Water waves are songs, paddles and sails are songs, a river passes through the north and south for a thousand years, and the large-scale original Peking Opera symphony suite "Beijing Grand Canal" debuted at the Shanghai Grand Theatre on October 18. Under the baton of conductor Li Biao, the Beijing Symphony Orchestra, the Beijing Opera House and the Beijing Music Association Choir joined forces, and nearly 200 people performed "Beijing Grand Canal". Tan Xiaozeng, Du Zhenjie, Li Hongtu, Chi Xiaoqiu, Zhu Qiang, Chen Junjie, Zhang Huifang, Hu Wenge, Wang Yi, Yang Shaopeng, Zhang Jianfeng, Zhang Xinyue, Kang Jing, Fang Xu, Zhang Kai, Bai Jin, Meng Xianteng, Wang Qian and other generations of Peking Opera actors all appeared.
Many people know about the "Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal" to varying degrees, but not too many people really understand the historical evolution and cultural connotation of the "Beijing Section of the Grand Canal". The Buick Master series "Beijing Grand Canal" focuses on the Beijing section of the Grand Canal, with Yang Nailin as the composer, Weng Sizai and Li Dongcai as the lyricist, and Kong Jie as the stage director.
Tongzhou is located at the northern end of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, and the first movement of the Beijing Grand Canal, "A Tower Shadow Sees Tongzhou", depicts scenes such as Tongzhou's Caoyun Wharf, Grain Inspection Building, Zhangjiawan, and Tongzhou Trumpet, leading to the second movement, "Stars in the Sky, Guo Shoujing", telling the story of Kublai Khan's ordering Guo Shoujing to repair the water system in the city. The third movement, "Drifting Beijing City", shows the relationship between Beijing City and the canal, floating along the canal to people's lives and production materials, and also floating "Dream of the Red Chamber", Huiban into Beijing and so on. The fourth movement, "Tribute to the Grand Canal", shows the rise and fall of the Beijing Canal for a hundred years, and the ending brings up a new climax, establishing the city of Tongzhou for a thousand years, and realizing the dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. The entire work combines the typical vocal cavities of different genres of Peking Opera with symphony, and expresses the grand theme in the form of a suite.
After a year of collecting style for the creation of "Beijing Grand Canal", Li Dongcai said, "The traditional classic contemporary presentation must have both a sense of historical vicissitudes and a high-spirited spiritual temperament, thus forming a suite structure with a deep sense of history and a strong sense of reality." "Director Kong Jie takes music and singing segments as the main body, supplemented by multimedia to create atmosphere and supplementary information, through the division of lighting, costumes and performance areas, so that the actors belong to the history and the present two different time and space, to create far and near, dignified and bright, statement and reflection contrast."
On the stage, a number of multimedia large screens with the image of "sails" rise and fall freely, simulating the rise and fall of sails on the canal, creating a cascading and orderly sense of space, and at the same time playing the historical background of the Grand Canal in the form of subtitles, and the sound and painting complement each other. On September 21, the 9th China Peking Opera Arts Festival kicked off with this performance.
Column Editor-in-Chief: Li Junna Text Editor: Li Junna Photo Editor: Cao Liyuan
Source: Author: Zhuge Yi