A Classic opera ‘the Red guards on Lake honghu’ to have its Australian premiere
FIGHT FOR FREEDOM, SING FOR HOPE
Performed by Hubei Symphony Orchestra and Hubei Provincial Opera and Dance Drama Theatre
After 60 years of success and more than 3000 shows and now performing for the first time out of China in an Australian first, Hubei Symphony Orchestra of Hubei Provincial Opera and Dance Drama Theatre presents a modern concert production of the classic Chinese opera, Lake Honghu featuring seven principal singers and a chorus of forty.
These milestone concerts will take place at the Sydney Opera House on November 4 with celebrated Australian guest conductor Vanessa Scammell (My Fair Lady, The Merry Widow, South Pacific) and Melbourne Recital Centre led by resident conductor Luo Yilin on November 7 & 8.
The original opera was first performed in 1958 in Wuhan and was staged in Beijing in October 1959. Based on the true story, Han Ying and Liu Chuang led a team of guardians defending their homeland in the scenic Lake Honghu area in the summer of 1930. Interesting to note by means of its famous lake, Honghu City produces forty kinds of fish and an abundance of plants, such as the lotus, reed and a type of lack algae.
Blending western style opera with traditional Chinese and Hubei folk songs and lyrical ballad, the melody is cheerful, full of passion and shows the revolutionary pioneer’s love of the hometown and hope for the happy lives and future. The music structure contains both strength of the Chinese traditional opera and English Opera. The lyrics and the music tell the story and focus on emphasising the character’s internal emotions.
Since its debut in Beijing, the opera, composed by Zhu Benhe, Zhang Jing’an and Ouyang Qianshu, has become a national treasure and ‘Chinese Classic Opera of the 20th Century’. In 1961, it was adapted into a popular film, and famous passages such as The Honghu Lake, Waves Upon Waves; No Tears, No Sorrow; and Wait and See the Liberation of All Suffering People, have become a part of China’s collective memory.
This unique concert production of the former opera aims to celebrate and revive the classic work, the performance preserved the brilliance of the original music, while also making modifications to the arrangements to reinvent the piece for contemporary audiences.
Sunday 4 November · Sydney Opera House Concert Hall
Wednesday 7 & Thursday 8 November · Melbourne Recital Centre