the 19th century. Echoes of Eureka emerges as a timely piece, resonating with contemporary conversations on justice, inclusion, and belonging.

Echoes of Eureka follows the true story of Charley Wei Lum, a young Chinese immigrant who arrived in 1880s California and settled in Eureka, a thriving redwood logging town that housed the largest Chinese community in the state outside of San Francisco. During the height of the Gilded Age—a period of deep economic inequality and rising anti-immigrant sentiment—Charley and his community faced devastating violence. In 1885, an angry mob expelled Eureka’s 300 Chinese residents, forcing them onto a steamship bound for San Francisco. Charley narrowly escaped lynching thanks to a compassionate clergyman. In the aftermath, the exiled Chinese community took the unprecedented step of filing a federal lawsuit—the first known attempt at seeking reparations in U.S. history. The ways they fought back included several foundational Supreme Court cases, including Wong Kim Ark, which established the basis for birthright citizenship. 

Composer Eric Tuan reflects, "I first heard this story in a book called Driven Out by historian Jean Pfaelzer, which documents the hundreds of anti-Chinese deportations and lynchings that took place in California. Currently, I am finishing up the seven-movement opera, narrating the story in collaboration with Jean Pfaelzer, fellow historian Alex Service, and Humboldt Asians & Pacific Islanders in Solidarity. We’re very grateful to have received a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to support the opera and will be presenting the world premiere at our Making History Concert on April 12, followed by performances in Eureka itself on May 2, 3, and 4. The resonances with our national life are striking, and I hope you’ll attend one of the performances."

Who Will You Be?

Upcoming Echoes of Eureka Performances:

…to be announced soon!

"Superb performance was heart-and-mind wrenching — but it so resonates with what’s going on in our world today."

"This choir makes me so thankful for our youth and how they give me hope for our future!"

“I was so very deeply moved by the performance. It was a particular story but you managed to make me think of so many other stories and times when certain groups were targeted. I think of the Jewish people's persecution in Europe, the Tibetans in China/Tibet, the migrants in our own community today facing potential deportation. And I think of my own deportation from Vietnam, where I was born. Home is where we feel safe and to lose that home and our community makes us so rootless, so lost in the world and most of all, so insecure. Somehow your music reminded me of how I felt as a kid. I don't tend to think about that much--it's not such a happy story. It made me cry for my old self, for the Chinese of Eureka, and for all the people who are threatened today. It's an old story and also a current one. I think that's the power of your opera. I was transported. I felt a shared experience with the people of the past and the people of the present, and I wonder what I can do about injustice?”

“I honestly didn't expect to be so moved. Eric Tuan's work, wonderfully performed by the talented and versatile PEBCC Ensemble, swept us through a soundscape of oppression, solidarity, removal and resistance. Each song immersed us deeper, pulling us into the currents of history. What a journey! Not a dry eye in the back row.”

Join us and witness how music can illuminate history while speaking to today’s urgent struggles for justice and inclusion.

Click here or watch the video below to see Eric introducing the opera and a recording of the first movement,
This is the Story of Charley Wei, recorded at PEBCC’s Winter Concert in January 2025.

Click here to watch the second movement of Echoes of Eureka: Wipe Out the Plague Spots / Solidarity.

Echoes of Eureka was performed on a tour of Humboldt County, where the events it describes took place, from May 2-4, 2025. Echoes of Eureka is a collaboration with Humboldt Asians and Pacific Islanders in Solidarity, the Eureka Chinatown Project, and Cal Poly Humboldt; poets Emily Jiang and Daryl Ngee Chinn; historians Jean Pfaelzer (author of “Driven Out”) and Alex Service; partner choir Vox Aurea, directed by Sanna Salminen; and choreographer Daniel Raaflaub.

View video footage excerpted from performances at Cal Poly Humboldt (May 2, 2025) and the Eureka Chinatown Street Festival (May 3, 2025) here. View photos from the Eureka trip here. Click here to view video footage excerpted from community talkbacks following performances at Cal Poly Humboldt (May 2, 2025) and the Morris Graves Museum of Art (May 4, 2025). Video production & photos by Jeremy Allen of Musiquito Media (musiquito.com).

Did you attend a performance of Echoes of Eureka?

Please share your reflections with us.

We believe that music has the power to spark conversation, deepen understanding, and build empathy across time and communities. Your reflections help us understand how this story resonates with you — what it made you feel, what it made you question, and what it helped you see in a new light.
Thank you for sharing your experience with us. Your response helps ensure these voices — once silenced— are heard and remembered.

Press Coverage:

San Francisco Classical Voice

Times Standard

Piedmont Post

PAST Echoes of Eureka Performances:

April 12, 2025 – Making History Concert.
The official world premiere of the complete opera!
7:00 PM
First Presbyterian Church of Berkeley: 2407 Dana Street, Berkeley, CA, 94704. 

May 2, 2025 - Cal Poly Humboldt
7:00 PM at the Native American Forum
In Collaboration with Critical Race, Gender & Sexuality Studies, Cal Poly Humboldt

May 3, 2025 - Eureka Chinatown Street Festival

6:00 PM in front of the Clarke Historical Museum
In Collaboration with Humboldt Asians & Pacific Islanders in Solidarity

May 4, 2025 – Morris Graves Museum of Art
1:00 PM
In Collaboration with the Morris Graves Museum of Art and Humboldt Asians & Pacific Islanders in Solidarity

June 20, 2025 – Ensemble Tour Concert
7:00 PM
Montclair Presbyterian Church: 5701 Thornhill Dr, Oakland, CA 94611. 
Purchase Tickets Here.