The NCPA opera commission The Dawns Here Are Quiet, the novel of the same name by Boris Vasilyev (writer of former Soviet Union), will be staged for the fourth round on April 13th-16th, 2018. The grand event will raise the curtain for the NCPA Opera Festival 2018.
The opera is presented by Chinese creation crew, including composer TANG Jianping, librettist WAN Fang and director WANG Xiaoying. The fourth round performance will be under the baton of LÜ Jia, Music and Artistic Director of the NCPA and Music Director and Chief Conductor of China NCPA Orchestra). Chinese singers will sing moving arias in the birch forest and recall beauties withering in the flames of war.
The opera laments five heroines’ sacrifices in a desperate battle of disparity in strength
NCPA opera commission The Dawns Here Are Quiet was premiered in 2015. With humanistic musical expression and poetic stage treatment, the work laments five heroines’ sacrifices in a desperate battle of disparity in strength. The five Soviet Red Army women soldiers vanish in the brutal war—Rita, Zhenka, Lisa, Sonia, and Galja—and imprint unforgettable impressions on the audiences. The singers of the first round interpreted the young women soldiers’ different life trajectories, longings for life and eternal youth in the war. The harsh reality and profound human emotions collide with inspiring effects.
The play refines itself in several rounds of rehearsalsand rolls out an epic scroll like oil painting for audiences. The “Chinese-made” opera with a Russian war theme not only to preserve the Russian style, but mirrors China’s cultural spirit and new era in all aspects.
The creative team reveals poetic imaginations in the opera commission
Librettist WAN Fang highlights the striking contrast between beauty and cruelty, and reveals sadness and warning from withering of dramatic lives. Composer TANG Jianping arranges all parts of the European vocal system for many roles in the opera, and portrays the characters, such as warrant officer Vaskov and five young female soldiers. Director WANG Xiaoying also takes advantage of the stage approach in an unconstrained and poetic style so as to denounce the cruel war against the backdrop of splendid youth.
WANG said, “Although The Dawns Here Are Quiet focuses on war theme, no gunshot is triggered and even no enemy appears throughout the opera. This opera is full of poetic imaginations instead.”
A 4k opera film will be finished at the fourth round
This round of performance will also be filmed and produced into 4K opera film of the same name with a view to helping opera art illuminate more people’s daily lives.
Photos by NIU Xiaobei