Qilu Evening News Qilu One Point reporter Shi Wenjing
On January 20th, the "Red Centennial Peking Opera Concert" led by famous Peking Opera performance artists Yu Kuizhi and Li Shengsu was sung at the Shandong Provincial Capital Grand Theater, and excerpts of classic Peking Opera works such as "Red Lantern", "Rhododendron Mountain", "Sha Jiabang" and "Wise Tiger Mountain" were staged, leading the audience to look back on the glory years together.
In the interview, although Yu Kuizhi and Li Shengsu chatted about Peking Opera together, because of their extreme love for Peking Opera art, Yu Kuizhi talked about Peking Opera "can't stop the car", almost turning the conversation into his "stand-up comedy". Yu Kuizhi said that he has not left the art of Peking Opera for 50 years, and has not left the stage of the National Peking Opera House for 40 years, which is the thing he is most proud of, as a Peking Opera actor, he has always taken the inheritance and promotion of Peking Opera art as his responsibility and responsibility, and all the work outside of eating and sleeping is to spread Peking Opera and let more young people fall in love with this art.
The performance of the evening ended with warm applause, and Yu Kuizhi and Li Shengsu praised the audience in Shandong. Li Shengsu said that the audience in Shandong understands drama, drama and hospitality. Yu Kuizhi said that he came to Jinan to perform from a young age, and he deeply felt that Jinan had a mass foundation of Peking Opera art, so Shandong produced such a big artist as Fang Rongxiang, and there are many Peking Opera troupes at present.
50 years of pride
The "golden partner" of Yu Kuizhi and Li Shengsu is loved by many young audiences at present, and their singing of "Red Lantern" and "Cuckoo Mountain" excerpts and symphonic Peking Opera "Shenzhou Praise" that night have made the audience applaud loudly.
Peking Opera fans all know that Yu Kuizhi and Li Shengsu have cooperated for many years and have jointly performed a number of works, and they sang "Shilang Visiting Mother", "Feng Hui Chao", "Tang Guifei", "Imperial Flower", "White Haired Girl", "Sha Jiabang" and other unique artistic temperaments, on the Peking Opera stage, they presented countless perfect performances for the audience. Over the years, Li Shengsu has attracted countless fans at home and abroad with his beautiful singing, handsome appearance and the demeanor of a great artist; Yu Kuizhi's voice is high-pitched and rounded, vigorous and thick and beautiful, and his singing style of retracting freely has impressed generations of audiences.
Not long ago, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism approved Yu Kuizhi to postpone his retirement, which aroused the attention of Peking Opera fans. After Yu Kuizhi's delayed retirement, he will continue to play a role as an outstanding artist in artistic inheritance, repertoire creation and youth talent training.
And 2022 happens to be Yu Kuizhi's 50th year of art. At the age of 11, inspired by his mother, who was a music teacher, Yu Kuizhi was selected by the Shenyang Peking Opera Theater students to start studying Peking Opera. Since then, the young Yu Kuizhi began to get up at 5 o'clock every day to press his legs and hang his throat, and later he was admitted to the China Opera Academy, the highest school of Peking Opera, and received the personal transmission of his predecessors and professors, plus his selfless practice, teaching, and study, and then became famous in one fell swoop. Yu Kuizhi starred in a large number of classic Peking opera repertoire such as "Wujiapo", "Chibi", "Grass Boat Borrowing Arrows", "Huarong Dao", "Dingjun Mountain", "Empty City Plan", "Zhu Curtain Village", "Wen Zhaoguan", "White Haired Girl", "Red Lantern", etc., which were regarded as masterpieces by the audience, and the characters he interpreted such as Zhuge Liang and Guan Yu were considered "the most absolute" by the audience.
Talking about the past years, Yu Kuizhi is most proud of his failure to leave the art of Peking Opera in 50 years and the stage of the National Peking Opera Theater for 40 years. After 50 years of artistic career, the sentence Yu Kuizhi most wants to say is "art is endless". "Whether it is to cultivate a younger generation of Peking Opera actors or to cultivate Peking Opera audiences, I will personally practice the phrase 'art is endless', and I must continue to learn, excavate, and sort out the art of Peking Opera, and pass on the things that the previous generations of artists have passed on to me." Peking Opera actors, just like the 400-meter relay race, are passed on from generation to generation, so that the art of Peking Opera can be passed on. ”
It's hard to do one thing well in a lifetime
The performance was a concert of classic red Peking Opera excerpts brought by Yu Kuizhi and Li Shengsu together with a group of young actors from the National Peking Opera Theatre, and the singing sections selected for the performance were carefully planned and carefully prepared, including the classic plays familiar to the audience, such as "The History of The Revolutionaries who Speak Bitterly" in "The Red Lantern Chronicle", the "Wisdom Fight" in "Sha Jiabang", and the "Oath to Sweep Away the Reactionaries" in "Wise Tiger Mountain".
The National Peking Opera performed in Jinan this time, 90% of the actors are young people, there are "post-80s", "post-90s", there are also "post-00s", Yu Kuizhi claims to be their brother and senior. Speaking of advice for young people, he said that since he had chosen this profession, he would have to pay for it. "Peking Opera is a comprehensive art, everyone starts to learn from the age of eleven or twelve, if there is no solid basic skills in childhood, it is difficult to become a good actor in the future, there are halfway out of the family, there are also overnight popularity, but that is a very small minority." Peking opera actors just have a voice, no appearance can not, there is a voice, there is a dress, no basic skills can not work, fat can not work, thin can not work. This profession is very hard, you must be able to withstand loneliness, endure hardship, it is already difficult for a person to do a good job in his life. ”
Yu Kuizhi also mentioned that in the early years of listening to Peking Opera in the tea house, the audience held a teapot and sniffed melon seeds, that is, to listen to an actor singing, and now the audience's aesthetic literacy is improving, and the vast majority of people who enter the theater are young people, their knowledge structure and artistic accomplishment are very high, they want to listen, to watch, but also to breathe with the performance on the stage, the work must be able to impress them, which requires actors not only to sing well, do a good job, but also portray the characters well, require actors to perform with their hearts, and impress the audience with a sense of truth. "As long as young actors are willing to pay and work hard, they will certainly be able to shine on the Peking Opera stage." I hope that young Peking opera actors will firmly believe in their choices and beliefs, and they will achieve their ideal goals. ”
Talking about the training of young actors, Yu Kuizhi said that the selection and training of young talents is most necessary for the managers of the theater to create stage practice opportunities for them, if the actors do not have stage practice, it is useless to practice hundreds of times a day in the rehearsal hall. "Among actors in their thirties and forties, there are a lot of good seedlings that need to be created for them."
Inheriting Peking Opera "Walking on Multiple Legs"
Li Shengsu will share some interesting content before and after his performance, in front of and behind the Scenes of the Peking Opera Stage on his personal short video account, such as actor waiting, makeup, practice, etc., which attracted a large audience. Young fans enthusiastically call her "Susu", a way for artists to communicate directly with young audiences, so that many people began to "enter the pit" Peking Opera art. Talking about the current network dissemination of Peking Opera art through movies, TV series, variety shows, social platforms and video platforms, Yu Kuizhi said that the dissemination and promotion of Peking Opera art is not only on the stage, but must be carried out through various other channels.
For the diversified dissemination of Peking Opera art, Yu Kuizhi started from opera songs. He said that many people say that Yu Kuizhi is a "old student of opera" and "an old student of the party", but in the past few decades, he himself has withstood such pressure and worked all the way down. "I have a belief that 'the audience doesn't like the opera?'" Yu Kuizhi said that when "Rap Face" and "Qianmen Love Thinking Big Bowl of Tea" were popular, people singing karaoke in the streets and alleys, carrying long hair of tape recorders, and young people wearing sunglasses all liked it, everyone felt that this kind of song was very novel, it was not Peking Opera, but it integrated Peking Opera elements, when everyone listened to these works, the melody of Peking Opera, the artistic image of Peking Opera entered the hearts of the audience, and slowly more and more people began to like Peking Opera.
Over the years, Yu Kuizhi and Li Shengsu have appeared at the party many times, and in addition to singing excerpts from Peking Opera, they have also sung opera songs such as "Chinese Characters", "Happy New Year", and "Passing on the Beauty of Pear Garden", spreading Peking Opera. At the Spring Festival Gala in 2015, Yu Kuizhi even sang the popular song "Run" in reverse strings. Yu Kuizhi said that singing popular songs at the Spring Festival Gala is actually a gesture, hoping to drive audiences who love Peking Opera and young people who love popular music to know more about Peking Opera and bring joy and novelty to everyone.
"Once there was a Spring Festival Gala one year, I had a sentence, which was 'a horse left the Western LiangJie', there was no next sentence, only this previous sentence. According to the Tradition of Peking Opera, an actor who sings like this is to be scolded. Some people don't understand us, but my idea is that on the Spring Festival Gala stage with hundreds of millions of viewers, on the cultural feast of the big Chinese New Year's Eve, Peking Opera can occupy a place for a few minutes, and I think it must be grasped. In order to reflect the existence of our Peking Opera art on such a variety stage, and to show the spiritual outlook of contemporary Peking Opera people through such performances, this is the most important thing. This is something of positive significance to the inheritance, promotion and development of Peking Opera. ”
Yu Kuizhi believes that if you want To inherit and develop Peking Opera well, you must "walk on multiple legs", and specific to yourself, in the inheritance and promotion of Peking Opera, he is also "walking on multiple legs", singing traditional plays such as "Big Detective II" and "Lost Space", and the newly compiled historical dramas also sang a lot, and also attached great importance to the performance at the party.
Yu Kuizhi said that over the years, he has not been swayed by public opinion, as long as it is related to the spread of Peking Opera and positive dissemination of Peking Opera, he will do it.
This is a good era of Peking Opera
On some online platforms, many young people get together to enjoy Peking Opera, talk about the exquisite costumes of Peking Opera stage art, and discuss the portrayal of characters by actors in classic repertoire. Speaking of the fact that more and more young people are beginning to like Peking Opera and traditional culture, Yu Kuizhi said that this is because most of the works of traditional classic Peking Opera are praising traditional Chinese virtues, praising loyalty, filial piety, benevolence, and wisdom; the vast majority of works of the newly compiled history of Peking Opera are praising our national heroes and praising national integrity; Peking Opera Modern Opera praises the models of the times and the pioneers of the times, and the art of Peking Opera is a positive and mainstream work.
Talking about the big topic of the inheritance of Peking Opera art in the present, Yu Kuizhi still talks about "cultivating young audiences". Yu Kuizhi said, "The most important thing is that through the actors' understanding of the art of Peking Opera, the aesthetic needs of the audience and the many years of stage experience, they will continue to find ways to cultivate a new generation of audiences." How to keep up with the pace of the times and how to make more young people fall in love with Peking Opera are all things that Peking Opera actors need to do. ”
Yu Kuizhi and Li Shengsu have been sending Peking Opera art to campuses and communities for many years, and to audiences at home and abroad who love Peking Opera. Talking about Peking Opera going abroad, Li Shengsu said that because at the beginning of the performance abroad, with big dramas, such as "The Legend of the White Snake", "Wild Boar Forest", "Playing Gold Bricks", "Phoenix Nest", etc., I was afraid that the audience could not understand it, and later found that as long as the translation was done well, all the places where there were laughter points and applause in China, foreign audiences also all had reactions, art has no borders, and the art of Peking Opera is the same. Yu Kuizhi added that the key to peking opera art going abroad is to see if there is any intention to do it, plot introduction, singing lyrics and recitation, etc. to do a good job of translation, but also to publicize well, such as inviting local famous artists to the theater to guide the audience to Peking Opera art, etc. All work is done well, and there will be continuous applause after a performance, and foreign audiences can better understand our national culture.
Yu Kuizhi said that Peking Opera art is actually catching up with it a good era, this is a network era, can not take the level of attendance of a theater performance audience, the number of audiences, to measure the rise and fall of Peking Opera art, or to measure whether this art is in the trough period, you do not know how many people lock the CCTV Opera channel at home, how many people take mobile phones to watch Peking Opera, in fact, for contact with Peking Opera, the audience's choice is greater. "In the past few years, the state has supported and promoted many policies for traditional arts, and invested a lot of manpower, material and financial resources in peking opera art, whether online or offline, the audience can see a lot of Peking opera performances."
After 50 years of artistic career, the sentence Yu Kuizhi most wants to say is "art is endless". "Whether it is to cultivate a younger generation of Peking Opera actors or to cultivate Peking Opera audiences, I will personally practice the phrase 'art is endless', and I must continue to learn, excavate, and sort out the art of Peking Opera, and pass on the things that the previous generations of artists have passed on to me." Peking Opera actors, just like the 400-meter relay race, are passed on from generation to generation, so that the art of Peking Opera can be passed on. ”
Talking about the big topic of the inheritance of Peking Opera art in the present, Yu Kuizhi believes that it is important to cultivate young audiences. "Most importantly, through the actors' understanding of the art of Peking Opera, the aesthetic needs of the audience, and many years of stage experience, we will continue to find ways to cultivate a new generation of audiences."