4 & 6 December 2009 (Fri & Sun) 7:30pm
Grand Theatre, Hong Kong Cultural Centre

Tickets: $600, 480, 320, 200, 120

‘…It marries the native poetic…to western instrumentation and vocal delivery in a way that remains instinctively Chinese.  Its potential has been brilliantly showcased.’  Financial Times

‘It’s his (Guo Wenjing's) greatest success and the most amiable masterpiece after Night Banquet.’ Yazhou Zhoukan

An Opera in 5 Acts

Performed in Putonghua with Chinese and English Surtitles

A production of Asian Performing Arts of Colorado
 

Music: Guo Wenjing

Libretto: Diana Liao & Xu Ying

Director: Lin Zhaohua

Costume / Set / Lighting Design: Yi Liming

Organized by Opera Hong Kong

Guo Wenjing	Composer
Guo Wenjing is currently a professor at the Composition Department of Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, China.  He has been honoured among the Top 100 Living Artists of China.  He was acclaimed by the New York Times as 'the only world-renowned Chinese musician who never settled down in a foreign country.'  His works have been featured at festivals all over the world.  His Shu Dao Nan (Hard are the ways of Sichuan) (1987), a symphonic poem with voices, was selected as the official People’s Music Publishing House’s part of series 'Twentieth-Century Distinguished Chinese Classics'.  He has also scored for more than 40 feature films and TV series, including Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles directed by Zhang Yimou, In the Heat of the Sun directed by Jiang Wen, Qi Wang directed by Teng Wenji, etc.
Diana Liao		Librettist
Born and educated in Hong Kong, Diana Liao graduated from The University of Hong Kong, where she majored in comparative literature and translation, followed by postgraduate studies in journalism at the Université de Paris V in France.  Passionate for Chinese and English literature, then branching out to French, Russian, Spanish and most recently to Italian, she divided her 32 years in New York between working as a simultaneous interpreter at the United Nations during the day and writing at night.  Her works include collaborations with composer Tan Dun.  She also worked closely with the playwright Xu Ying to produce the bilingual opera Wenji (2001) with music by Bun Ching Lam, Poet Li Bai by Guo Wenjing, and did the English translation for Ang Lee’s Lust, Caution (2007).  She has recently finished writing the libretto for the opera Matteo Ricci which will be premiered in Hong Kong in 2010.
Xu Ying	Librettist
After graduation from the Department of Playwriting of the Academy of Chinese Traditional Opera in Beijing,  Xu Ying joined the China National Opera and Dance Theatre as a playwright since 1991.  In 1998, he was invited to visit America for cultural exchange, and was invited to be the Adjunct Professor of the World Cultural Art Center of UCLA, where he also shared his vast knowledge of the theory of traditional Chinese opera in a series of lectures.  His operatic works have been featured at festivals all over the world and have made him one of the most authoritative literary figures on performing arts in China.  His major works include Wenji (composer Bun Ching Lam), Tea: A Mirror of Soul (co-librettist and composer Tan Dun) and Poet Li Bai (composer Guo Wenjing).
Lin Zhaohua	Director
Lin Zhaohua has been a Vice President of the Beijing People’s Art Theatre, a visiting professor at the Central Drama School, and a permanent member of the Association of Chinese Playwrights.  He currently heads the Theatre Research Institute at Peking University, in addition to his work at the Beijing People’s Art Theatre.  He has directed more than 60 plays.  Lin wholeheartedly explored future dramatic possibilities through his 'Omnipotent Theatre', established in collaboration with Gao Xingjian in the early 80s.  Lin’s important works include Wildman, Uncle Doggie’s Nirvana, Hamlet, Faust, Richard III, opera Night Banquet and Wolf Cub Village.
Yi Liming	Costumes/sets/Lighting Design
Yi Liming graduated from the Department of stage Art of Beijing’s Central Academy of Drama.  He is currently stage designer of the Beijing People’s Art Theatre.  Since 1989, he has designed stage sets or lighting for more than 100 plays in China and abroad.  Among his major set and lighting designs were Guo Wenjing’s Night Banquet at the Paris Autumn Festival, 2001 and Perth International Arts Festival, Lincoln Center Festival, 2002, Stephen Merritt’s Orphan of Zhao at 2003 Lincoln Center Festival, etc.
Yip Wing-sie	Conductor
A highly respected and influential figure in Asia’s orchestral music scene, Yip Wing-sie has been the Music Director of the Hong Kong Sinfonietta since 2002 and is also the Principal Guest Conductor at the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra.  Winner of the First Prize as well as ‘LYRE d’OR’ in the 35th Concours International de Jeunes Chefs d’Orchestre de Besançon, France in 1985 and a prizewinner in the 8th Tokyo International Conducting Competition in 1988, she is in great demand as a guest conductor in Asia.  She has conducted at such prestigious venues as the Vienna Musikverein (Grossersaal) and the National Philharmonic Hall in Warsaw, collaborated with renowned artists including Augustin Dumay, Fou Ts’ong and Zukerman and led the Hong Kong Sinfonietta on tour to various cities in Europe, Japan and the Mainland.  She was bestowed ‘Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres’ by the Ministry of Culture and Communication of France in 2007.
Tang Junqiao	Dizi Soloist
Tang Junqiao is one of the most outstanding young dizi performers in the Mainland.  She is now the lead dizi performer with the Shanghai National Music Orchestra. Tang's performances are excellent, skillful and comfortable to listen to.  She was invited to record the dizi solo part in Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon which was directed by Ang Lee with soundtrack composed by Tan Dun.  She also performs with a lot of famous orchestras all around the world.
Tian Haojiang	Bass
Tian Haojiang, who has performed in over 40 operas with 30 opera houses worldwide, is a Chinese-born opera singer of the Metropolitan Opera.  He has sung with renowned singers Luciano Pavarotti and Plácido Domingo for eleven operas.   His current engagements include Turandot at the Metropolitan Opera and at the Bird’s Nest Olympic Stadium in Beijing, a new production directed by Zhang Yimou, Macbeth at Opera Santa Barbara and Fresno Grand Opera and Aïda at San Francisco Opera.  He was nominated as a Principal Soloist for the 51st Grammy Award (2008) for Best Opera Recording of Tan Dun’s The First Emperor.  His English autobiography Along the Roaring River: My Wild Ride from Mao to the Met, published in 2008, is a Lincoln Center Book.
Zhou Xiaolin	Soprano
A graduate of Central Conservatory of Music in 2006, Zhou Xiaolin is at present a singer of the Zhong Zheng Song and Dance Ensemble.  She participated in the productions of operas Madama Butterfly and Aïda, she was chosen to join the production of La Bohème, under the baton of Maestro Seiji Osawa who led a tour of this production in five major cities in Japan.  In 2008, conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy, she sang as the soprano in Mahler’s Symphony No. 2.   She was a winner of the New Voice International Competition in Germany.  She also won the first prize in the China Music Golden Bell Voice Competition, the most prestigious competition in China.
Chi Liming	Tenor
Honoured as a First Class Performing Artist of China and as a soloist at the Shanghai Opera House, Chi Liming was acclaimed by the media in Europe and U.S. as 'the most talented world-class tenor' and 'a real Italian singer'.  In 2005, he made his debut playing leading roles in Virginia Opera’s Roméo et Juliette and Turandot, and sang in a solo concert at the Concert Hall of The Shepherd School of Music.  Other performances include Tosca, La Bohème, Carmen, Madama Butterfly, etc.
Jiang Qihu	Peking Opera Tenor
Jiang Qihu is a National First Class artist in China.  Belonging to the Ye school (his teacher was Ye Shaolan), Jiang has performed around the globe.  He is most noted as an actor able to perfect both military and scholarly roles, with a voice that is not only wide-ranging but also immensely agile.  He is the winner of the Mei Lan Fang Gold Award in 1993.  His important traditional repertoire includes Bai She Zhuan (Legend of the White Snake), Yu Tang Chun (Jade Pavilion) and Night Banquet, etc.

From Mao to the Met

Opera Singer Hao Jiang Tian Lecture Recital

Host: Professor Daniel K.L. Chua

27.11.2009 (Friday) 7:30pm

Rayson Huang Lecture Theatre, The University of Hong Kong

For details of the programme and registration for seats, please visit the following website http://www.hku.hk/music/concerts/0910_1/opera

Free admission on a first-come-first-served basis.

Presented by The University of Hong Kong

Pre-performance Talks

The Making of Opera Poet Li Bai

Speaker: Diana Liao

4 & 6.12.2009 (Friday & Sunday) 6:30pm

Grand Theatre, Hong Kong Cultural Centre

Free admission on a first-come-first-served basis.

Presented by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department