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Artist Tammy Nguyen will present an aria from her unfinished debut opera, Timaeus and The Teacher, at the 61st Venice Biennale’s closing program on November 13 and 14. The work follows a Vietnamese English teacher fleeing Saigon by sea and brings together themes of refugee experience, nationhood and cosmology. The date for a full production has not been announced; Nguyen aims to complete it by fall 2029.
Artist Tammy Nguyen will present an aria from her still-unfinished debut opera, Timaeus and The Teacher, during the 61st Venice Biennale’s closing program on November 13 and 14. The performance offers an early public view of a work that connects a refugee’s attempted escape from Saigon by boat with questions of national identity and cosmology.
The aria is described as the opera’s foreword and entry point. Its central character is a Vietnamese English teacher who tries to flee Saigon—now Ho Chi Minh City—by sea, two years after North Vietnamese forces captured the city in 1975. The story draws on Nguyen’s father’s experience as a refugee aboard a vessel in the South China Sea.
Grammy-nominated tenor Brian Vu will sing the teacher’s role. Dancers choreographed by Jamal Jackson will move around him with a tapestry made of flags, reconfiguring it as a ship, sea, mountain ranges and a cosmological diagram associated with Plato’s dialogue Timaeus. Nguyen told Hyperallergic that she built the libretto by taking lyrics from national anthems and combining them, while composer Neely Bruce remixed the anthems for the score.
Wesleyan University, where Nguyen is an associate professor, commissioned and produced the opera. Nguyen’s related paintings are on view at the Biennale’s Central Pavilion through November 22, according to Hyperallergic. The closing program also includes performances and events by other artists, among them Hagar Ophir, Ziad Antar, Hatem Imam, Nayla Mabsout and Nathalie Vairac.
A Refugee Story at the Biennale
The performance places a story shaped by the Vietnam War and refugee displacement within an international contemporary-art festival. Nguyen’s focus on a journey across the South China Sea links a personal family history to larger questions about borders, belonging and how national identity is represented.
Its form also connects opera, visual art and movement: a flag tapestry becomes changing scenery, while national anthems are reworked into musical material. For Biennale audiences, the closing presentation is a chance to encounter the opera as it develops, rather than as a completed production. Nguyen’s work asks how ideas of nationhood can shape people’s lives even as those ideas remain open to change.
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From Flag Paintings to Opera
The opera extends themes in Nguyen’s existing work. In her 2024 exhibition Timaeus and the Nations at Sarasota Art Museum, she rearranged 46 flags of convenience—flags used by ship operators in connection with tax and regulatory benefits. The new opera carries that interest in shipping, national symbols and global exchange into a staged performance.
Nguyen has said her interest in opera grew from learning to play and write music in San Francisco and from wanting to direct an opera. The title’s reference to Plato’s Timaeus reflects the work’s combination of cosmological ideas and questions of identity. The Venice presentation is one segment of a larger project, not the premiere of a finished full-length opera.
“I was really fascinated by what happened at sea, as are many children of refugees from war-torn countries.”
— Tammy Nguyen, speaking to Hyperallergic
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Full Production Date Still Unknown
The Biennale performances will present an aria from an unfinished opera; available details do not establish how long the excerpt will be or whether it will differ from the current rehearsal version. The date, venue and format for a full production have not been announced. Nguyen has said she aims to finish the opera by fall 2029, around composer Neely Bruce’s 85th birthday, but that is a completion goal rather than a confirmed performance date.
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Two Biennale Performances Ahead
Nguyen is scheduled to present the aria at the Biennale’s closing program on November 13 and 14. Her paintings at the Central Pavilion are scheduled to remain on view through November 22. Further details about the opera’s completion and any full staging remain to be announced; Nguyen’s stated target is to complete the work by fall 2029.
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Key Questions
What will Tammy Nguyen present at the Venice Biennale?
Nguyen will present an aria from Timaeus and The Teacher, her unfinished debut opera, as part of the 61st Biennale’s closing program.
When are the performances?
The performances are scheduled for November 13 and 14. The source report does not provide specific times.
What is the opera about?
It follows a Vietnamese English teacher attempting to flee Saigon by boat two years after North Vietnamese forces captured the city in 1975. The story draws on Nguyen’s father’s experience as a refugee at sea.
Who is performing in the aria?
Tenor Brian Vu will sing the teacher’s role, accompanied by dancers choreographed by Jamal Jackson. Neely Bruce composed the score.
When will the complete opera be staged?
No full-production date has been announced. Nguyen has said she aims to complete the opera by fall 2029; that does not confirm when it will be performed in full.
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