Wuhan, where the Yangtze River and the Han River converge, is a famous water transport wharf in history, and it is also a nationally renowned opera "big wharf", which was once brilliant in the opera world and created famous characters, which is a precious fragment in the memory of the city. Today's Wuhan still continues to be inclusive as a "theater dock", with diverse and integrated cultures and a rich variety of stage arts.
In August this year, 13 cities, including Wuhan, were selected as candidate cities for the 2023 "East Asian Capital of Culture". At present, the creation work is in full swing, and the prosperity of the stage art industry is one of the underpinnings of Wuhan.
Wuhan has a strong atmosphere for creating the cultural capital of East Asia
The fine works of people and dramas continue
In recent years, Wuhan's stage art masterpieces have continued, and Peking Opera "Mother", drama "Retrograde", symphony "Rebirth from the Fire", musical drama "Periwinkle Planted on the Roof", large-scale acrobatic drama "City of Heroes", symphony "Lighthouse", Han opera "Dawn", Chu opera "Xiang Police", "Good Oasis", and red opera "No. 41 Sanjiao Street" have been set up on the stage and have been widely praised.
Among them, the symphony "Reborn in the Fire" was selected into the Ministry of Culture and Tourism's 2020-2021 "Symphony of the Times - China Symphony Music Works Creation Support Plan"; the "Wave Ship Flying Man" unit in the large-scale acrobatic drama "City of Heroes" was selected as the list of key support works for the "Stage Art Creation Project Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Founding of the Communist Party of China"; the musical "Periwinkle Planted on the Roof" was selected as the key tracking project of the "Comprehensive Well-off" theme of the Propaganda Department.
Xie Bailiang, a second-level professor at the China Academy of Performing Arts, director of the China Opera Criticism Base, and vice president of the China Dramatic Literature Society, commented on Chu Opera's "A Good Oasis": "The play restores the image of the village branch secretary, which has always been about big feelings and small love, to vivid and figurative, flesh and blood, sentient and righteous, with pain and suffering, more glorious dreams, responsibility, conscience, and greater pursuit of manhood, which is a new development and new presentation in the image of the village branch secretary. ”
At the same time, Wuhan attaches great importance to the construction of the team of artistic talents, and a group of famous new stars stand out. Yu Weigang, a young actor at Wuhan Chu Theatre, won the 30th Chinese Drama Plum Blossom Award. Dong Yanfeng, a young actor in Wuhan Song and Dance Theater, was selected as the "National Vocal Leading Talent Training Program" of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in 2021.
The Japanese stage play "Journey to the West" participated in the 5th Wuhan International Drama Performance Season
Set up a stage for international exchanges
From the Qintai Music Festival, to the Wuhan International Acrobatic Arts Festival, to the Wuhan International Drama Performance Season, a series of international art festivals have provided a communication stage for artists from China and abroad, and also made Wuhan a highland for international art exchanges.
Not long ago, the 2021 Qintai Music Festival closed at the Wuhan Qintai Concert Hall. From 2012 to 2021, the Qintai Music Festival has gone through a decade. Every year, Wuhan people have heard the world at their doorstep, the world's top ten symphony orchestras have played the strongest music here, and famous masters have become "old friends" for many years. Looking back at the history of the Qintai Music Festival in the past ten years, it will be found that it has long been known all over the world. The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the Dresden State Orchestra and the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, which are residents of various global top ten symphony orchestra lists, have all been "guests" of the Qintai Music Festival.
Wuhan's good reputation is even more word of mouth among musicians. In 2017, conductor Simon Rattle and the Berliner Philharmonic orchestra appeared at the 6th Qintai Festival. Surprisingly, this trip to Wuhan was the initiative of the Berliner Philharmoniker to extend an olive branch, and the general manager of the orchestra, Andrea Zitzschmann, revealed: "We asked a lot of artists and friends, and they said that Wuhan has a great concert hall and a very enthusiastic audience, so we finally chose Wuhan. ”
As one of the world's four major international acrobatic festivals, the Wuhan International Acrobatic Arts Festival has been successfully held for 13 sessions, with more than 200 international top acrobatic teams from more than 30 countries and regions, including Japan and South Korea, participating, and nearly 2,000 foreign acrobats coming to Han to participate in the competition.
The 8th Wuhan International Drama Season is in progress, and overseas masterpieces are staged one after another. It is understood that since the first Wuhan International Drama Performance Season, 171 plays from 20 countries such as the United Kingdom, France and Japan have been successively performed, and the number of performances has reached 297.
Wuhan Song and Dance Theater participates in the "Dream Music Festival" in Oita City, Japan
Han school art is famous in Japan and South Korea
Not only "please come in", but also "go out", Han school art overseas applause, in Japan, South Korea is widely praised.
As early as 1979, the art troupe composed of actors from Wuhan Song and Dance Theater, Wuhan Acrobatic Troupe, Wuhan Peking Opera Troupe and Wuhan Han Opera Troupe went to Oita City, Japan to perform cultural exchanges. In the 1980s, under the guidance of Japanese scholar Xiang Jing Yoshiki, the Wuhan Han Theater created and rehearsed the Japanese playwright Zoemon Komatsumon's "The Martyrdom of Tsonezaki", and performed in Japan with great success.
After entering the new century, the Wuhan Academy of Literature and Art troupes went to Japan and South Korea for more frequent exchanges.
From May 12 to June 22, 2008, The Large-scale Fairy Tale Puppet Drama (Sleeping Beauty) of Wuhan People's Art Theatre went to South Korea to participate in the "China Excellent Children's Stage Drama Art Festival" organized by the South Korean government, and over a period of 40 days, the play was performed more than 60 times in seoul, Incheon and other four cities in South Korea, and was rated as one of the most popular plays by Korean audiences.
In 2009, the Wuhan Philharmonic Orchestra went to Tokyo, Japan to participate in the "2009 Asian Symphony Week", and the scene was warmly received, and 6 tracks were added, which was highly praised by the Japanese media.
Since 2014, the Wuhan Song and Dance Theater has sent artists to participate in the "Dream Music Festival" in Oita City, Japan, which has blown a whirlwind of Jingchu music in the local area.
Wuhan Art School and Chungbuk Art High School in Cheongju City, South Korea, have established a sister school relationship since 1999, and carry out art education exchange activities every year. Not long ago, when Li Yongzheng, principal of Chungbuk Art High School, learned that Wuhan was creating an "East Asian Cultural Capital", he sent encouragement and congratulations through video, and hoped that the two schools could resume face-to-face art exchanges as soon as possible.
Looking forward to the future, Wuhan literary and art workers will continue to write the magnificent chapter of the times with heart and soul, tell the story of Wuhan well, be the messenger of cultural dissemination, and use practical actions to help create the cultural capital of East Asia.
(Photo courtesy of Wuhan Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism)
Editor-in-charge: Jia Tingyi