On May 8, local time, Gu Haohao, a famous Kunqu opera performance artist from Wenzhou, full-time vice chairman of the Shanghai Federation of Literary and Art Circles, and chairman of the Shanghai Dramatists Association, led the Shanghai Magnolia Drama Performance Award winning representative art troupe to hold a special performance of "Magnolia Blossoms, Charming Shanghai" - Shanghai Magnolia Theatre Performing Arts Award winners at the Vienna International Center, where the United Nations headquarters is located in Vienna, Austria, presenting an artistic feast for diplomats and United Nations staff from all over the world. Use a variety of art forms to show the open and confident Chinese culture in the new era. More than 200 people, including officials from various international organizations and permanent missions in Vienna and local Chinese and overseas Chinese, watched the performance.
As one of the series of activities of "2024 United Nations Chinese Day in Vienna", the performance kicked off with the Yunnan folk song "Little River Flowing Water". Subsequently, more than a dozen winners of the Magnolia Award from different genres such as Peking Opera, Kunqu Opera, Yue Opera, Shanghai Opera and other operas performed excerpts from classic Chinese drama works such as "On the Rooftop", "Fire Phoenix", "Peony Pavilion", "Liang Zhu" and "Luohan Qian".
After the performance, Toni, a member of the United Nations in Vienna, took to the stage with great interest to ask the Peking Opera performers how to wield the long silk, "I am very interested in Chinese opera and Chinese culture, and I am very happy to see such a wonderful performance here!"
Gu Haohao said: "This performance is the first time that a group has visited since the establishment of the Magnolia Award 35 years ago, and most of the actors are national performing artists. The performance not only showcased the profound and timeless traditional Chinese drama art, but also reflected the inclusive and inclusive Shanghai culture, which caused a sensation at the United Nations Headquarters in Vienna and pushed the series of activities of the '2024 Vienna United Nations Chinese Day to a new climax.
Ambassador Li Song, Permanent Representative of China to the United Nations and other international organizations in Vienna, said that this performance was the highest artistic level he had seen in the rotunda of the Vienna International Center, and it was also a very beautiful scenery in the "2024 United Nations Chinese Day in Vienna".
As the artistic director of the series of activities of the "Opera from Wenzhou" Southern Opera Classic Culture Week, Gu Haohao organized the Shanghai Magnolia Award Art Troupe to hold a special performance of "Magnolia Blossoms • Opera Gathering in Jiushan" at the Wenzhou Jiushan Book Club last year, deepening the exchange and mutual learning of opera between the two places and promoting integration and innovation. She said: "I hope that one day, our 'opera from Wenzhou' event can also come to the 'United Nations Chinese Day' event site to show the unique charm of 'Southern Opera Hometown'." ”
After the special performance, Gu Haohao held a lecture on the art of Kunqu Opera entitled "If You Don't Go to the Garden, You Don't Know the Spring Like a Promise" at the Vienna International Center, telling about the past and present life and artistic charm of Kunqu Opera, and introducing the artistic achievements of the Shanghai Kunqu Opera Troupe and his own theatrical life. Through vivid and interesting explanations and descriptions, body language with emotion, and easy-to-understand graphic images, the audience can deeply feel the elegant charm of traditional Chinese opera. "There were also many Wenzhou villagers who came to listen to the lecture, and a lady was very excited to pull me and say, 'We are all Wenzhou people, your lecture is so wonderful'."
The event was hosted by the Permanent Mission of the People's Republic of China in Vienna and the United Nations Information Agency in Vienna, and jointly organized by the Chinese Society of the United Nations in Vienna, the Austrian Association for Chinese Exchange and the Shanghai Dramatists Association.
Source: Temperature News Client