NCPA’s opera commission Rickshaw Boy completes its Italy tour successfully
Photo by Wang Xiaojing / chncpa.org

After a 13-day tour in five Italian cities, NCPA gave the ending performance of the opera Rickshaw Boy in Opera di Firenze in the evening of October 5, local time. In the past 13 days, the opera has been staged in Teatro Regio di Torino, Auditorium di Milano, Paganini Concert Hall, Teatro Carlo Felice and Opera di Firenze. Both the opera Rickshaw Boy and “Night of China: NCPA Opera Concert” featuring Western aria classics and those arias and choruses from Rickshaw Boy had been highly praised by local audience. Moreover, Italia's national broadcaster RAI, Corriere della Sera, Al Gomhouria, La Stampa, L'Opera magazine as well as other mainstream media have given high-profile and continuous reports to the tour. NCPA unprecedentedly attracted the attention of Italian and the Western opera world.

Rickshaw Boy demonstrates the splendid oriental charm in Florence, “the City of Arts”
Photo by Wang Xiaojing / chncpa.org

Italian peers speak highly of the opera

The performances in the evenings of October 4 and 5 were conducted by Zhang Guoyong with the leading roles performed by Sun Xiuwei, Han Peng and Tian Haojiang. They shared the stage with Chinese rising opera stars, such as Song Yuanming, Sun Li, Jin Zhengjian, Zhou Xiaolin, Li Xintong, Guan Zhijing and Wang Hexiang. NCPA Orchestra and Chorus also presented fantastic performances in the Opera di Firenze which was the last stop of the tour. Sun Xiuwei, a famous Chinese soprano who played the role of Huniu said excitedly, “This time, we not only attracted Italian audiences, but also drew attention of the whole Western opera circle. Many friends of mine expressed their appreciation after hearing the opera. Rickshaw Boy has caused a great sensation in Italy. In this tour, we won so many applauses and cheers. Our Chinese opera did it!”

When the opera came to the intermission, Luigi Baccianti, Master Prompter of Opera di Firenze said that he was surprised by this opera and said, “I don’t anticipate that China and Italy have such a great resonance in the art of opera as we are far apart. The composer is so talented that his music delivers very strong passion. Moreover, the singers all have beautiful voices. NCPA Chorus and NCPA Orchestra are both excellent in expressing the emotion. It is the first time that I watch a Chinese opera. I have directly felt the traditional culture of China and development of its contemporary music. That’s impressive and meaningful to me.”

Pierangelo Conte, Artistic Coordinator of Opera di Firenze said, “NCPA is a great art centre in China. What they bring us is an opera and a great opportunity. This Chinese opera full of Chinese cultural elements broadens the cultural vision of Italian audience and gives them a different art experience. They can directly feel Chinese culture and tradition. I also hope to bring works of our opera house to Beijing, China.”

The performance is highly praised by Italian audience
Photo by Wang Xiaojing / chncpa.org

Italian media highly praised Rickshaw Boy

Beside the audience’s enthusiastic response, Italian media beyond our expectation also paid close attention and gave continuous report to the performance. Opera, a famous Italian magazine interviewed President of NCPA Chen Ping, composer of the opera Guo Wenjing, and opera consultant of NCPA Giuseppe Cuccia one month before the tour started; Corriere della Sera and La Stampa, authoritative newspapers of Italy all proposed to interview the artists. Moreover, Italia's national broadcaster RAI for the first time broadcasted a Chinese opera.

Broadcast van of Italia's national broadcaster RAI
Photo by Wang Xiaojing / chncpa.org

After NCPA touring group arrived in Turin, Al Gomhouria, one of the largest circulation newspapers in Italy published four reports about Rickshaw Boy. The report on a full page titled “Big Event” on the 23 introduced that Rickshaw Boy would be on stage the next day and the tickets had being sold out.

Weekly magazine Panorama issued the article, “The First Chinese Opera in Italy” on its online edition on the first time. It wrote, “It is a Chinese opera of historical significance. It shows the effect of an epic movie to the audience.”

Viewpoint, a local newspaper of Turin commented that opera Rickshaw Boy can be called the Aida from China. The last chorus “Peking City” is the Chinese “Va, pensiero, sull'ali dorate”.

On 27, Al Gomhouria published two reviews about the opera written by a famous Italian critic. Comparing with his three-star rating to Teatro alla Scala’s L'Elisir d'Amore which was staged at the same time, he gave a four-star rating to Rickshaw Boy. He said, “It is exotic and splendid. The orchestra is excellent. Singing and lines of the Chinese artists are graceful. The stage is like a world expo pavilion of the early 20^th century. The opera represents the atmosphere, clothing, stage design, body language and stage form of that time and combines them perfectly with the music.”

The newspaper 19^th Century also highly praised the performance in Genoa, “This opera composed by Guo Wenjing is a great example for music internationalization. This work undoubtedly shows his talent.”

La Stampa published three articles on it and gave it a high praise, “The opera puts the Western music in a Chinese culture context, which shows a surprisingly strong power. The arias are beautiful and fully convey the charm of Beijing. It makes us think of Puccini, Massenet, Ravel and Mussorgsky.”

After NCPA touring group arrived in Florence, a report by Florence Post titled “A Great Opera from Beijing to Be Staged in Opera di Firenze” followed immediately. The local newspaper The Nation not only praised the great strength of the opera but also said that “China did a thing catching the world’s attention”.

Mr. Sabino, editor of L'Opera magazine found that Italian newspapers and websites had published over 80 reports about NCPA’s Italian tour including national newspapers and mainstream local newspapers in relevant cities. He said, “The media coverage is surprisingly large. We are chasing the rickshaw.”