Both Yahp and Lim recognize that their work is infused with plenty of Western influences. The exposure certainly helped the director, Michael Kantor, who had great difficulty getting to grips with the libretto at first. But once he had been to Penang, there were no more questions. The team had arrived when the Chinese in the city were marking the Hungry Ghosts Festival. And this means they need to be placated with food, burnt offerings and constant entertainment from street opera and puppet shows until they go back and leave the living alone.
Pragmatism is certainly never far away.
The composer recalls watching a Chinese opera on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur. It ended with a recital not of an ancient text, but a list of sponsors, she laughs. Reactions to the Adelaide premiere, performed on a gaudily decorated barge floating on the Torrens River, were mixed. The opera is clearly among the more exotic of Lim's compositions, which have been performed since she was 22. They are recorded by such groups as the Ensemble Modern in Germany, France's Ensemble Intercontemporain and Elision in Australia.