We’re staying in Beijing for another production from the National Center for the Performing Arts on this week’s Sunday Opera (11/24 3:00 p.m.). This week, it’s an original commission combining Chinese and Western musical idioms in a story based on a popular folksong from the early 20th Century by composer Zhang Quianyi entitled “Lan Huahua” which follows the unfortunate story of a resilient young woman in feudal China from a bizarrely arranged marriage through to her tragic end.
Lan is a headstrong young woman who defies the cultural norms. She is in love, but since they’re both from poor families, they cannot marry. Unfortunately, she comes to the attention of the lord of the area who decides that he wants her to marry his son who is actually underage. Through a series of terrible events, the lord’s son is killed by him, and in his madness, he tries to make Lan marry him anyway. Eventually, Lan runs away and throws herself in the Yellow River rather that conform to what her society of the time expects from her.
The cast includes ZHAO Lili in the title role and GUAN Zhijing as the lord. Other roles are played by XUE Haoyin, ZHANG Yingxi, LIU Songhu, and HAO Miao. They’re joined by the NCPA Chorus and Quingdao Symphony Orchestra conducted by ZHANG Guoyong.
For absolutely no reason other than the chance to give you a few hours of orchestral musick, we’ll be changing things up after the opera with Sergei Prokofiev’s ballet “Cinderella” in a performance by the WDR Sinfonieorchester Koln conducted by Michaeil Jurowski.
Once again, we’re offering you a new and interesting opera that you will probably not have the opportunity to see anywhere in the United States, and we hope you’ll join us.
