On December 20^th-23^rd, the NCPA Commission & Chinese Epic Opera The Long March will be rehearsed and staged during the period of the 12^th anniversary of the NCPA. Conductor LÜ Jia will raise his baton over NCPA Chorus and NCPA Orchestra, and cooperate with singers, such as YAN Weiwen, WANG Hongwei and WANG Zhe, to portray the heroic figures in the Long March.

To commemorate the 80^th anniversary of the victory of the Long March of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, the NCPA invited top-ranking artists, such as composer YIN Qing, librettist ZOU Jingzhi, directors TIAN Qinxin and YANG Xiaoyang, etc. It took four years to give birth to this epic opera, which features both national characteristics and contemporary aesthetic style. As a three-act opera of nine scenes, it holds more than 100 performers, making it the largest NCPA opera commission up to now. The Long March starts from the Red Army’s setting off from Ruijin, before which they failed the counterattacks on the Fifth Encirclement and Extermination Campaign, depicts many historical events during the march and presents the extreme hardships of the 25000-mile Long March. The opera portrays unimportant people and trivial plots to represent military and civilian ties, inter-comrade friendship, conjugal affections and patriotic emotions, casting the shining glory of humanity. Many arias feature in the work, including Who Dares to Invade the Sacred Land, Peach Flowers Blossom in My Heart, I Don’t Know What to Say, Snow, Oh Snow, I Hate to Part with You are deeply loved by audiences.

Since its debut in July 2016, The Long March has never lost its market appeal. It plays to packed houses and the tickets are always in shortage. Tenor YAN Weiwen, acting Commissar Peng in the opera, said: “As an artistic and profound work, The Long March will let the audience draw strength from the spirit of the Long March, cherish the memory of our revolutionary martyrs and think about the present in the meanwhile of enjoying the opera.”