During the rainy season, the shade of the trees on the East Second Ring Road gradually thickens. Under the blue sky, a white and beautiful theater has finally shown its true appearance in the near future after years of construction - this is the long-awaited "home" of generations of artists of the Central Opera House, and it is also a new cultural landmark in Beijing, and the solid practice of The strategic positioning of Beijing's "four centers" has added another heavy stroke. On May 1st, the theater will open its doors to welcome visitors from all over the world.
The wish of generations of artists over the past 70 years has finally come true
"We can finally sing at home!" Standing in the foyer of the new theater, you Hongfei, a soprano singer at the Central Opera House, could not hide her excitement. The afternoon sun sprinkled into the large glass window, transparent and bright, she thought of the first director of the theater Li Bozhao, remembered the famous singer Li Guangxi, who had just passed away - in the 70-year history of the Central Opera House, several generations of opera singers have always had a common regret in their hearts, and no matter how good other theaters are, they are not their "home" after all.
In 2015, with the strong support of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Central Opera House Theater broke ground. After more than 2,000 days and nights of hard work and overcoming several repeated epidemics, this ingenious theater was finally successfully completed: it is about 138 meters long from east to west, about 56 meters wide from north to south, with a total height of 47.2 meters and a total construction area of 41,000 square meters. Following the long steps facing the East Second Ring Road, the 18 28-meter columns surrounding the theater come into view first, and their twisting angles are different, just like the dynamic feeling of the phoenix tail feathers. The elements of the "phoenix" can be seen everywhere in the theater, the oval audience hall spirals out, like the light sprinkled by the phoenix when it takes off; the tone of the theater is mainly golden yellow, matching the phoenix element, the interior is intertwined with golden yellow and red, the interior is brilliant and gorgeous, and the harmonious balance between Chinese cultural elements and European classical architectural styles has been achieved.
"It's no exaggeration to say that this theater is on par with a world-class opera house." Liu Yunzhi, president and artistic director of the Central Opera House, said. After being officially put into use, it will create a number of industry firsts: this is a professional opera theater with the largest orchestra pool in the country, a 150-square-meter orchestra can sit 120 people, and can accommodate a large orchestra playing Wagner opera; the audience seats are 1 to 3 floors for the building, and there are 49 boxes on the 4th to 6th floors, and the design of "building seat + box" can meet the needs of different audiences, creating a precedent for domestic opera houses. In addition, the horseshoe-shaped grandstand structure allows the C-position audience to achieve the best experience from 24 meters away from the actors, and the reverberation time is controlled at a perfect stage of 1.6-1.8 seconds, no matter where the seats are located, the audience can get an almost consistent sound experience.
"We've performed in a lot of opera houses abroad, and the new theater can even be better." After singing a song called "Drinking Song", the tenor singer Li Shuang of the Central Opera House and the soprano singer Guo Orange were "surprised" by the acoustic effect of the theater. "It's easy to sing here, I don't have to stand on the lips to get better vocal penetration, but I can put more energy into interpreting the character." Guo Orange said.
The dojo is made in the shell of the snail, and the small theater hides the big stage
Looking back on the construction process of the new theater, Zheng Qichao, secretary of the Party Committee of the Central Opera House, lamented that one of the major difficulties was the small size of the venue. 20 meters to the west of the theater is the east second ring road green belt, and to the south is the office building of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Liu Mingwen, the general contractor of the theater and the project manager of the Central Opera House of Beijing Urban Construction Group, compared it to the analogy that this is like "doing a dojo in a shell of a snail". To this end, the construction of the new theater of the Central Opera House adopts BIM intelligent system management throughout the process, the materials enter the site in days, accurate hoisting to the construction area, and even the installation scheme of each steel structure component is refined to the unit of minutes, "The whole project uses tens of thousands of components, each factory has a unique two-dimensional code, and can be accurately installed in place after scanning at the site." "Although the construction area of the theater project is only 1/3 of the Bird's Nest, the amount of steel used per square meter is almost the same as that of the Bird's Nest.
There is a "big" stage in the "small" theater. This stage includes five parts: the main stage, the left and right side stages, the back stage and the side backstage, and a large hard scene production place and storage room are configured in a space of more than 11 meters below the back stage table. On the stage, 86 electric booms, 10 sets of side light gondolas, 12 sets of movable single-point cranes and 4 sets of side booms and other hanging equipment can be hoisted up and down with a variety of sets and lights, realizing the "bucket to star shift" of the stage scenery in the opera. "These hanging devices can run at a maximum speed of 2 meters per second and have excellent stability." Chen Yi, the general contractor of stage process design and machinery equipment and the head of Zhejiang Dafeng Industrial Co., Ltd., for example, erected a cigarette on a boom, the boom will not fall during the movement, and a wooden board will be built between the 2 booms, and the 3 layers of water filled with water cups will not spill out.
The opening performance month fully demonstrated the strength of Chinese opera
In the view of Mo Hong, vice president of the Central Opera House and a famous singer, the completion of the gorgeous theater building is not the end, but more importantly, the production and performance of works that are both loved by the audience and have international standards. It is reported that on May 1, the one-month opening performance month will officially kick off.
"In terms of program design, we want to ensure as comprehensive as possible." Liu Yunzhi introduced that among them, 3 operas will fully demonstrate the theater's decades of repertoire accumulation and creation, talent advantages, "Turandot" and "Road" will be double open opera, the first Western opera "La Traviata" introduced by the theater will end the performance month; "Chinese Opera Aria Night - from Yan'an", "From Rossini to Puccini Aria, Re-sing Concert", "Central Opera House 'Voice of Love' Anti-epidemic Theme Concert" "Love for the People—— Celebrating the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and commemorating the 80th anniversary of Comrade Mao Zedong's speech at the Yan'an Literary and Art Forum, the 6 sets of concerts such as "The original mission of the original heart and the theme concert" also combine the characteristics of the theater. In addition, the National Ballet of China and the China Symphony Orchestra will also be invited to assist in the performance of the world's classic ballet "Swan Lake" and the "Ode to Joy" symphonic choral concert.
"At this moment, as the witnesses and beneficiaries of the completion of the theater, our mood is not only excited, but also have expectations and responsibilities for the future", Liu Yunzhi feels that the mission is on our shoulders. He said that as a high-profile cultural landmark in Beijing, there is still a long way to go for the new theater in the future. Standing at the new era and development node, the Central Opera House Theater will strive to realize the vision of "a world-class opera house, the country's highest opera hall, the leader of the popularization and dissemination of opera art, a platform for Chinese and foreign opera exchanges, and a highland for opera talents" as soon as possible.
Source: Beijing Daily Client