In order to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, NCPA commission & Chinese epic opera The Long March was restaged at the advent of the Army Day. Under the conductor ZHANG Xian’s baton, China NCPA Orchestra and Chorus re-portrayed the images of the heroes of the Long March, who had struggled hard for their ideal, in cooperation with more than ten A-list singers including YAN Weiwen and WANG Hongwei and artists from the Lüliang Folk Art Troupe. The tickets were sold out soon, with standing-room tickets put on sale for some performances.
At the “Beijing Forum for Performing Arts 2019” hosted by NCPA this June, the art institutions from various countries and regions reached a broad consensus and yielded substantial results.The official from the Wiener Staatsoper said that NCPA’s opera production was at the international advanced level and hoped to establish a long-term cooperative relationship with the NCPA Classical Channel for jointlive-streaming of excellent Chinese operas. At the forum, the NCPA Classical Channel signed a memorandum of understanding with the Wiener Staatsoper Digital Platform, which had 150 thousand registered users.
The Long March was livestreamed on the NCPA Classical Channel and the digital platform of Wiener Staatsoper. Photo by LING Feng
On the night of the Army Day, NCPA commission & Chinese epic opera The Long March was livestreamed on the NCPA Classical Channel and Wiener Staatsoper live@home, marking the first NCPA opera commission launching on the digital platform of an international theatre, as well as the 120th livestreamed performance of the NCPA Classical Channel. Meanwhile, the NCPA Classical Channel offered a live streaming service domestically by cooperating with major Chinese network platforms such as CCTV.com and btime.com.
For the live streaming, the NCPA Audio and Video Production Team did the recording work on its own. About 20 staff members started to make preparations 1 month in advance and made shooting scripts with 723 shot calls for the over-3-hour-long opera. They also set up 8 HD video cameras and 64 live recording microphones in the Opera House in an attempt to provide an immersive experience for the audience.
The NCPA Classical Channel also produced short videos in order that the audience both at home and abroad would get a better understanding of the history of the Long March and the behind-the-scenes stories about the opera. During the live streaming, the audience was pleasantly surprised to see a couple of leading performers and members of the creative team talk about their understanding of the Long March spirit and how they rehearsed the opera The Long March in the video clips.