Venue
Dates
Duration
Approximate 165 mins (Intermission Included)About
Synopsis
Conductor
Artist
Presenter
I Pagliacci
Composer: Ruggero Leoncavallo (1857-1919)
Libretto: Ruggero Leoncavallo
Premiere: 21 May 1892, Teatro dal Verme, Mian
As representatives of Italian Verismo operas, Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana and Leoncavallo's Pagliacci will be presented from 13 to 17 August at NCPA. During the past 120 years since their premieres, these two operas have become repertoires in all worldwide important opera houses and often been staged together. NCPA continues its cooperation with the top-notch creative team led by the director Giancarlo del Monaco, who have successfully directed Cavalleria rusticana and Pagliacci for Teatro Real in Madrid. The DVDs of live performances of the two productions staged by Giancarlo del Monaco have gained tremendous popularity.
NCPA has invited two lineups of leading cast to embellish its 30th production and highlight of new productions of summer season 2014. Violeta Urmana, acclaimed publicly as one of the best sopranos in the world will sing Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana. It's the first visit in China of this artist in her prime, whose numerous CDs and DVDs are adored by Chinese music lovers. Her appearance on China's stage is long-awaited. The European most popular tenor Jorge de Leon will perform Turiddu. Together with Violeta Urmana, he has sung in production of Teatro Real in Madrid. NCPA Chorus and NCPA Orchestra will also grace the stage.
Director's Note
Cavalleria Rusticana and I Pagliacci are the most popular operas in Italy perhaps. Those two operas were composed respectively by PietroMascagni and Ruggero Leoncavallo, and have been performed at the same evening for more than 100 years in theatres. Undoubtedly Cavalleria Rusticana and I Pagliacci will be shown together in the future. Moreover, they are very difficult operas with different styles. Generally, they need two different lineups of singers to guarantee professional quality. In addition, those two operas require intensive rehearsals to interpret accurately many chorus sections.
I have ever participated with my father, Mario Del Monaco to direct and produce those two operas in many places.
I have ever produced 20 versions of Cavalleria Rusticana and I Pagliacci. I have directed these two operas in Hamburg, Madrid, Frankford, Stuttgart and Bonn, etc. At the same time, I had great times for cooperating with Domingo, Stratas, Rysanek and many other world-class artists for produce those two operas. In NCPA's production, I assume that this is the first time for Chinese audiences to enjoy those two operas. We have to make them as simple and comprehensible as possible in order that Chinese audiences could feel the pure Italian Verismo style more directly.
Credits
Director: Giancarlo del Monaco
Set Design: William Orlandi
Costume Design: Pasquale Grossi
Lighting Design: Vinicio Cheli
Cast of Cavalleria Rusticana
Turiddu by Jorge de Leon / Dai Yuqiang
Santuzza by Violeta Urmana / Yang Guang
Alfio by Lucca Grassi / Sun Li
Lola by Wang Hongyao
Lucia by Fu Qian
Cast of I Pagliacci
Canio (Pagliaccio) by Gustavo Porta / Chi Liming
Nedda (Colombina) by Brigitta Kele / Sun Xiuwei
Tonio(Taddeo) by Luca Grassi / Sun Li
Peppe (Arlecchino) by Shi Yijie / Yuan Lu
Silvio by Liu Songhu / Wang Hexiang
When the mass ends, Turiddu and the villagers drink wine, after which Alfio insults Turiddu, who accepts a challenge to duel with knives in a nearby orchard. He begs his mother to take care of Santuzza if he does not return. As Mamma Lucia and Santuzza wait anxiously, shouts rise in the distance. A woman stumbles in crying Turiddu has been killed.
I Pagliacci
Before the opera begins, the clown Tonio steps before the curtain to say that the author has written about actors, who know the same joys and sorrows as other people.
PART I. Southern Italy, around 1865-70. Excited villagers mill about as a small theatrical road company arrives at the outskirts of a Calabrian town. Canio, head of the troupe, describes that night's offering, and when someone jokingly suggests that the hunchback Tonio is secretly enamoured of his young wife, Canio warns he will tolerate no flirting with Nedda. As vesper bells call the women to church, the men go to the tavern, leaving Nedda alone. Disturbed by her husband's vehemence and suspicious glances, she envies the freedom of the birds soaring overhead. Tonio appears and indeed tries to make love to her, but she scorns him. Enraged, he grabs her, and she lashes out with a whip, getting rid of him but inspiring an oath of vengeance. Nedda in fact does have a lover — Silvio, who now arrives and persuades her to run away with him at midnight. But Tonio, who has seen them, hurries off to tell Canio. Before long the jealous husband bursts in on the guilty pair. Silvio escapes, and Nedda refuses to identify him, even when threatened with a knife. Beppe, another player, has to restrain Canio, and Tonio advises him to wait until evening to catch Nedda's lover. Alone, Canio sobs that he must play the clown though his heart is breaking.
PART II. The villagers, Silvio among them, assemble to see the play Pagliaccio e Colombina. In the absence of her husband, Pagliaccio (played by Canio), Colombina (Nedda) is serenaded by her lover Arlecchino (Beppe), who dismisses her buffoonish servant, Taddeo (Tonio). The sweethearts dine together and plot to poison Pagliaccio, who soon arrives; Arlecchino slips out the window. With pointed malice, Taddeo assures Pagliaccio of his wife's innocence, firing Canio's real-life jealousy. Forgetting the script, he demands that Nedda reveal her lover's name. She tries to continue with the play, the audience applauding the realism of the 'acting.' Maddened by her defiance, Canio stabs Nedda and then Silvio, who has rushed forward from the crowd to help her. Canio cries out that the comedy is ended.
Graduated in piano under Carlo Pestalozza, he completed his studies in composition in Milan under Davide Anzaghi and Vittorio Fellegara. He subsequently graduated in conducting at the Accademia Musicale Pescarese.
From 2000 to 2004 he has served as Artistic Director of Teatro Donizetti di Bergamo.
From 2004 to 2006 he was named Artistic Director of Fondazione Arena di Verona.
After having great success with Andrea Chénier, Cavalleria Rusticana and I Pagliacci at the Opéra de Marseille, he was named Principal Guest Conductor of the Opéra de Marseille.
His vast operatic repertory include more than 47 titles, ranging from Italian Belcanto (as Donizetti specialist, Paisiello, Rossini, Bellini, Verdi, Puccini), to Italian and German twentieth century (Leoncavallo, Giordano, Cilea, Menotti, Humperdinck), in addition to a brilliant symphonic career.
He has also conducted some less frequently performed operas, such as Vitalini's Davide Re, Betta's Fantasma della cabina, Nini's La Marescialla d'Ancre, Leoncavallo's Zaza, Donizetti's Betty e I pazzi per progetto, Paisiello's Il barbiere di Siviglia.
During his career he has conducted in among of the most important Italian Opera houses, including Teatro dell’Opera di Roma (Madama Butterfly, Swan Lake, Tosca), Teatro La Fenice di Venezia (Maria Stuarda), Maggio Musicale Fiorentino (Il campanello e Carmen), Teatro Carlo Felice di Genova (La Traviata), Teatro Regio di Torino (L'elisir d'amore, La bohème, Il campanello, Gianni Schicchi, Lucia di Lammermoor, Don Pasquale, Nabucco, Simon Boccanegra, I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Zaza, Le convenienze ed inconvenienze teatrali, La Traviata), Teatro Massimo di Palermo (La bohème, Swan Lake, Roméo et Juliette, Maria Stuarda), Teatro Verdi di Trieste (Madama Butterfly, Maria Stuarda, Francesca da Rimini), Teatro Regio di Parma (I Capuleti e i Montecchi), Teatro Filarmonico di Verona (Don Pasquale), Festival Puccini di Torre del Lago (Tosca).
Abroad he has conducted on the podium of Opéra de Nice (Norma, Tosca), Opéra de Marseille (Il Pirata, Andrea Chénier, Cavalleria Rusticana, I Pagliacci), Abao Olbe de Bilbao (Norma, I Masnadieri, Il Trovatore, Poliuto), Teatro Calderon de Las Palmas (Roberto Devereux, Adriana Lecouvreur, Norma), Teatro de la Maestranza in Seville (Lucia di Lammermoor), Opéra de Lyon (L'elisir d'amore), Bunka Kaikan in Tokyo (Anna Bolena).
|
Aug. 13/15/17 |
Aug. 14/16 |
Turiddu |
Jorge De León |
Dai Yuqiang |
Santuzza |
Violeta Urmana |
Yang Guang |
Alfio/Tonio |
Luca Grassi |
Sun Li |
Canio |
Gustavo Porta |
Chi Liming |
Nedda |
Brigitta Kele |
Sun Xiuwei |
Giancarlo del Monaco, the son of the famous tenor Mario del Monaco.He made his debut as a stage director in 1964 in Siracusa (Italy) with Samson et Dalila (starring Mario del Monaco).
He started his career in Germany as assistant to Wieland Wagner, Günther Rennert and Walter Felsenstein before assuming the post of principal stage director in Ulm from 1970 to 1973 where he staged some 15 productions.He was General Manager of the Macerata Festival (Italy) from 1986 to 1988 and the General Manager of the Opera der Bundesstadt Bonn from 1992 to 1995. From 1997 to 2001, Giancarlo del Monaco was the General Director of the Opera House of Nice (France).
Contemporaneous with his career as General director, Giancarlo del Monaco becomes one of the most important and sought after stage directors of his generation.He has staged productions in renowned theatres in major cities around the world and collaborated with the most important conductors and stage designers of the operatic world. Fluently speaking 5 languages, his operatic repertoire contains more than 100 operas, staged in their original language.
In 1991, he was invited to stage La Fanciulla del West at the Metropolitan Opera. This was followed by Stiffelio, Madama Butterfly, Simon Boccanegra and La Forza del Destino (for which he was honored by the American Institute of Verdi Studies). All of these Met productions were filmed and internationally broadcast.Giancarlo del Monaco has been the recipient of numerous honors. From 2009, he is the artistic director of the Tenerife Opera Festival.
After studying at the Academy of Belle Arti of Brera in Milan, William Orlandi designed sets and costumes for Il Trovatore directed by Alberto Fassini at the Theater San Carlo in Naples, Don Carlos, Don Giovanni directed by Lorenzo Mariani in Parma and numerous other operettas. He worked with Alberto Fassini in various operas, such as Romeo et Juliette in Palermo, Il Trovatore and Werther at the New National Theater in Tokyo and Norma at the Regal Theater in Turin.
Since 1987 he has worked regularly with Gilbert Deflo, Liebermann's La Foretat the Grand Theater Geneva is the beginning of this collaboration, followed by Aida, The Coronation of Poppea, Carmen etc. And in the 2005-2006 season a new version of L'amour des trois orangesfor the Opera Bastille in Paris.
His design also can be seen in Cavalleria Rusticana by Mascagni, Massenet's Therese, Rigoletto by Verdi and La Gioconda by Ponchielli in 2002 and 2003 seasons at Hopernhaus Zurich and Cavalleria Rusticana, Pagliacci for Arena of Verona in 2006 season.
From 1974 to 1979, Vinicio Cheli worked at the 'Magio Musicale Fiorentino' involved in all productions. Since 1979 he joined the 'Piccolo Teatro' of Milan and became the light collaborator of Giorgio Strehler, making the entire production of Piccolo until 1989. Since 1987, for four years, he worked with the 'Rossini Opera Festival' to produce shows with several directors. At the same time since 1989 he worked at the Salzburg Festival, Theatre Champs-Elysees, Chalet Theatre in Paris with the set design by Ezio Frigerio, then responded to the La Scala in Milan. He collaborated some years with the Teatro La Fenice in Venice.
Pasquale Grossi was born in Rome. After completing his classical studies, he enrolled in the Faculty of Architecture. He won a scholarship to study costume design at the Experimental Center of Cinematography at Cinecittà. In 1983, he won the Premio Franco Abbiati for sets and costumes for Samson and Delilah (Teatro Verdi in Trieste, directed by Alberto Fassini). In 2004, he was awarded the Samaritans Foundation Prize for his career. In the academic year 2006/07, he taught Costume Design and History of Costume at the Academy of Fashion and Costume in Rome.
Apart from occasional forays into TV and film, always as a set and costume designer, he has worked primarily in legit theater, with directors such as Gianfranco de Bosio, Giulio Bosetti, Giorgio Marini and Federico Tiezzi, in operas by classical authors such as Goldoni, Molière and Pirandello, as well as with contemporary young authors.
However, his most important and significant work has taken place in the context of grand opera. He has worked in major foreign theaters (Tokyo, Paris, Vienna, New York, Dallas, Charleston, Chicago, Tel Aviv, Brussels, etc.) and Italian theaters (La Scala, La Fenice, Massimo di Palermo, San Carlo di Napoli, Opera di Roma, Comunale di Bologna, etc.); the directors with whom he has worked most frequently include Giancarlo Menotti, especially at the Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto and Charleston, with whom he collaborated on world premieres such as Goya and Juana la Loca, both by Menotti, and with Alberto Fassini, Luca Ronconi, Virginio Puecher, and Paul Curran. The operas for which he has a particular fondness include Francesca da Rimini by Rachmaninov and Erwartung by Schoenberg and the global creations: Riccardo III and La brocca rotta, both by Flavio Testi, and Aspern and Cailles en sarcophage, both by Sciarrino.
For the director Giancarlo del Monaco, he designed the costumes for Manon Lescaut at the Greek National Opera in Athens.
Jorge De León was born in Santa Cruz de Tenerife where he studied music and singing with Isabel Garcia Soto at this city’s Conservatory. Then he amplified his singing knowledge in Italy with Giuseppe Valdengo and in Spain with Alfonso G. Leoz.
He won the first prize at IV Villa Abaran National Contest in Murcia and started singing in several opera, zarzuelas and concerts in different places, such as Auditorio Nacional (Madrid), Palau de la Música de Valencia, Auditorio del CICCA (Gran Canaria), Santander, Huelva, Gerona and Galicia at Xacoveo 99.
In that period he performed La Bruja by RupertoChapí (season opening production 2002/2003 of the Teatro de La Zarzuela and furthermore at the TeatroCampoamor in Oviedo)and Los Gavilanes composed by J. Guerrero in Valladolid and Oviedo.
In 2003 he interpreted Dúo de la Africana in Tenerife and in Madrid, and he played in La del manojo de rosas and as a soloist in the Noelconcert at AuditorioNacional with the Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by PascualOsa. In 2004/2005 he won numerous competitions, among them the X Julian Gayarre Competition, José Carreras Award and the Jaume Aragall Contest.
These successes lead him to an elevated request from Spanish and international theatres, and in the following years he performed Lucía di Lammermoor in Mahon, La Bohème in Santa Cruz de Tenerife,El Domino Azul in Madrid, La Chulapona in Oviedo, Opera Gala in London, Francisquita in St. Gallen, La Bruja in Valencia, Gianni Schicchi in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Il tabarro in Menorca, Andrea Chénier in Málaga, La Bruja in Madrid and Pamplona and Macbeth in Las Palmas. In 2009 he sang West Side Story, La Vida Breve and Marina in Málaga, as well as Aida and Andrea Chénier in Nice, Carmen in Murcia and Málaga, Don Carlo in Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
In 2010 he performs Andrea Chénier in Madrid, Cavalleria Rusticana and La Vida Breve in Valencia under the baton of Lorin Maazel, Carmen, again in Valencia and at the Verona Arena, Madama Butterfly in Tenerife and Aida in Valencia.
In 2011 he sings Carmen in Naples, Tosca in Madrid, Madame Butterfly in Bari, Tosca and Carmen in Palermo. In 2012 he makes his debut at La Scala in Aida, and he performs Le Cid and Tosca in Valencia, Il Trovatore and Aida at the Verona Arena.
Teatro alla Scala wanted him for two different tours of Aida, in Qatar (2012) and in Japan (September 2013). By the end of 2012 he sings Turandot in Florence and Tokyo under the direction of Zubin Mehta, Tosca in Pamplona and Valladolid, Aida in Palermo. In Summer 2013, he performs Verdi's Requiem in Barcelona and, after Verona Arena's Aida, he will play the role of Radames in Milan and in Naples. In 2014 he will be in Berlin for Tosca, in Avenches for Carmen, in Turin for La forza del destino and in Bilbao for Alzira. In 2015 he will perfom Aida in Beijing, again conducted by Zubin Mehta.
Dai Yuqiang is a remarkable tenor of China instructed by a number of celebrated musicians, such as Yan Keting, Han Dezhang, Ma Qiuhua, Jin Tielin and Wu Qihui. He works at the Opera Troupe of the General Political Department of the Chinese People's Liberation Army since he entered in 1990.
His opera leading appearances include Il Trovatore, Rigoletto, La Boheme, Carmen, Turandot, one-act opera Mid-autumn at Vast Sandy Land, a full-length musical White Reed Flowers and Red Kapok Flowers. Judging from his outstanding contribution to opera, the Ministry of Culture of China granted him the 'Cultural Performance Award'. Mr. Dai's performance in various activities won tons of rave reviews from experts, scholars and audience and received many honor titles and rewards from the General Political Department of PLA.
The world-famous tenor and maestro Pavarotti pleasantly took Mr. Dai as his first student from Asia after heard his singing; and an opera fan from Japan appraised him as 'the Pride of Chinese Opera'. Mr. Dai, along with Maria Guleghina and Samuel Ramey, has collaborated in Tosca at Royal Opera House, Convent Garden, being showered with praise and hailed by local media as 'a dazzling star on the stage.'
The Lithuanian-born singer is now recognised as one of the leading dramatic sopranos in the Italian and German fach with roles such as Aida, Amelia, Elisabetta, Gioconda, Leonora, Tosca, Norma, Sieglinde or Isolde.
Her roles and performances include: Sieglinde in Die Walküre at the Bayreuth Festival, Iphigénie en Aulide at La Scala, Maddalena in Andrea Chénier at the Vienna State Opera, Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, Isolde in Tristan und Isolde, Leonora in Verdi's La forza del destino, Santuzza in Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana and the title roles of La Gioconda, Tosca, Ariadne auf Naxos, La Wally, and Aida.
First acknowledged as a mezzo-soprano, Violeta Urmana became world famous for her interpretation of roles such as Kundry in Wagner's Parsifal and Eboli in Verdi's Don Carlo. Besides many other parts, she sang these two roles at nearly all important opera houses and with conductors like Claudio Abbado, Daniel Barenboim, Bertrand de Billy, Pierre Boulez, Riccardo Chailly, James Conlon, James Levine, Jesús López Cobos, Fabio Luisi, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Sir Simon Rattle, Donald Runnicles, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Franz Welser-M?st and Christian Thielemann.
As a concert and recital singer Violeta Urmana performs a wide repertoire from Johann Sebastian Bach to Alban Berg in all the important music centres in Europe, the USA and Japan. Her lieder recitals are musical events acclaimed by press and public alike.
Violeta Urmana has recorded the title role of La Gioconda conducted by Marcello Viotti, excepts from Tristan und Isolde and from G?tterd?mmerung conducted by Antonio Pappano, Azucena in Verdi's Il Trovatore conducted by Riccardo Muti, Cuniza in Verdi's Oberto conducted by Sir Neville Marriner, Beethoven's 9th Symphony conducted by Claudio Abbado, Berlioz's La mort de Cléopatre conducted by Bertrand de Billy, Zemlinsky's Maeterlinck-Lieder and Stravinsky's Le Rossignol conducted by James Conlon, Mahler's 2nd Symphony conducted by Kazushi Ono and Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde and Rückert-Lieder conducted by Pierre Boulez. Verdi's Requiem with Violeta Urmana in the soprano role, with Semyon Bychkov conducting the WDR Symphony Orchestra, was released in July 2008. In September 2009 has been issued a Puccini album together with Placido Domingo and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra by the Deutsche Grammophon, titled 'Puccini Rediscovered'. In September 2010 there has been released a Parsifal' recording with her as Kundry on the Mariinsky label.
In 2002, in London, she received the prestigious Royal Philharmonic Society Award for singers and in 2009 the Austrian 'Kammersaengerin' award in Vienna.
Mezzo-Soprano Yang Guang was the 1997 winner of the prestigious BBC Singer of the World Competition in Cardiff. Miss. Yang also won the first prize in Plácido Domingo's 2001 OPERALIA Competition. After she completed a three-year stay at the Lyric Opera of Chicago's Center for American Artists, she performed both in concert hall and opera stage around the world wild.
Miss Yang has sung her Amneris in Aida with the Florida Grand Opera, the Houston Grand Opera, and Opera Omaha, the San Francisco Opera, and the same role for her returning to the Deutsche Oper, Berlin where the mezzo has sang her first Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana. Miss Yang sang the title-role Carmen in student performances and as Santuzza in Lyric Opera of Chicago's Cavalleria Rusticana. Miss Yang has sang her first Eboliin Don Carlos (in the original French 5-act version) with Welsh National Opera, a role she reprised for the Canadian Opera Company in 2007/2008 after making her debut with this company as the Second Norn and Waltrautein Gotterdammerung. Miss Yang has working with the Metropolitan Opera for the their 2011 Japan tour .
In concert, Miss Yang appears with the Milwaukee Symphony as the Mezzo-Soprano soloist in a program based on Shakespeare, conducted by Nicholas McGegan. She also made her Chicago Symphony debut as the Alto Solo in Tippett's A Child of Our Time under Sir Andrew Davis and performed in recital at the Chicago Cultural Center. She is the mezzo soloist in Verdi's Requiem with the Orchestra of the Welsh National Opera under Mo. Carlo Rizzi. The same part she has also done it with the Orchestre de Paris, under Mo. Christopher Eschenbach. Miss Yang has also sung the solo part in the Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 in Cleveland and a recital in Hong Kong Art Festival. Miss Yang has performed in 1998 & 2008 concerts in New York City for the Marilyn Horne Foundation's Gala concert.
Born in the Republic of San Marino, Luca Grassi started his music studies in Bologna with Paride Venturi. He is now under the guidance of Carlo Meliciani.
In 1998, he won in the Città di Roma competition where he made his debut as Germont in La Traviata. In the same year he performed, in Czech, the title role in Sarlatán by P. Haas at the Wexford Festival Opera 1998.
Notable productions have been La Bohème (Marcello) at the Glyndebourne Touring Opera, Modena, Piacenza, Cagliari and at the Grand Théatre de Genève; I Pagliacci (Silvio) and Madama Butterfly (Sharpless) under the baton of Daniele Gatti at Teatro Comunale in Bologna; I Puritani (Sir Riccardo Forth) at Teatro Verdi in Trieste; Aida (Amonasro) at Teatro Sociale di Rovigo, Pisa, Trento; Stiffelio (Stankar) at Teatro Verdi in Trieste.
More recently he took part to the reopening of La Fenice singing La Traviata (Germont), conducted by Lorin Maazel. And he performed the role of Cristiano in Zandonai's I Cavalieri di Ekebù at Teatro Verdi in Trieste, Falstaff (Ford) at the Teatro Filarmonico in Verona, Aida (Amonasro) at the Teatro Regio in Turin.
During the last seasons he sang: Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro at Opera Hong Kong, Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor at Teatro Donizetti in Bergamo (recorded on CD and DVD), in St. Gallen, at the Deutsche Oper Berlin conducted by Renato Palumbo and at the Dallas Opera, Escamillo in Carmen at the Opera Giocosa in Savona with Fondazione Toscanini, at San Carlo in Naples and in Las Palmas, Giovanna d’Arco in St. Gallen, Israele in Donizetti's Marino Faliero in Bergamo and Sassari (released on CD and DVD by Naxos), Hérode in Massenet's Hérodiade in Bucharest, La Traviata at the Leipzig Oper, in St. Gallen, in Montreal and in Pisa, Macbeth in Sassari, I Pagliacci in Tenerife, Alzira in St. Gallen, Conte in Le nozze di Figaro in Bilbao, Beatrice di Tenda in Catania, Les pecheurs de perles in Verona and Salerno conducted by Daniel Oren (recorded on CD), Madama Butterfly in Genova, La Bohéme (Marcello) in Bergamo, La Straniera at the Festpielhaus in Baden-Baden with Edita Gruberova (recorded on CD).
His future engagements include: Un ballo in maschera in Catania and St. Gallen, where he also willl make his debut as Ezio in Attila directed by Stefano Poda, La Traviata in Livorno, Stiffelio (Stankar) in Catania, La Straniera (Valdeburgo) in Essen directed by Christoph Loy.
Sun Li is a famous Chinese baritone and singer of Art Troupe Affiliated to Chinese Armed Police Force. He is Deputy Secretary General of Chinese Opera Research Institute and Member of Chinese Musicians Association. He ever won Gold Award of the 10th CCTV Young Singer Canto Competition; the First Prize of Vocal Music Performance in the 8th and the 9th Professional Theatrical Festival of the PLA; the first place in the 3rd China International Vocal Music Competition; Individual Merit Citation Class II twice and Individual Merit Citation Class III twice. His singing wins 'Five One Project Award', while starring dramas win Wenhua Award conferred by Ministry of Culture and many other awards.
Gustavo Porta was born in Carrilobo (Argentina) and made his stage debut in 1996 singing Monostatos in The Magic Flute at the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires. In 1999 he moved to Italy, where he made his debut in Carmen, in I due timidi by Nino Rota and Il mito di Caino by Francesco Margola (the latter recorded on CD).
His international career was launched in 2001 when he was called to sing the role of Arrigo in I Vespri siciliani in Darmstadt. Soon thereafter, in a repertory ranging from Verdi titles as Attila, I Lombardi alla prima Crociata, Macbeth, Aroldo, to Il Trovatore, Aida, Puccini's Le Villi, Manon Lescaut, La bohème, Tosca, to Madame Butterfly and Bellini's Norma.
In 2008 he interpreted Tosca in Frankfurt, Manon Lescaut in Leipzig, Aida at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Giovanna D'Arco in St. Gallen and Pizzetti's Fedra at the Montpellier Festival.
In 2009 he celebrated a great success at the Maggio Musicale in Florence with Tosca and Cavalleria rusticana and between 2010 and 2011 he made a great debut in the difficult role of Faust in Boito'sMefistofele at the Oper Frankfurt, as well as the role of Luigi in Il Tabarro in Duesseldorf. Afterwards he performed Don José in Carmen in Tel Aviv under the baton of Zubin Mehta, he sang with success Manrico in Il Trovatore in Palermo, and he made his debut as Canio in I Pagliacci in Tel Aviv.
In 2012 he was for the first time on the stage of Vienna Staatsoper in I Pagliacci, and made his debut as Hagenbach in La Wally at the Opera Theatre in Ostrawa.
In 2013 he makes his debut at the Teatro Regio in Turin singing Andrea Chénier in the title role, and make a great role debut, that one of Verdi's Otello. Afterwards he will be in Vilnius again to interpretOtello, and in Warsaw to perform Don Carlo in the title role.
In 2014 he will make an important debut as Hoffmann in Les Contes d’Hoffmann in Tel Aviv, and perfom Cavalleria rusticana and I Pagliacci at the New National Theatre in Tokyo.
Chi Liming is one of the most outstanding tenors in China. His frequent appearances on the operatic stage in Europe and the United States won him the title from Western media 'the most promising tenor in the world'. Chi has already performed in countries and regions including the US, Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland, Sweden, Finland, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau. As a member of 'Group of Chinese Musicians', together with Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Chi participated in the performance in Kennedy Center in Washington DC. in December 2010. He also worked with Russian artists in 2009 in the Great Hall of People, performing for China Premier Wen Jiabao and President of Russia, Vladimir Putin. He has worked with many conductors, among them are John Nelson, Alberto Zedda, Bruno Dal Bon, Peter Mark, Patrick Summers, Pascal Verrot, Paolo Olmi, Lu Jia, Zhang Guoyong, Yu Long, Chen Xieyang, Hu Yongyan and Chen Zuohuang.
Brigitta Kele, soprano, was born in Romania. Her repertoire includes Pamina in Die Zauberflote (Mozart), Mimi and Musetta in La Boheme (Puccini), Micaela in Carmen (Bizet), Amelia in Un Ballo in Maschera (Verdi), Sylva in Die Csardasfurstin (Kalman), Nedda in Pagliacci (Leoncavallo) and other roles. She began her career as a member of the Hungarian Opera in Cluj-Napoca and is currently a member of the Dusseldorf Opera. She also performed at the Paris Opera.
She has performed in NCPA productions of Turandot, Tosca, Der Fliegende Hollaender, and Nabucco.
Soprano Sun Xiuwei studied with Professor Gao Zhilan and famous soprano Rita Orlandi-Malaspina in Milan, Italy. From 1994 to 1995, she won first prizes in six world class singing contests around the world within less than two years. In 1994, she began her opera career with her first singing engagement of G. Verdi’s La Traviata at the Tokyo Opera House. She then sang in Norma, La Traviata, La Forza del Destino, Il Trovatore, Attila, Suor Angelica, Andrea Chenier, Il Corsaro, Macbeth, Turandot, Pagliacci, Requiem, Nabucco and so on. She also sang in Madama Butterfly by G. Puccini, and she has played more than three hundred performances of this opera around the world. She performed in opera houses in Roma, Bologna, Palermo, Trieste, Genova, Venice, Torre Di Lago, Catania in Italy, Berlin, Bonn and Carlsruhe in Germany, Nice in France; Zurich in Switzerland, Bilbao, Spain, Serbia, Washington, Los Angeles, Detroit, and Philadelphia in the United States. She worked with famous artists like Domingo, Gatti, and Nagano. She is one of the few Chinese sopranos that are much sought after in Europe.
NCPA Chorus was established on December 8, 2009, whose members were carefully selected from famous music schools in and out of China. Now the Chorus invites Wu Lingfen as the conductor, with many artists well-known in China and abroad giving instructions. Affiliated to NCPA, the highest palace of performing arts in China, the Chorus adheres to NCPA's guiding principles of 'for the people, for the arts, and for the world'. The Chorus mainly stages operas and concerts, and also takes part in kinds of cultural communication and arts outreach events.
Ever since its establishment, the Chorus has actively performed in more than 20 operas of NCPA production, such as NCPA's commission operas Xi Shi, The Chinese Orphan, and The Ballad of Canal, as well as other classical operas in and out of China: The White-Haired Girl, The Red Guards on Honghu Lake, Le Nozze di Figaro, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, L'italiana in Algeri, Rigoletto, La Traviata, Otello, Der Fliegende Hollander, Lohengrin, Carmen, Turandot andTosca, etc. Its artistic quality receives rave acclaims from both the critics and the audience.
Besides operas, the Chorus has participated in many grand vocal works and themed concerts, such as Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, Mahler's Symphony No.2 and No.8, and the grand music and dance epic Road to Revive, etc. As NCPA's resident chorus, it has been to Singapore, South Korea, Hong Kong and Japan to participate in performances and arts exchange, both to wide acclaims.
The Chorus has cooperated with many well-known artists ever since its establishment, receiving high praises from them all. Plácido Domingo once said it was his honor to cooperate with these talented young artists; Lorin Maazel ever praised it 'a chorus full of passion', so and so forth. On the stage of NCPA, the Chorus has cooperated with such directors as Francesca Zambello, Giancarlo Del Monaco, Chen Xinyi, Cao Qijing, Liao Xianghong, such conductors as Lorin Maazel, Daniel Oren, Lu Jia, Li Xincao, Zhang Guoyong, such vocalists as Plácido Domingo, Leo Nucci, Inva Mula, Brandon Jovanovich, Dai Yuqiang, Wei Song, Warren Mok, He Hui, Dilbèr, Zhang Liping, to name just a few. With more than a hundred performances each year, the Chorus is surely to play an active role in the further development of NCPA.
China NCPA Orchestra is the resident orchestra of the National Centre for the Performing Arts of China (NCPA), balancing a busy and distinguished performance schedule with a reputation as one of China's most adventurous and dynamic orchestras. Established in March 2010, the orchestra is composed of distinguished musicians from around the world, performing more than a dozen operas, ballets and regular symphonic seasons every year. Lu Jia took up the post of Principal Conductor in February 2011, succeeding Chen Zuohuang, the current Laureate Conductor, NCPA’s Music Artistic Director and also one of the founders of the orchestra. Yuan Ding was appointed assistant conductor in the same year.
The NCPA Orchestra demonstrates an abiding commitment to high levels of artistic excellence and prides itself on its long-term collaborations with the finest musicians of our day. Artists associated with the orchestra in the past two years include Lorin Maazel, Christoph Eschenbach, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Yan Pascal Tortelier, Gunter Herbig, Gilbert Varga, Lang Lang, Stephen Kovacevich, Leo Nucci, Wang Yuja and Han-Na Chang. Maestro Lorin Maazel praised the orchestra as "a hard-working excellence with great passion" after a series of concerts and the NCPA's new La Traviata in June 2010.
In its first season of 2011, China NCPA Orchestra gained critical acclaim for its performances in NCPA's new productions of Tosca (directed by Giancarlo Del Monaco), The Barber of Seville (co-produced with Castleton Festival), Die Fledermaus, and a new composed opera The Chinese Orphan. Apart from that, the orchestra was also deeply involved in NCPA's 2011 Gustav Mahler Project. Under the batons of maestros including Christoph Eschenbach, Yoel Levi, Jun Maerkl and Chen Zuohuang, the orchestra completed Mahler's Symphonies No. 1, 2, 3, 8 and 10.
In the season of 2012, China NCPA Orchestra won a highly successful acclaim for two NCPA's new productions: Der Fliegende Hollander and Lohengrin, both Wagner's operas were Chinese Premiere. It continually collaborates with prominent musicians around the world for concert programs, including Maestro Vladimir Ashkenazy, Yan Pascal Tortelier and the legendary pianist Rudolf Buchbinder.
In addition to its extensive domestic performances, the NCPA Orchestra also received a widespread international praise in 2012. The orchestra was invited by Kissingen Summer Music Festival and Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival in July 2012, and kicked off his first German tour in Nürnberg, Hamburg and Berlin under the baton of Christoph Eschenbach and Chen Zuohuang. This was followed by a successful concert at the Sydney Opera House with Maestro Chen Zuohuang in November.
In the season of 2013, the NCPA orchestra presents colorful programs on the commemoration of Wagner, Verdi and Britten, highlighting the Ring without words with 12 principals from Berlin Philharmonic under the baton of Lorin Maazel. NCPA's new opera productions that the orchestra is involved include Les Contes d'Hoffmann, Otello and Nabucco, which features his second successful collaboration with Placido Domingo.
The NCPA orchestra aims to build up a world-class orchestra with operation and management conforming to global practices while incorporating Chinese characteristics. Devoted to educational and outreach activities, the Orchestra also has presented a series of Weekend Matinee Concerts since its establishment. With specially selected repertoire, performances of high quality and extremely low ticket prices, these concerts have won great acclaim from both audience and critics. The orchestra is now embarking on a similar path with the complete Beethoven symphonies with Maestro Lu Jia.
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Dedicated to the staging of epic operas, ballets and dance dramas, the golden Opera House is considered the centerpiece of the NCPA. Its main tone is golden color, which looks glamorous and splendid. In the auditorium are the stalls and three higher levels of balconies, which can seat an audience of 2,207, including the venue of SRO. It is equipped with a modern stage that can be moved up/down/backward/forward or rotated, a ballet stage that can slant, and a rising orchestra pit for the triple winds orchestra. All the cutting-edge staging mechanism provides artists with enormous possibilities of creative performance.
Dedicated to the staging of epic operas, ballets and dance dramas, the golden Opera House is considered the centerpiece of the NCPA. Its main tone is golden color, which looks glamorous and splendid. In the auditorium are the stalls and three higher levels of balconies, which can seat an audience of 2,207, including the venue of SRO. It is equipped with a modern stage that can be moved up/down/backward/forward or rotated, a ballet stage that can slant, and a rising orchestra pit for the triple winds orchestra. All the cutting-edge staging mechanism provides artists with enormous possibilities of creative performance.