This evening and tomorrow, the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra Concert Hall has traveled to the "31st century" - the white "sand dune" is equipped with cello boxes, the black "pyramid" reflects colorful images, and the collision of wine glasses is like the bright colors of light... Human emotions and desires, the loneliness and eternity of life, the infinity and end of the universe, when artistic creativity intertwined on this stage, Shanghai, witnessed the world premiere of The Seven Days, a science fiction opera composed by Hao Wei.
"Art is related to the ultimate freedom of the spiritual world, and the premiere of "Seven Days" today is not easy to come by, and I would like to thank the Shanghai International Arts Festival, the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra and the Central Conservatory of Music for their trust and understanding, especially to the director of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra Yu Long and The director of Zhou Ping for their strong support when the project is in a difficult situation!" "Seven Days" curator Wei Lanfen said. This science fiction-themed chamber opera considers the spirituality of human beings themselves, the relationship between man and machine, man and the future, and has bold innovations in the fields of opera themes and stage design. Zhang Jiemin, the resident conductor, conducted nearly 20 Shanghai symphony musicians, and performed together with baritone Zhou Zhengzhong, mezzo-soprano Dong Fang, and soprano Li Jingjing.
Because of the epidemic prevention requirements, hao Wei, the composer of the play, could not come to the premiere scene in Shanghai. During the rehearsal process in the past few days, the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra used online video software to "live broadcast" the whole process to Hao Wei. Touched, Hao Wei wrote a small thank you card to the shanghai conductors and actors. "The value of 'Seven Days' is that it is focused on the future. In the play, we explore the limitations and dilemmas of people. But we are still full of confidence in the future, just like we treat today's life, full of tears, but the corners of our mouths are still upturned. The value of "Seven Days" lies in the unremitting innovation. Admittedly, it's hard to create innovation, but we've worked hard and we've worked happily together. We believe that the future will give an accurate and objective evaluation of "Seven Days". ”
Think about technology and the relationship between humanity now and in the future
"Often in the trivia of time to sink into memories or look at the future, the past can not be traced, and the future must be poetry and far away? Intelligent survival is subverting the past, what kind of situation will human beings be in in the future, will they be more independent, yearning for fireworks, calling for emotions, and longing for integration in loneliness? Screenwriter Wang Yefei said in his creative notes that after many discussions and debates with the main creative team, there is the current opera "Seven Days", which also shows the attitude of art creators to the future.
The work tells the story of a love triangle between humans and intelligent people, set in a thousand years later, breaking the boundaries of time and space. The male protagonist is the painter Situ Rui, who is seriously ill and has recently passed away. His two admirers, Li Yao, supervisor of the Life Science Center, and Chu Qiao, an ex-girlfriend and life scientist, are "compound people" made of humans and technology, respectively. After Situ Rui's death, Li Yao implanted a chip in his body to revive him and make Situ Rui a "compound person".
Yang Jingze, director of "Seven Days", said that this opera borrows the mouth of the protagonist in the play to think about the essence of human beings different from robots. "Why are tears bitter? Countless big data tell us that the composition of tears is made up of certain substances. What exactly does the bitter taste mean? "Topics like this are speculative and discussed in the opera, and I hope to cause some thinking from the audience."
"This is an opera that explores the future, so there are no ready-made character relationships and plots to draw on, more of our imagination." "Seven Days" composer Hao Wei said that from the theme to the relationship between the characters, from the protagonist identity to the actor settings, from the musical structure to the stage presentation, etc., are the creators of the play based on their own daily reserves, with yearning or worry about the future, as well as respect for the laws of opera art, etc., "everyone figured it out together."
In the music of Seven Days, Hao Weizheng quotes the textures and melodies from Richard Strauss's "Death and Purification" and Debussy's "Pastoral Afternoon", not only as a tribute to the great composer, but also as an attempt to create a unique atmosphere in the work. Conductor Zhang Jiemin believes that the music of the play has different pursuits of timbre, and some of the singing segments also have recitations, which is full of tests for performers.
Tailor-made choreography for the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra Concert Hall
Walking into the stage of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra Concert Hall is like entering the fantasy world of "Seven Days". The addition of video art makes this space convey a unique visual style.
Just like the title of the work "Seven Days", according to the different musical styles of each chapter of the opera, the video style and stage presentation of each day in the Symphony Hall are different. "For example, the first day is the theme of light. Without the singing of actors on stage, how do we convey the characteristics of light through abstract music and choreography? Not only the director of "Seven Days", but also the stage, video and costume design of the play, Yang Jingze said that he hopes to present the words of light to the audience on the stage through various artistic means - beautiful, warm, huge, magnificent, profound and changeable, not only the external light, but also the inner brilliance of the characters.
It is worth mentioning that the stage design of "Seven Days" this time is tailor-made for the Shanghai Symphony Concert Hall. "The hall itself is perfectly designed, every space, every screen is exquisite, it is difficult for you to break its original concept of space, so it is challenging to find the most suitable artistic expression here." Yang Jingze said that the structure of the Shanghai Concert Hall is completely different from the opera hall in the general sense, the surrounding area is completely open, and it is necessary to build a side curtain for the opera singers; in order to ensure the perfect transmission of sound, the material of the "Seven Days" stage props has also been selected in a targeted manner. In addition to the projection device of the Shanghai Concert Hall itself, "Seven Days" also adds a 16-meter-long and six-meter-high LED rear projection device, which increases the visual expression and impact while highlighting the sense of atmosphere and substitution created by the image for the audience.
The creative process is a purely artistic journey
The planning of the opera "Seven Days" began before the outbreak of the new crown epidemic, and the sudden epidemic broke people's original lives and made the creator of this work begin to think quietly. For example, in the face of the vast universe and the end of time, how should human beings exert and exert their power; for example, the development of science and technology will certainly help human beings, but at the same time it will also bring fear to people's hearts... The themes that these artists have truly thought about and felt have become the source of the creation of "Seven Days".
How does the creator see the relationship between technology and art and people's lives? Hao Wei believes that high technology has invaded every aspect of people's lives, "from mobile phones to computers, from eating to dressing, even human communication, and even gender relations... I would worry about human beings being objectified." In Zhang Jiemin's view, artificial intelligence cannot replace the imagination and creativity of art, "this is a unique endowment of God to mankind." At the same time, Zhang Jiemin said that she is very nostalgic for the previous way of life in which people communicate with each other through letters and neighbors greet each other.
"We jokingly call 'Seven Days' an 'artist's opera', a Chinese opera in which artists regardless of fame and fortune and no remuneration, take artistic exploration as the starting point and artistic completion as the only purpose. Today, this 'newborn' has broken through the ground, no matter how it will grow in the future or what kind of storm it will experience, looking back on such a pure artistic journey, I think we are all ashamed. Planner Wei Lanfen said.
Photo: Ye Chenliang
Author: Jiang Fang
Editor: Tong Weijing