To celebrate the 67^th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China and commemorate the 80^th anniversary of the victory of the Red Army's Long March, NCPA will perform its opera commission FANG Zhimin from September 28^th to October 2^nd, opening its second round. On September 12^th, the creative team and lead cast gathered at its press conference to elaborate the eye-catching highlights of the second round.

FANG Zhimin, a great a militarist and a poet in China's modern history.

Photo by WANG Xiaojing

Early in the Red Army's Long March, FANG Zhimin acted as the Chairman of the Military and Political Committee of the North Marching Anti-Japanese Advance Troops of the Chinese Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army, but he was unfortunately arrested and imprisoned on the marching road. He continued to devote himself to his great patriotic enthusiasm in the prison, creating such immortal masterpieces as Beloved China and Honest Poverty, and thereby leaving valuable spiritual wealth for posterity. 

NCPA opera commission FANG Zhimin was staged in 2015.

Photo by WANG Xiaojing

In 2015, NCPA launched the opera commission FANG Zhimin with a historical and revolutionary theme. It follows the storyline of the battle between FANG Zhimin and Kuomintang Warlord Director HU Yi in the prison, and portraits how he created and sent out Beloved China and other manuscripts out of jail, reflecting his great patriotism and impregnable communist ideals. To meet the aesthetic tastes of contemporary audiences, NCPA launches this play to make the Red Classics audible and visible, in pursuit of a unique artistic expression of stage works, as well as a patriotism inspiration. 

This opera was elaborately created over three years by NCPA and such first-class domestic creative talents as composer MENG Weidong, scriptwriters FENG Baiming and FENG Bilie, director LIAO Xianghong, stage designer GAO Guangjian, costume designer and stylist CHEN Tongxun and so on. Its debut received great praise from insiders and outsiders alike. After some discussion, NCPA and the creative team deliberately weighed and polished many aspects of the opera. Composer MENG Weidong created the new and refreshing aria Azalea as the theme song, as well as the seventh song of the second half sung by FANG Zhimin’s wife MIAO Min, using the image of the azalea to express the people’s beautiful visions of the future during the revolution. This aria was revised seven times in succession by the creative team, so as to ensure the perfect quality of the commissioned opera. 

Director LIAO Xianghong

Photo by GAO Shang

Conductor ZHANG Yi

Photo by GAO Shang

As director LIAO Xianghong puts it, “Different from other martyrs, FANG Zhimin was not only a militarist but also a poet. His works have very strong literary traits, making them more suitable for operatic representation and easier to resonate with audiences. In this rehearsal, through FANG Zhimin's exquisite heart, depicted in his interactions with comrades-in-arms, relatives and enemies, audiences are presented with a remote hero and a more vivid FANG Zhimin.” This marks the first time that conductor ZHANG Yi has cooperated on an opera with the NCPA Orchestra. After reading the score, he said, “The music of this opera has very strong theatrical traits and local features which are very  

In this round of performances, the opera FANG Zhimin will be mainly performed by its debut cast last year, including the four NCPA resident singers LIU Songhu, ZHANG Yang, LI Xintong and KOU Jing, who were able to grasp their own roles in the rehearsal. In addition, youth tenor Wang Kai, who once appeared in the NCPA opera commission The Red Guards on Honghu Lake, will also join in the performance. Portraying the hero FANG Zhimin this time, he thinks it will be both challenging and exciting.