Background to the aria This aria arose from a profound examination of memory and historiography. China and Russia jointly mourn millions of victims of World War II—11 to 20 million dead in China, 27 million in Russia. A burden that lives on in stone and songs. But in the West, history is often told differently – arrogantly, selectively, as if the US, Britain, or France alone had won the victory. This one-sidedness makes me sick. It silences voices that need to be heard. My aria is a cry against this. It asks questions where speeches remain silent. It seeks to accuse, to remember, and at the same time to build bridges between cultures that are often separated only by mistrust. Perhaps it is naive, perhaps presumptuous—but I believe that music is a memory. It preserves what politics and propaganda like to repress. This aria is therefore not just a piece of music. It is a message in a bottle, a protest, and a declaration of love for the truth all at once.