The countdown to the twenty-four solar terms that amazed the world at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics carried the Chinese civilization and way of life, embodied the ancients' understanding of the cycle of time, and pinned on the wisdom and feelings of the poetic inhabitation of man and nature. On February 15 this year, as well as on April 20, May 2 and June 21 this year, Beijing Poly Forbidden City Theatre Management Co., Ltd. will join hands with the Northern Kunqu Opera Theatre to stage a series of evenings on the Shangyuan Festival and the Guyu, Lixia and Summer Solstice Festivals. In the theater surrounded by classical gardens in Zhongshan Music Hall, experience 12 classical loves presented by 9 Kunqu operas.
The four evenings all take "love" as the main line, and each show captures three "love classic" folding plays, including "Peony Pavilion" "Dream of Visiting the Garden" and "Dream Seeking", "Listening to the Qin" and "Chuanshu Laijian" of "Xi Xiang Ji", "Little Feast" and "Shu Ge" of the Hall of Eternal Life, and "Evil Sea Record , Double Descent "Phoenix Mountain • Hundred Flowers Gift sword", "Odd Double Will Write", "Zhan Hua Kui • Vomiting", "Jade Hairpin • Qin Pick", "Wind and Cloud Society , Thousand Miles to Send The Beijing Lady" and so on. Whether it is the auspicious day of the Shangyuan Dynasty with haotianhua moon and the colorful lights, the twilight spring valley rain in the desert of the plain forest and the weaving of smoke and rain, or the summer solstice night when the forest is sparse and the open is cool, there is always a two-love, autumn hate spring sorrow, sadness and joy that make people feel excited.
"Meet the Love in Kunqu Opera" will begin on February 15, Shangyuan Festival (Lantern Festival) - Shangyuan Festival can be counted as the ancient Chinese Valentine's Day, this day young unmarried women can rarely step out of the boudoir, to the bustling street market to enjoy the lights, many talented and beautiful people's wonderful love stories are born from the "chance encounter" of The Shangyuan Festival. On February 10th, Wang Liyuan and Wang Chen, the main actors of "Xi Xiang Ji Tingqin", Zhang Belle and Shao Tianshuai of "ChangshengDian Xiao Feast", Wei Chunrong and Shao Zheng (with the performance repertoire as the preface), liu Tianlu, the flute master, Cao Ying, vice president of the Northern Kunqu Opera Theatre, and Xu Jian, chairman of Beijing Poly Forbidden City Theater Management Co., Ltd., will participate in the first performance of "Meet the Love in Kunqu Opera", and chat about the creative planning of "Meet the Love in Kunqu Opera" on the stage of Zhongshan Music Hall.
The 9 Kunqu operas selected by the "Meet Love in Kunqu" series of evenings cover the main repertoire of the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, from the "Yuan Miscellaneous Drama Pressed Works" "Xi Xiang Ji", which was born more than 700 years ago, the "Peony Pavilion" that "several times reduced the price of "Xi Xiang" once it came out, to the "Jade Hairpin Record" created by the scribe Gao Lian in the late Ming Dynasty, the "Fengyunhui" by the late Ming and early Qing Dynasty playwright Li Yu and its adaptation of "Zhan Hua Kui", and the "Hall of Eternal Life" written by the early Qing dynasty playwright Hong Sheng. In addition, the three folk dramas "Hundred Flowers", "Odd Double Society" and "Evil Sea Record" are different from the origins of the literati pro-Kunqu opera, which together create a rich and diverse Kunqu vocal cavity. With four performances in this series, the audience can generally appreciate the different temperaments of the scripts with different origins.
The four performances also include the strong performance lineup of the Northern Kunqu Opera Theatre, including Wang Liyuan, Wang Chen, Chen Lin, Shao Tianshuai, Zhang Belle, Wei Chunrong, Shao Zheng, Ma Jing, Zhang Huan, Zhang Yuanyuan, Wang Jin, Weng Jiahui, Pan Xiaojia, Yang Fan, Gu Weiying, etc. (in order of performance time and repertoire), including famous artists with outstanding achievements, winners of the Drama Plum Blossom Award, and rising stars who have stood alone.
From Shangyuan to the summer solstice, they will devote themselves to interpreting the love frozen in Kunqu opera. There are not only the encounters and thoughts of the daughter of Xiangguo and the commoner scholar in "The Tale of the West Chamber", but also the entanglement and jealousy of the royal love between Emperor Tang Ming and Yang Guifei in "The Hall of Eternal Life"; there are the legendary stories of everyone's bridesmaids and poor students in "Peony Pavilion", who are also true and illusory, and the yin and yang are tight, and there are also the sincere pursuits of the two young people who have escaped the empty door early in "The Book of Evil Seas"; the future founding prince of the Northern Song Dynasty in "The Wind and Clouds" has a heavy faith in the alliance brothers and abides by the etiquette law; in "Zhan Hua Kui", Lin'an famous prostitutes are drunk on the night of drinking and selling oil langs and have a feeling of affection In the "Hundred Flowers", the princess and the jinshi and the new imperial history swore an oath; in the "Jade Hairpin", Daogu and Shusheng practiced the piano and listened to the piano, and the song of the youtong style; in the "Qi Shuanghui", the unjust woman and the newlywed husband Jun were entangled in the words, and the case was raised. These emotional protagonists, whose identity status, age and personality, cultural accomplishment, etc. are different, but let us travel through time and space and immerse ourselves in the emotional world of the ancient Chinese.
Kunqu opera is gentle and gentle, soft and sticky, and the accompanying instruments are mainly flutes, drums, plates, etc., which may be the most suitable for conveying love's hundred turns of emotion and a thousand grievances. According to reports, the four evenings of "Meet the Love in Kunqu Opera", the orchestra is organized to adhere to tradition, bringing the audience an original appreciation experience. The main actors and experts of the Northern Kunqu Opera Theatre will also cooperate with the performance to launch a series of Kunqu lecture halls, demonstration and in-depth sharing, and "unlock" the different love in Kunqu.
Text/Beijing Youth Daily reporter Guo Jia
Photo / Beijing Youth Daily reporter Chai Cheng
Editor/Cui Wei