Following rehearsal of NCPA opera commission FANG Zhimin and two rounds of performance of NCPA commission & Chinese epic opera The Long March on the stage, NCPA opera commission The Dawns Here Are Quiet, which is adapted on the basis of the former USSR writer Boris Lvovich Vasilyev's novel with the same title, will usher in the second-round performance from December 21^st to December 25^th.

The Dawns Here Are Quiet will usher in the second-round performance from December 21^st to December 25^th
Photo by GAN Yuan

As a witness of the Soviet Union's Great Patriotic War against Nazi Germany, Vasilyev wrote the famous novella The Dawns Here Are Quiet in 1969. With poetic brushstrokes and deep humane styles, this novel depicts that five beautiful lives pass away in a tragic battle of disparity in power. In this novel, female soldiers Rita, Zhenka, Galja, Lisa and Sonia are unforgettable characters so that this novel becomes a classical work from generation to generation.

Performers are rehearsing Photo by GAN Yuan

In 2015, in commemoration of the 70^th anniversary of the Victory of the World Anti-fascist War, NCPA presented this world-class classic literary masterpiece on the Chinese opera stage for the first time. Librettist WAN Fang strengthens the strong contrast between beautiful life and cruel war, highlights the five “amazingly young” lives destroyed by war, and conveys to the audience that “this work endowed me with another type of power so that I hate the war”. The composer TANG Jianping blends the quality traditional European opera, the aesthetics of the Russian national music school and the emotions of the Soviet Union's Great Patriotic War against Nazi Germany. Presenting the music infused with strong Russian atmosphere and the Chinese cultural spirit, the composer expresses the keynote, “Evil devastates the beauty, but the beauty is more valuable. War destroys the peace, but the peace helps people cherish more deep-rooted hope”. Stage Director WANG Xiaoying reveals the relentlessness and brutality of war by making stage arrangement with poetic beauty. On the stage like a Russian oil painting, “love for life and humanistic mood are thoroughly vented”.

Baritone YUAN Chenye will play the role of Senior Sergeant Vaskov Photo by GAN Yuan

 

After the first-round performance, the opera The Dawns Here Are Quiet is also further adjusted and refined in terms of music, stage art, costume, props and other aspects. The second-round performance will be under the baton of LÜ Jia (Opera Director of NCPA and Principal Conductor of China NCPA Orchestra). Baritone YUAN Chenye will play the role of Senior Sergeant Vaskov. YUAN Chenye, who is deeply influenced by the Russian culture, will star in Russian-style opera created entirely by Chinese artists. He will shape up the image of Vaskov by virtue of his profound understanding of Russian music and a Chinese singer’s passion.

Excellent young Chinese vocalists will join the opera for the first time Photo by GAN Yuan

 

Young baritone ZHANG Yang and young female vocalists WANG Hongyao, LIU Ying, ZHANG Zhuo and LIU Lian will present in this opera for the second time. At the same time, YANG Qi, Louise Kwong, LI Xintong, WANG Jing, DONG Fang, LU Sijia and other excellent young Chinese vocalists will join the opera for the first time, and continue to radiate their vitality and pay tribute to the withered youth in the war.