Beijing, October 15 news (reporter Zhao Zixuan) A moving song that plucks the heartstrings, a scene of touching and sincere scenes, together created the opera masterpiece "La Traviata". As a performance of the 4th China Opera Festival, the world's classic opera masterpiece "La Traviata" rehearsed by the Central Opera House was staged at the Yantai Grand Theatre on the evening of October 14, providing a wonderful artistic feast for the local people.
Actors from the Central Opera House prepare for the performance (Photo by Zhao Zixuan, a reporter from the Central Broadcasting Network)
Stage a masterpiece that has been passed down through the ages
With the beautiful music, Violetta appeared in a white dress, and the grand ball began. In the first act of the opera, the well-known melody and singing section were staged one after another, which was wonderful and won the applause of the whole hall. La Traviata is a novel published by the French writer Alexandre Dumas in 1848, adapted into a play script by the author himself in 1852, and the opera La Traviata, composed by the Italian musician Verdi and written by Piave in 1853. Since then, "La Traviata" in various art forms such as novels, dramas, operas, and movies has swept the world. Since being staged in Beijing in 1956 by the Central Opera House, La Traviata has dumped two or three generations of Chinese audiences. Passed down to this day, it serves as a touchstone, providing standards and references for the creation and rehearsal of national operas.
The performance scene of the opera "La Traviata" (Photo by Zhao Zixuan, a reporter of the Central Broadcasting Network)
The opera La Traviata tells the poignant love story of 19th-century Parisian socialite Violletta and the young Alfred. Violetta, known as the "La Traviata" because of her love of wearing camellias, fell in love with Alfred but was destroyed by the secular prejudices of society. From the stars to the moon, to the terminal illness, to the withering and falling, the image of Violletta has undergone transformation and sublimation, flashing a holy and noble brilliance, and winning the compassion and respect of the world.
A strong line-up is a great performance
The Central Opera House is the largest and most talented national art academy in the Asia-Pacific region. The opera "La Traviata" is based on the 2001 edition of the Central Opera House, directed by Jiang Franco de Poccio (Italy), Li Dandan, and performed by famous singers such as Mo Hong and Xu Sen. According to reports, there are nearly 200 cast members in this performance, bringing together famous artists from all walks of life in the Central Opera House. The powerful rehearsal lineup perfectly interprets the deeply moving plot and moving music of the opera, coupled with shocking, exquisite lighting and stage design, and a "feast" performance is staged.
Under Verdi's creation, the image of Violletta is portrayed in detail, and the drama and music are perfectly integrated. Violetta also became one of the most difficult soprano characters to navigate. In this performance, soprano Mo Hong played Violletta, through different singing voices and singing methods, the emotions and emotional changes of different stages of the characters were vividly interpreted, and the audience responded with warm applause.
The actor of the opera "La Traviata" closes the curtain (photo by Zhao Zixuan, a reporter of the Central Broadcasting Network)
Mo Hong, a famous soprano singer and vice president of the Central Opera House, also said in an interview with reporters, "Since 1992, I have played the role of Violeta, and today is my 74th performance. The most important thing as an actor is to bring you artistic enjoyment and aesthetic enjoyment through performance. I hope that the audience can enter the theater to feel the charm of classic Western opera and feel the beauty of music. The most important thing for the theater is to rehearse a large number of artistic, high-level, high-quality works, and cultivate a new generation of talents in them, so that the art can be passed on. ”
Expert discussion: Adhere to the "double hundred policy" and tell the Chinese story well
As the only Western opera in the repertoire of the 4th China Opera Festival, "La Traviata" attracted 11.793 million spectators to watch online and offline simultaneously, with unprecedented grandeur. Immediately after the performance, an expert seminar was held, in which experts and scholars, representatives of the main creative team and students of the 2021 National Opera Creation Seminar attended the meeting, and everyone had an in-depth exchange on why to inherit the traditional Opera of the West.
Expert seminar site (Photo courtesy of Yantai Cultural Tourism)
First, the ancient is used for the present, and the foreign is used for the Middle
At the seminar, the lead actor Mo Hong first recalled the performance history of "La Traviata", emphasizing that "La Traviata" is the first Western opera introduced by the Central Opera House, an opera that can be understood by farmers, the important thing is that the West is used in China, and learning the West is to serve our Chinese, so as to be able to create more Chinese works. You Weizhi, editor-in-chief of "Opera", said that from 1956 to today, when digital media are widely used, from Chinese to Italian original texts, in the inheritance of western opera classics, the Central Opera House has always adhered to the parallel progress of China and the West, promoted the West, and fully absorbed and used the experience of Western opera creation to serve itself, which is the best practice of "ancient for the present, foreign for Chinese use".
Lead actor Mo Hong speaks at the seminar (Photo courtesy of Yantai Cultural Tourism)
You Weizhi, editor-in-chief of Opera, speaks at the seminar (Photo courtesy of Yantai Cultural Tourism)
Second, creative transformation, innovative development
The successful performance of the classic opera "La Traviata" in Yantai reflects the importance of creative transformation and innovative development of culture. Today's art creators have been entrusted with a new historical mission by the new era, that is, to actively promote cultural innovation to meet the growing demand of the people for spiritual and cultural products. Wang Daocheng, distinguished professor of the School of Arts of Wuhan University, said, "The successful performance of 'La Traviata' reflects the responsibility of the Central Opera House to introduce classic Western operas to the whole country while adhering to the development of Chinese opera. At the same time, You Weizhi pointed out that Western classic opera is also a cultural and artistic tradition, and our operas have been broadcast live online in less than an hour with more than 8 million, which fully shows that our people need such works, and the Central Opera House has given the audience this spiritual food.
Distinguished Professor Wang Daocheng of the School of Arts of Wuhan University speaks at the seminar (Courtesy of Yantai Culture and Tourism)
Third, polish the classics and exercise the team
Cultivating Chinese national opera talents is an important guarantee for China to comprehensively promote the prosperity and development of opera art, "shouzheng" can "innovate", with the polishing of such a classic opera as "La Traviata" as the front, cultivating and tempering a group of outstanding opera artistic creation and performance talents, they are based on tradition, facing the world, is the inexhaustible driving force for national opera to tell Chinese stories well and sing Chinese voices. Yuan Ding, chief permanent conductor of the Central Opera House, said, "'La Traviata' is not only the first Western opera introduced by the Central Opera House, but also occupies an important position in the history of world opera, and has been polished by several generations of artists since its introduction, and has always maintained the most traditional artistic style of this opera, which is also the common pursuit of all the creative performers. Han Wanzhai, a professor at the School of Music of Sichuan Normal University, said, "The cast of this performance is strong, and the close cooperation between various departments shows the highest level of Chinese traditional opera performance art in The West with a high degree of professionalism." ”
Yuan Ding, Chief Permanent Conductor of the Central Opera House, delivered a speech at the seminar (Courtesy of Yantai Cultural Tourism)
Professor Han Wanzhai of the School of Music of Sichuan Normal University speaks at the seminar (Courtesy of Yantai Cultural Tourism)
Fourth, eclectic and full of flowers
A classic work of art can express the common emotional experience and value pursuit of mankind, and on the road of prosperity and development, Chinese national opera learns from the classics and pays tribute to the classics is not only a respect for the laws of art, but also a big country's mind. Wang Daocheng said, "It is touching to see such a classic Western traditional opera as "La Traviata" at the Fourth China Opera Festival, which marks that the path for the prosperity and development of Opera art in China is open and inclusive. Qiao Peijuan, former political commissar of the People's Liberation Army Academy of Arts, also said, "Opera art should not have only one model, it should have been a hundred flowers." The deep integration of Chinese and Western opera arts, drawing on Western technology to tell Chinese stories is a creative direction worth trying in Chinese opera. ”
Qiao Peijuan, former political commissar of the People's Liberation Army Academy of Arts, spoke at the seminar (Courtesy of Yantai Cultural Tourism)
At the seminar, in addition to the speeches of the experts, the students from all over the world also had in-depth discussions with the experts and representatives of the main creative team from the aspects of sitting singing of opera, landing rehearsal, rehearsal of chorus and band, and finally entering the theater to complete the overall stage art synthesis.