MUSICAL INTERLUDE: Xi Shi, played by Chinese soprano Xu Xiaoying, appears at the NCPA press conference on March 3 CFP

The 2010 Opera Festival of the National Center for the Performing Arts (NCPA) is to kick off soon. Starting on April 15, the festival will present 12 operas including both Western classics and original Chinese productions. It will start with an original opera Xi Shi and end with the Chinese national opera Sun Snow on July 3.

This year's festival aims to achieve better quality, more variety and, because of a lower threshold for the public, wider participation, a press conference held by NCPA on March 3 was told. Opera promoters Dai Yuqiang, one of China's leading tenors, and Zou Jingzhi, the playwright for Xi Shi, as well as some opera producers attended the conference.

Following a successful collaboration with two famous Italian opera houses, Teatro La Fenice (The Phoenix) and Teatro Regio di Parma at the 2009 festival, this year the NCPA will cooperate closely with the Bolshoi Theater of Russia for the first time.

The top-level Russian troupe has organized a line-up of more than 200 to present the masterpiece, Eugene Onegin. The opera, based on the poem written by famous Russian poet Alexander Pushkin, is the most outstanding production of the total of 11 operas composed by the great Russian musician Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky during his lifetime. The heroes and heroines of the opera will be played by Russia's most shining stars. It will be the first time the Russian theater performs a complete opera in China.

During the festival, the NCPA will present its own versions of classics, including Carmen by Georges Bizet, The Elixir of Love by Gaetano Donizetti, Gianni Schicchi by Giacomo Puccini and La Traviata by Giuseppe Verdi. The NCPA versions of these operas are expected to stand out by merging more genres and greater diversity of cultural elements into their productions.

Many famous A-list directors, conductor, singers and choreographers will join the production team of the NCPA versions at the festival. The NCPA version of Carmen will be directed by outstanding American director Francesca Zambello. Renowned conductor Lorin Maazel has been invited as both conductor and artistic director of the NCPA's version of La Traviata. And a top Italian opera production team will make the humorous and relaxing The Elixir of Love more fascinating.

Originals to the forefront

Five operas created by Chinese artists have been selected for this year's festival: Xi Shi, Sun Snow, The Song of Youth, A Young Peasant's Marriage, and The White-haired Girl.

Xi Shi, the first original opera produced by the NCPA, is opening this year's festival. Adapted from the legend of Chinese beauty Xi Shi, who was considered one of the Four Beauties of ancient China, the opera, which made its debut last October, creatively portrays the war between the State of Wu and the State of Yue during the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 B.C.), as well as the story of the legendary beauty.

"In the opera, what I wanted to describe was the story of Xi Shi and her motherland, not a single love story," Zou said.

The opera is also an experiment of Chinese artists in combining the form of Western opera with music played on traditional Chinese instruments.

"It is a work that uses the international language of art to tell the story of the most beautiful woman in China," said Deng Yijiang, Executive Producer of the opera. "When you watch the opera, you will be fascinated by its plot and scenery and you will understand why she was regarded as the most beautiful woman."

The opera was a big hit when it was staged last year. Its first eight performances attracted audiences of almost 20,000.

Besides these, two small-theater operas—A Young Peasant's Marriage and Gianni Schicchi—will add a different sort of fun to the festival. A Young Peasant's Marriage, adapted from the novel of the same title by Zhao Shuli, one of contemporary China's important novelists, is an original Chinese opera premiered in 1953. It was loved by audiences for its vivid and humerous language and strong local flavor. Many arias in this opera are considered classic songs and have been sung by generations of Chinese sopranos such as Guo Lanying.

The version of Gianni Schicchi, directed by well-known Chinese opera director Li Wei, will be the first small theater opera produced by the NCPA.

Spreading the word

During the festival, the NCPA will launch more than a dozen arts education activities. The center will invite artists to speak to opera lovers and answer questions about music, performance, stage design and other aspects of the dramatic art to help audiences gain an in-depth understanding of opera.

This year's NCPA Opera Festival will also include an appreciation seminar. Audiences can watch film versions of selected classical operas while experts give on-site analysis of classical operatic repertoire, composers, performers, classical arias and impart their knowledge of operas. These activities will also be held outside of the theater in universities, factories and communities.

To arouse people's interest in opera, the NCPA announced a series of favorable price policies. Family packages and two-person package are available for some of the shows. There are also student tickets, priced at 80 to 100 yuan ($11.8 to 14.7), to encourage young people to enjoy the art of opera. In addition, the audience can also enjoy a 10 percent discount if they buy tickets 20 days ahead of the show. A series of theme activities related to the festival will also be held, with low ticket prices of 40 yuan ($5.9) and family packages.