--- title: Nina Yoshida Nelsen on Racism and Representation in Opera description: Amid a reckoning with anti-Asian racism, Nina Yoshida Nelsen is speaking out against racism and calling for better representation in opera. canonical: https://time.com/6174438/nina-yoshida-nelsen-opera-racism-representation/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2022-05-09T12:00:10.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-14T09:35:23.168Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: How an Asian American Opera Singer Found Her Voice Amid a Reckoning with Race og:description: 'This industry was not created for me' og:url: https://time.com/6174438/nina-yoshida-nelsen-opera-racism-representation/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb70f1022e7416c37/698a31a286f68e9ad06f1340/Nina-Yoshida-Nelsen.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3840 og:image:height: 2160 og:image:alt: Nina Yoshida Nelsen og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How an Asian American Opera Singer Found Her Voice Amid a Reckoning with Race twitter:description: 'This industry was not created for me' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb70f1022e7416c37/698a31a286f68e9ad06f1340/Nina-Yoshida-Nelsen.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How an Asian American Opera Singer Found Her Voice Amid a Reckoning with Race > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. ## Video: Beyond Butterfly: How an Asian American Opera Singer Found Her Voice Amid a Reckoning with Race [Watch (HLS stream): Beyond Butterfly: How an Asian American Opera Singer Found Her Voice Amid a Reckoning with Race](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/AXBip27e.m3u8) (16:02)  _Published 2022-05-06. Japanese-American opera singer Nina Yoshida Nelsen reflects on her decade-long career of being repeatedly cast in "Madame Butterfly," while often overlooked for other non-Asian specific roles. In response, the mezzo-soprano is pushing for change in her beloved industry by speaking out about the pigeonholing and stereotyping that many Asian artists face._ by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/) and [Video by Diane Tsai](https://time.com/author/diane-tsai/) May 9, 2022 12:00 PM UTC Japanese-American opera singer Nina Yoshida Nelsen reflects on her decade-long career of being repeatedly cast in "Madame Butterfly," while often overlooked for other non-Asian specific roles. In response, the mezzo-soprano is pushing for change in her beloved industry by speaking out about the pigeonholing and stereotyping that many Asian artists face. by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/) and [Video by Diane Tsai](https://time.com/author/diane-tsai/) May 9, 2022 12:00 PM UTC For the mezzo-soprano [opera](https://time.com/6101886/terence-blanchard-interview-metropolitan-opera/) singer Nina Yoshida Nelsen, a reckoning has been long overdue. Following the March 2021 [Atlanta spa shootings](https://time.com/5947723/atlanta-shootings-anti-asian-violence-america/), Nelsen, a fourth-generation Japanese American, had a moment of clarity that was precipitated by the outpouring of support that she and other singers of Asian descent had received in the wake of the tragedy. As opera companies showed their support on social media, posting photos of Nelsen and other artists of Asian descent from past performances, she noticed a pattern in the images: though the group of singers was diverse, varying from fifth-generation, multiracial Asian Americans to artists living across Asia and traveling to the U.S. for work, the majority of them were shown playing only Asian characters. Nelsen considered her own career: over the course of more than a decade, she had performed in Giacomo Puccini’s _Madama Butterfly_ more than 150 times, but had been cast in non-Asian roles just three times. This realization both shocked and sobered her, prompting her to speak with other Asian performers in the industry, finding that many had had similar experiences of being pigeonholed in stereotypical roles (which often dealt in offensive caricatures) or being seen as the “other” and passed up for non-Asian lead roles. Nelsen—the subject of a new TIME documentary, _Beyond Butterfly_, by TIME senior producer and filmmaker Diane Tsai—decided to not only seek new management but also advocate for her community by co-founding the Asian Opera Alliance in the summer of 2021\. Taking inspiration from the work of the Black Opera Alliance, the organization aims to provide support for the Asian community and people of color working in the industry, advocating for racial equity. “It’s time to make change,” Nelsen says in the film. “We should not be embarrassed of our identity. We should not be worried that all we’re ever going to sing is Asian roles.” The issues of racism and sexism have long presented a major problem for classical opera, a historically white and European art form, whose canon still relies heavily on operas that are revered despite being rife with racist tropes and exotic stereotypes. _Madama Butterfly_, which centers on story of Butterfly, a 15-year-old Japanese geisha who is sexually exploited, deceived, and then abandoned by an American naval officer to a tragic end, has been the most produced opera in the U.S. since 2000, according to [_Opera America_](https://apps.operaamerica.org/Applications/Schedule/details.aspx?titleID=3860). [_Operabase_](https://www.operabase.com/statistics/en?break=0&show=opera&no=20&nat=) reported that it was the sixth most-performed opera in the world from 2008 to 2013. **_Read More:_**[_How a Long History of Intertwined Racism and Misogyny Leaves Asian Women in America Vulnerable to Violence_](https://time.com/5952819/history-anti-asian-racism-misogyny/) For artists like Nelsen, however, there’s a bittersweet tension involved in taking part in productions like _Madama Butterfly_, an opera that is centered around an Asian character, but also rooted firmly in the Western gaze. The opera, born out of a white man’s fantasy of the Orient and the other, has long been critiqued for its reinforcement of [persistent racist and sexist stereotypes](https://time.com/5952819/history-anti-asian-racism-misogyny/) of Asian women that cast them as submissive and sexually subservient, tropes that have proven to have [dangerous real-life consequences.](https://time.com/6051948/educating-white-people-anti-asian-racism/) The content of the opera aside, while _Madama Butterfly_ has had a long history of yellowface (where non-Asian, usually white, performers play Asian characters using makeup and often relying on racist caricature), it’s also been one of the few operas that has consistently provided opportunities for Asian singers to take center stage as leads. As opera companies have grappled with how problematic classic operas reinforce harmful racial stereotypes in light of events like Black Lives Matter protests and the Atlanta shootings, some have considered doing away with performing the pieces all together—something that Nelsen firmly believes is not the answer, especially since it could undermine the very minimal, if flawed, representation that singers of Asian descent have in the industry. “My first reaction was, ‘Well, that’s great that you’re trying to protect me,’” Nelsen says in the documentary. “But you’re also taking work away from me as someone who’s only offered Asian roles. And you’re also creating erasure of my face on a stage. So are we actually doing good by canceling this? Or are we creating more harm?” Nelsen believes that a better solution would start with making structural change within the industry; by consulting with and hiring Asian artists and creatives for roles both on and off stage to ensure that there are identity-conscious hires at every level of production from directors and casting to costuming and set. The issue of pigeonholing artists in Asian roles could be resolved if they were given the same consideration for other parts, she argues. “If you are hiring us for _Madama Butterfly_, then hire us for non-Asian identifying roles,” she tells Tsai. “We just want to see diversity on our stages. If you come to an opera and you only see white singers telling these stories, that’s not what our world looks like. If our stages don’t look like that, then we’re doing our world our disservice.” Nelsen also finds hope in new productions, like the contemporary opera _An_ _American Dream_, for which she was part of the original cast. The opera, about a Japanese American family sent to an incarceration camp during World War II, is personal to her. While workshopping the project ahead of its 2015 premiere, the composer and librettist wrote an aria for her based on an interview with Nelsen’s grandmother, who was the same age as the main character, Setsuko, when she was sent to a camp**.** For Nelsen, this was the first time she had heard stories about her grandmother’s incarceration, since many Japanese Americans have shied away from discussing this painful history. Her grandmother’s story, now immortalized in song, is one that Nelsen is committed to telling as the oldest living person in her family. This year, amid the lingering effects of the pandemic and the formation of the Asian Opera Alliance, Nelsen had one of the best singing seasons of her career. She booked eight new roles, five of which were not Asian-specific, and a number of concerts. While she appeared in _An_ _American Dream_ and again in _Madama Butterfly_, she was also part of the premiere of _The Rift_, a new opera by Huang Ruo and [David Henry Hwang](https://time.com/5708556/david-henry-hwang-soft-power/), the latter of whom is known for _M. Butterfly,_ a play that cleverly inverts _Madama Butterfly_ to address issues of orientalism, gender, and race. But Nelsen hasn’t lost sight of the larger need for change in her industry; it’s not lost on her that even after last season’s show of support and her much more diverse bookings, so far, she’s back to solely Asian-identified roles next season. She knows there’s so much more work to be done. “This industry was not created for me,” she tells Tsai. “As a singer of color, an Asian American singer, there have not been tons of people who have come before me, but I can make sure there are a lot who come behind me. It’s my responsibility and privilege to be able to do that.” ## Transcript [00:12] What kind of shows you that where the optimal place that your [00:16] cords would be coming to your vocal cords, [00:18] helps me feel what optimal cord closure is. [01:03] I think the most amazing thing about Opera at, [01:10] The fact that you've got this one solo person that's on stage. [01:17] With two tiny vocal cords that are coming together. [01:21] To make enough noise. [01:25] But it can be heard in a 5000 seat Auditorium over. [01:31] 100-piece Orchestra. [01:36] With no marking. [01:44] Try it again as an Asian-American singer there. [02:02] Have not been tons of people who have come before me. [02:06] Industry was not created for me. [02:10] It's not an easy Journey. [02:17] Soprano. None of your sheet and Nelson, [02:19] who's in the midst of a season that is taking her to stages [02:23] across the United States. [02:24] Recent season highlights for 9. [02:27] I have included engagements with Lyric Opera, [02:29] Chicago Anchorage, Opera Opera Opera, Sarasota, Opera, [02:34] New York, City, Opera and many others. [02:44] Give me missing person. [02:45] I've been doing it over Zoom for the past two years. [02:47] You are my first in person group to meet with, [02:50] this is very exciting. [02:51] Thank you and 4 for engaging in this, [02:55] you know, sometimes difficult conversation. [02:58] Thank you for having me here in Spring of 2021. [03:03] After the shootings in Atlanta. [03:06] I came across a an opera company who made a social media post. [03:11] That said, we support our Asian artists and I looked at this [03:15] post that had a bunch of pictures of Asian artists, [03:18] and I thought to myself [03:22] Wow, this is really interesting. [03:24] Every single person in this post has been Typecast into an Asian [03:28] role. Myself included. [03:30] I wrote to a friend of mine who worked at this company and PR [03:33] and I said, take a look at this post that just happened. [03:35] The next thing that has to change in our Opera industry, [03:39] is for us to stop pigeonholing people of color in two rolls [03:44] of color. So she asked me in a typical season. [03:48] How many non-asian roles do you sing? [03:50] I never had taken the time to think about how many non-asian [03:55] rolls I had done and I sat down and I started counting. [03:58] And in the span of ten years. [04:00] I had son 3 non-asian rolls. [04:03] I would like something has to change. [04:11] Okay. [04:16] Yes, please, please jump on the trampoline. [04:18] Would you rather a little baseball? [04:19] I'm in the middle of the last time. [04:21] Thank you. Thank you. [04:23] Bye. [04:35] Growing up. I didn't necessarily identify as Asian before. I [04:40] was an opera singer. [04:41] I would have said on Southern California, [04:43] and I'm a daughter. [04:44] I'm a mother. [04:45] I'm a wife and it wasn't until I became an opera singer and other [04:49] people started identifying me as Asian and I was showing [04:54] up to these rehearsals and then a butterfly that then I had to figure [04:57] out like what does it mean to be Asian? [04:59] What does it mean to be Japanese? [05:04] I've done a lot of really great music, [05:07] but honestly the majority and it's been singing Suzuki the next [05:11] soprano role in, Madame, Butterfly, which I've done over 150 [05:15] times. [05:24] Madame, Butterfly is an opera, we would say it's in the Canon [05:28] one of those, you know, top five Opera. [05:31] So I would say, [05:34] And it was written by Puccini and Italian man who had never [05:39] been to Asia. [05:40] But he had this idea of what he thought, [05:44] Asia would be. [05:47] Someone recently asked me like what my dream role would be and [05:53] to be honest, I kind of was taken aback. [06:02] Madame. Butterfly has some of the most beautiful music ever [06:06] written. So, everytime. [06:08] I'm involved in Opera. [06:09] I just stand there and I'm like [06:11] Glorious, like at least it wasn't an offer. That [06:14] was awful. [06:15] Like I've been I've been lucky enough to to sing a glorious [06:19] Opera, a lot of times. [06:23] But it would be really exciting to sing some Verity and you know, [06:27] the fact that I've gone this long without singing a Carmen [06:30] that's a role. I [06:31] could have done a long time ago. [06:32] But because people see me as Asian, [06:37] I'm not even considered for these things. [06:42] And it's not just me and my career. [06:43] It's Asians across the board in our industry. [06:59] Stepping in as soon as he open the door in the No. No, [07:04] like wait for [07:07] Yes, if you're like here. [07:10] When you stop it, like step in. [07:12] So you're on the other side of the post. [07:15] Of course, think about this Ally, think about butterfly [07:20] a lot because it's a work. [07:21] I get asked to direct more than any other piece. [07:25] And I realized that if I was Caucasian, [07:28] people would want to hear about my art. [07:31] They would ask me questions about my vision about the art that [07:36] I'm making, and technically it would be Limitless in terms [07:40] of what I could direct. [07:42] I have realized being an Asian director that I in many respects [07:47] talk more about a piece that I don't know if I would have chosen [07:50] on my own if I wasn't Asian and wasn't Japanese. [08:00] I think how many realize that they can't just present at the [08:03] way that they've been presenting it for so long, [08:05] but they don't know how to not present it that way and they [08:09] don't know what the vision could look like for something [08:11] else. And so that is where I think Asian opera Alliance, [08:15] the black Opera lions and individuals like myself can step in [08:20] and say, hey, here are some tools. [08:23] This is a new vision for how I might do it. [08:26] I had multiple Productions of madama butterfly canceled [08:30] this year because people were worried to mount it. [08:34] Do to the violence that's been happening against Asian women in [08:37] the United States. [08:38] So, you know, my first reaction was well, [08:42] that's great that you're trying to protect me. [08:45] But you're also taking work away from me as someone who's only [08:49] sung Asian roll. [08:50] And you're also creating Erasure of my face on an on a stage. [08:55] Nothing about it. [08:57] Has to be uncomfortable. [08:58] It's only uncomfortable if we turn these characters into caricatures, [09:04] but it doesn't have to be that way. [09:09] If we have to stop we will, [09:10] but I'm going to try to like just keep it moving. [09:14] And then Eminem's into next scene. [09:16] Yes. We're just going to like go. [09:20] Unless people like I don't remember anything and then we'll [09:23] thoughts, okay. [09:42] An American Dream actually feels really different from butterfly [09:45] because I have a very deep personal tie to the material. [09:51] It digs into the story of two families. [09:55] The first thing a Japanese family who are torn away from their [10:00] home forced to have to get rid of their belongings, [10:02] and sent off to an internment camp, [10:05] and their struggle, and how they return. [10:09] And a second family, American soldier who marries a German [10:14] Jew and helps her escape the Nazi regime and as an immigrant [10:18] comes to the US and then occupies this home, [10:21] after the Japanese leave it. [10:24] And it doesn't at all, feel like I'm being pigeonholed. [10:28] It feels like a great gift to get to direct to work like this. [10:44] So normally, in operas, we will get a article of clothing [10:50] that has been worn by lots and lots of people over the years [10:53] and the clothing that has like, Renee Fleming's close or whatever. [11:03] And so I came to try on my my costume and see whose clothes [11:08] they were. And look at this. [11:11] It says, 9 of Yoshi, to Nelson, [11:14] Lyric Opera, Chicago, 2019. [11:17] I'm getting to wear my own clothes. [11:22] I'm not going to be too, so you are our mama. [11:35] The story American dream was my family story being fourth-generation. [11:41] Japanese-American. My grandparents were incarcerated [11:45] during World War II, the librettist called me and she said, [11:49] actually, I want to interview your grandmother that I want a base [11:52] this area off of my interview with her. [11:56] How come on Papa? [12:01] This is a picture of my grandparents, [12:03] right after they met, they met actually in in Poston as they [12:08] were incarcerated. My grandma was, I think 17 and my grandpa [12:12] was 18. And you can see the barracks behind them. [12:16] It shows like the use and the excitement in them, [12:21] yet, behind them. [12:22] You can see if the Stark deserts where they had to live. [12:29] That would be my grandparents and my dad as a little baby. [12:35] He was born right after World War II. [12:43] and then here, [12:46] This is my grandma. [12:47] My grandpa. My little brother Mitchell. [12:50] My cousin Billy. [12:53] Hand me, the Japanese Americans most never talked about incarceration [13:02] and it was the first time that I heard these stories from her. [13:06] And now, I have so many stories that she told me that no one [13:11] had ever heard. [13:12] Because I worked on this Opera. [13:16] My grandmother grew up in Seattle, which is where the story [13:19] takes place. She left, you know, right before WWII and as she [13:25] returned for the first time on the world premiere, [13:28] she sat in the front row and she got to see her story told [13:33] on stage. [13:37] I would love to see more of these stories that being said there [13:41] is also a trend to write stories about tragic events, [13:47] but our communities are filled with joy as well. [13:49] And so it shouldn't just be these tragic stories that are being [13:53] told. [14:04] During the pandemic. [14:06] I wondered a lot if I would ever work again. [14:13] After I need a social media post, [14:15] sharing my story within that. [14:17] First week, I had offers for 3 non-asian rolls. [14:22] Just from creating awareness about my situation. [14:29] But next year so far. [14:32] I'm back to doing a lesion rolls. [14:39] It's important that we keep talking about these issues. [14:44] We know that one season, is not going to change anything. [14:48] It, this is long-term work. [14:52] This is stuff that we all will be doing hopefully for our entire [14:57] careers. [15:08] Above all. We just want to see diversity on our stages. [15:16] We want to see our stages. [15:19] Reflect our society. [15:22] There have not been fun, the people who have come for me, [15:25] but I can make sure that there are a lot who come behind me. [15:32] I'm sad for the privilege of mine. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6174438/nina-yoshida-nelsen-opera-racism-representation/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6174438/nina-yoshida-nelsen-opera-racism-representation/"},"headline":"How an Asian American Opera Singer Found Her Voice Amid a Reckoning with Race","datePublished":"2022-05-09T12:00:10.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-14T09:35:23.168Z","description":"\"We want to see our stages reflect our society at large\"","url":"https://time.com/6174438/nina-yoshida-nelsen-opera-racism-representation/","keywords":["identity","culturepod"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb70f1022e7416c37/698a31a286f68e9ad06f1340/Nina-Yoshida-Nelsen.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"},{"@type":"Person","name":"Video by Diane Tsai"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb70f1022e7416c37/698a31a286f68e9ad06f1340/Nina-Yoshida-Nelsen.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Nina Yoshida Nelsen","caption":"Mezzo soprano opera singer Nina Yoshida Nelsen rehearses for a performance","creditText":"Diane Tsai for TIME","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/identity/","name":"identity"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/6174438/nina-yoshida-nelsen-opera-racism-representation/","name":"How an Asian American Opera Singer Found Her Voice Amid a Reckoning with Race"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Beyond Butterfly: How an Asian American Opera Singer Found Her Voice Amid a Reckoning with Race","description":"Japanese-American opera singer Nina Yoshida Nelsen reflects on her decade-long career of being repeatedly cast in \"Madame Butterfly,\" while often overlooked for other non-Asian specific roles. 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