Angel's Bone

Angel's Bone is a one-act opera by composer Du Yun and librettist Royce Vavrek. The story centers on two angels who return to Earth and are taken in by a couple, Mr. and Mrs. X. E., who are struggling financially. Rather than helping the angels, the couple clips their wings and forces them into spiritual and sexual slavery, selling their feathers for profit. The opera serves as a modern allegory for human trafficking and examines the motivations of those who exploit others. Du Yun’s score blends classical music, punk, and cabaret.

The original 35-minute chamber version was commissioned by the Mann Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia, directed by Habib Azar. The full-length opera premiered on January 6, 2016, at the 3LD Art & Technology Center in Lower Manhattan as part of the Prototype Festival. Julian Wachner conducted Novus NY and the Trinity Wall Street Choir; Michael McQuilken directed, and the production was co-produced by Beth Morrison Projects, HERE, and Trinity Wall Street. The Asian premiere took place on November 10, 2018, at the Kwai Tsing Theatre in Hong Kong during the New Vision Art Festival. Ventura College streamed a production in January 2021. A new production is scheduled for October 2026 at the English National Opera’s London Coliseum.

The opera runs approximately 80 minutes.

The plot begins with two angels, battered from their journey, discovered by Mr. and Mrs. X. E. in their garden. The couple, estranged and facing financial trouble, initially nurse the angels back to health—bathing them, cleaning their nails, and locking them in a room with a claw-foot bathtub as a bed. They then decide to exploit the angels, clipping their wings and forcing them into prostitution to reclaim the feathers they pluck.

Critical reception was strong. The New York Times called it “audacious and searing,” praising its mix of magic realism and musical styles from Renaissance polyphony to punk. Hyperallergic described it as a “mature and complex work” and a “fable inside an allegory.” The Washington Post found it “disturbing, powerful and original,” noting the use of electronics and video. The Wall Street Journal highlighted performances: Abigail Fischer as a pitiless Mrs. X. E., Kyle Pfortmiller as her brutish husband, Kyle Bielfield as the innocent Boy Angel, and Jennifer Charles as the Girl Angel, whose nonclassical voice conveyed pain agains