As the first operalization of Premier Zhou's image, the opera "Zhou Enlai", guided by the Propaganda Department of the Jiangsu Provincial Party Committee and the Cultural and Tourism Department of Jiangsu Province, produced by the Jiangsu Performing Arts Group, and jointly performed by the Opera and Dance Theater, symphony orchestra and stage company of the Jiangsu Performing Arts Group, will be staged at the Beijing Tianqiao Art Center and the Peking University Lecture Hall on March 1, 2, 4 and 5 respectively.
Created in 2019, Zhou Enlai is composed by composer Tang Jianping, written by playwrights Feng Baiming and Feng Bilie, and directed by director Xing Shimiao. The play uses artistic language to show the historical scene of Premier Zhou "turning crisis into turning opportunities" several times, and reproduces his outstanding merits and lofty demeanor. "Doing this opera is a big challenge." Composer Tang Jianping was moved by Premier Zhou's firm revolutionary beliefs and sentiments during a visit to the Zhou Enlai Memorial Hall. So the idea of composing the opera "Zhou Enlai" came to mind. However, it is not easy to create such an opera about great men. Tang Jianping said, "Premier Zhou is a great man of a generation, so the pattern of composition is larger. With communist conviction, full of wisdom, I mainly grasp these points of Premier Zhou. ”
At the beginning of the rehearsal, Tang Jianping frequently went to the Zhou Enlai Memorial Hall in Huai'an to collect styles, during which he consulted a large number of historical materials and documentaries. The more he understood history, the more specific the image of Zhou Enlai in Tang Jianping's mind. "The melody is the foundation, but the content is rich, in order to match the prime minister of a big country, we need to pursue more artistic energy." After a few tweaks, I found a musical theme that suited the prime minister. Premier Zhou is neither ostentatious nor yielding, both polite and polite, but also has a bottom line of principle, and the richness of the characters themselves makes me rich and tense in the design of music, both passionate and long, with profound connotations and closer to the image of the characters. ”
The script was performed in Beijing by conductor Tan Lihua, tenor Wu Pan as Premier Zhou Enlai, and soprano Singer Zhang Jiayu as Zhou Enlai's wife Deng Yingchao. The first time he played Premier Zhou Enlai, Wu Pan was full of anxiety in his heart, "This role is very difficult, he is not like a heroic character, find various postures to perform, he must be calm." The prime minister's right hand was injured, and in the case that his right hand was inconvenient to perform, my two legs had to be tied like nails on the stage to perform, which was more difficult, requiring not only the shape, but also the god, in order to hand over a satisfactory answer. ”
The play premiered at the Yan'an Grand Theater as the opening ceremony of the "Central Conservatory of Music Yan'an 10.15 Art Festival" and won warm praise from local audiences, praising "returning a wish of Premier Zhou and fulfilling the dream of the people of Yan'an for 46 years". Subsequently, as a newly created stage play of the 2019 Zijin Culture and Art Festival, the play made its debut on the Jiangsu stage and won the "Special Award" of the 2019 Zijin Culture and Art Festival. After more than a year of polishing, the play has been selected by the Propaganda Department, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles "Outstanding Stage Art Works Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Founding of the Communist Party of China" and the "Excellent Repertoire" of the Fourth China Opera Festival. On January 8, 2022, the drama began a national tour in Huai'an, Jiangsu Province, the hometown of the Premier.
From the creation of the rehearsal to the present, in the past four years, the opera "Zhou Enlai" has been continuously polished and adjusted. Tang Jianping believes that it is very necessary to continue to explore national opera, "Chinese opera to go up, can not only be satisfied with take-off, in the face of the new century, take-off, how high to fly, how to fly higher, is our generation of composers to think." ”
Text/Beijing Youth Daily reporter Tian Wanting
Editor/Bow Lifang