From February 23^rd to March 11^th, following the 1^st Huangmei Opera Art Week, Yue Opera Art Week and Kunqu Opera Art Week, NCPA will hold the 2^nd Huangmei Opera Art Week, presenting audiences with a Huangmei Opera feast.


Over 17 days, 6 plays in 12 performances including the Anhui Huangmei Opera Theatre’s Remain within the Bounds, Poems of the Tang Dynasty and Verses of the Song Dynasty Vocal Concert, Ma’anshan Four Seasons Opera Theatre’s The Drunken Poet LI Bai, Ma’anshan Arts Theatre’s The Female Official in Hongcun Village and Zaifen Huangmei Art Theatre’s Huizhou Woman and Emperor's Female Son-in-law will tell "Chinese Stories" with Huangmei Opera. The melodious beauty of Huangmei Opera will be presented by such Huangmei Opera performing artists as HAN Zaifen, WU Qiong, JIANG Jianguo, WU Yaling, YU Shun and ZHAO Yuanyuan, and the ‘Five Flowers of the New Age’ including HE Yun, WU Meilian and TONG Ting.

Huangmei Opera Remain within the Bounds talks about the life and people in Anhui province 
Photo by LING Feng

On the evening of the 23^rd, Anhui Huangmei Opera Theatre’s Remain within the Bounds raised the curtain of NCPA Huangmei Opera Art Week. Remain within the Bounds tells a story set during the transitional period from the Ming to the Qing Dynasty, when Wangjiang County man SHEN Gao becomes a jinshi (a successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations) due to his extensive knowledge and later takes the office as the prefect of Pingshan County in Sichuan Province. In his nearly 20-year official career, despite the ups and downs, SHEN Gao and his wife Liliang still stick to the bottom line and have never changed their original intentions. During the performance, Huangmei Opera artist YU Shun created a vital, sentient and kind SHEN Gao, while Huangmei Opera artist ZHAO Yuan, playing the Liliang, presented an elegant and dignified wife, forming a highlight of the opera.

Huangmei Opera artist ZHAO Yuan, playing the Liliang, presented an elegant and dignified wife

Photo by LING Feng

 

During Huangmei Opera Art Week, two new Huangmei Opera works will be performed. The Ma’anshan Four Seasons Opera Theatre and Ma’anshan Art Theatre’s The Female Official in Hongcun Village will also reflect the broad and profound Anhui culture, and The Drunken Poet LI Bai starring the famous Huangmei Opera performing artist WU Qiong will give a brief account of LI Bai’s eventful and legendary life through stories that happened in the three different stages of youth, middle age and old age of LI Bai. Starring TONG Ting, The Female Official in Hongcun Village will create a new image of Huizhou women by telling the story of HU Chong, the female designer of Hong Countryside’s water system.

Despite the ups and downs, SHEN Gao and his wife Liliang still stick to the bottom line Photo by LING Feng

Besides the works mentioned above, Zaifen Huangmei Opera Art Theatre’s Huizhou Woman and Emperor's Female Son-in-law starring famous Huangmei Opera performing artist HAN Zaifen will also join NCPA Huangmei Opera Art Week.

Still of Remain within the Bounds Photo by LING Feng

During this year’s NCPA Huangmei Opera Art Week, the Anhui Huangmei Opera Theatre will gather stars to integrate traditional opera and classic poems in the Poems of the Tang Dynasty and Verses of the Song Dynasty Vocal Concert, bringring the audience a Huangmei Opera feast.