Welcome to Angel Island. With stunning views of San Francisco Bay and lush hiking trails, the island is nestled between the promise of the Golden Gate Bridge and California’s sun-soaked mainland coast. But between 1910 and 1940, hundreds of thousands of Asians arriving at the Angel Island Immigration Station faced separation, interrogation, and often deportation under the longstanding Chinese Exclusion Act.

The ghosts of Angel Island, however, endure. Poems carved into the soft wooden walls of the detention barracks give voice to long-remembered frustration, humiliation, and loneliness of the immigrants detained there. These inscriptions in Chinese calligraphy link that shameful past to our present immigration debate, bringing history into the reality of our current lives.

In Part One, violist and founding member of the Del Sol Quartet, Charlton Lee, introduces both Angel Island's history and the creatives behind The Angel Island Project. A collaboration between Del Sol and composer Huang Ruo, this haunting oratorio for string quartet and chamber choir weaves together poetry and music in a poignant, powerful expression of history, hope, and humanity.

Part One Features Interviews with:

Charlton Lee, Del Sol Quartet violist

Huang Ruo, Composer and conductor

Kathryn Bates, Del Sol Quartet cellist

Hyeyung Sol Yoon, Del Sol Quartet violinist

Ben Kreith, Del Sol Quartet violinist

Ed Tepporn, Executive Director, Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation

Andi Wong, Teaching Artist and Arts Advocate

Genny Lim, Poet, Playwright, Performer, Pioneer

And the voices of Susan Moffat, Matthew Ozawa, and Emiko Ono.

RESOURCES & LINKS

Huang Ruo

Angel Island Immigration Station

Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation

Immigrant Voices Oral History Project

Island: Poetry and History of Chinese Immigrants on Angel Island

Genny Lim

The Last Hoisan Poets

ArtsEd4All

The Chinese Historical Society Of America

William & Flora Hewlett Foundation

UC Berkeley Global Urban Humanities Initiative

LEARN MORE

https://www.delsolquartet.com/podcast

Del Sol Quartet on Spotify

Facebook

Instagram

YouTube

CREDITS

Hosted by Charlton Lee

Produced by Andrea Klunder, The Creative Impostor Studios, Charlton Lee, Kathryn Bates, Hyeyung Sol Yoon, Ben Kreith

Story Editor: Andrea Klunder

Sound Design: Andrea Klunder

Technical Director & Post Production Audio: Edwin R. Ruiz

Field Producer & Recording Engineer: Kathryn Bates

Field Producer: Verena Lee

Podcast Manager: Alex Riegler

Show Notes: Lisa Widder

Cover Art: Felicia Lee

Theme Music: Charlton Lee

Executive Producers: Andrea Fellows Fineberg, Don Fineberg

Featured music from The Angel Island Oratorio composed by Huang Ruo. Performed by Del Sol Quartet & United States Air Force Band's Singing Sergeants / National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, recording and edited by Suraya Mohamed.