The opera follows the keynote of Fang Zhimin's masterpiece Lovely China, and bridges two space-times of 'the Present' and 'the Past' by means of characters' ideological conflicts and emotional impacts.

'The Present' highlights that Fang Zhimin continues the fight in another 'more tenacious way' in jail: in face of torture and trial in jail, military judge Hu Yi's attempt of 'guide' to 'destroy faith' or 'meeting with his wife Miao Min in jail' as bait, Fang Zhimin is always unyielding... Through a series of soul struggle, he not only makes the interrogators flog a dead horse, but also impresses Hu Yi with his personal charms. Hu Yi promises to help Fang Zhimin deliver the works he finished in prison.

In the last moments of his life, space-times of 'the Present' and 'the Past' blend in one. At the same time, Fang Zhimin's dream in Lovely China with striking literary grace has already come true one by one in today’s China.

Lü Jia

Lü Jia has been conductor of NCPA's productions including Turandot, La Boheme, The Village Teacher, The Chinese Orphan, L'elisir d'Amore, Tosca,Der Fliegende Hollander, Un Ballo in Maschera and The Ballad of Canal.

Lü Jia is the opera director of NCPA, principal conductor of NCPA Orchestra, music director & chief conductor of the Macao Orchestra, and artistic director of Santa Cruz de Tenerife Symphony Orchestra, Spain. Mr. Lü has been the Music Director of the Arena di Verona, the world's largest open-air opera theater, and principal conductor for the Trieste Opera, Tuscany Regional Orchestra in Florence, Lazio Chamber Orchestra in Rome, and Sweden's Norrkoping Symphony Orchestra. He has also been a frequent guest conductor with the Hallé Orchestra and Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in England, the Dortmund Opera House in Germany, and the Milan Giuseppe Verdi Symphony Orchestra in Italy.

Mr. Lü has conducted two thousand concerts and operas in Europe and the Americas, and has cooperated with more than one hundred opera houses and orchestras, including the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, and La Scala in Milan, as well as opera houses in Lausanne, Turin, Rome, Naples, Verona, Venice, Florence, Frankfurt and Stuttgart. He has also worked with the Berlin Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra, Hamburg Radio Symphony Orchestra, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic, Bamberg Symphony, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Italy's RAI National Symphony Orchestra, Rome's Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, England's City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Norway's Oslo Philharmonic, Lyon National Orchestra in France, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, all the major orchestras in Australia, and the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra.

Opera has always played a special role in Lü Jia's career. In Italy and Germany, homelands of the European opera tradition, he has directed nearly fifty operas. As the first Asian conductor to serve as director of a nationally-recognized opera company in Italy, he was praised by one Italian music critic as 'a conductor who understands Italian opera even better than Italians do'. In September of 1989, he won First Prize and the Judges' Prize in the 'Antonio Perdrotti' International Conducting Competition in Italy, which is his entrée into a conducting career. In 1998, he conducted Giuseppe Verdi's classic opera La Traviata, which was recognized as the best conducting performance in Italy's Macerata Opera Festival. In 2005, in recognition of Lü Jia's prominent contribution to Italy's music culture, he was awarded the President's Cup by the President of the Italia, Giorgio Napolitano. In 2008, the La Gazza Ladra conducted by Lü Jia was named Best Opera of the Year in the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro in Italy.

NCPA Chorus

Established on December 8, 2009, NCPA Chorus is the resident chorus of the China National Centre for the Performing Arts.

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' and is recognized as a vigorous and promising professional chorus. 

The Chorus has cooperated with many well-known artists ever since its establishment, including directors as Francesca Zambello, Giancarlo Del Monaco, Hugo De Ana, Chen Xinyi, Cao Qijing, Liao Xianghong, Yi Liming, Li Liuyi, prominent conductors as Lorin Maazel, Zubin Metha, Daniel Oren, Myung-whun Chung, Yan Liangkun, Yang Hongnian, Lü Jia, Li Xincao, Zheng Jian, Yang Li, outstanding vocalists as Plácido Domingo, Leo Nucci, Inva Mulla, Juan Pons, Brandon Jovanovich, Francesco Meli, Dai Yuqiang, Wei Song, Warren Mok, Yuan Chenye, Liao Changyong, Zhang Yalun, Zhang Liping, Dilbèr, Sun Xiuwei, He Hui, Yang Guang, Li Xiaoliang, to name just a few. Plácido Domingo once said it was his honor to cooperate with these talented young artists; Lorin Maazel ever acclaimed it as 'a chorus full of passion',  'It is the best voice I have ever heard, As young as the chorus was, it's much more excellent than many of European choruses', said Daniel Oren after rehearsal.  

As one of the leading Chinese choruses both on stage of operas and concerts, the NCPA Chorus represents the highest artistry of opera chorus in China. By presenting over 100 performances each year, the Chorus has depicted numerous opera characters in an enthusiastic way and contributed actively to the further development of arts production of the NCPA. Ever since its establishment, the Chorus has actively performed in more than 40 operas produced by NCPA, such as NCPA's commission operas Xi Shi, The Chinese Orphan, The Beautiful Blue Danube, The Ballad of Canal, Rickshaw Boy, Visitors on the Snow Mountain, Sunrise, as well as other classic operas in and out of China including The White-haired Girl, The Red Guards on Honghu Lake, Turandot, Carmen, La Traviata, L'élisir d'amore, Tosca, Die Fledermaus, La Cenerentola, Der Fliegende Hollander, Un Ballo in Maschera, Lohengrin, Les Contes d'Hoffmann, Otello, Nabucco, Le Nozze di Figaro, L'italiana in Algeri, Il Trovatore, Der Rosenkavalier, Norma, Don Pasquale, Aida, Rigoletto, Die Zauberflote, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Eugene Onegin, and Andrea Chénier, 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, Verdi's Requiem, Concert Commemorating the 110^th Anniversary of the Birth of Huang Zi, opera concertsGuillaume Tell, Don Juan and the grand music and dance epic Road to Revive, etc.  

As a resident ensemble of the NCPA, the Chorus also takes part in various cultural communication and arts outreach activities in order to reach and attract more audiences through its weekend concerts, lectures and performances in schools and communities, which have gained lasting popularity among audiences. In addition, the Chorus will continue to travel abroad to perform the NCPA productions and excellent classics. During recent years, it has toured to different countries and regions including Singapore, South Korea, Japan and Hong Kong to engage in arts exchanges, receiving widespread acclaim. In September 2015 the Chorus finished its tour in Italy with the NCPA to perform Rickshaw boy.

 

NCPA Orchestra

China NCPA Orchestra is the resident orchestra of the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA), Beijing. Established in March 2010, the orchestra consists of highly accomplished musicians from around the world, who perform in more than a dozen opera productions presented by its home venue each year as well as in ballets and regular orchestral concerts in its own season. With a notably busy schedule, the young ensemble has fast established itself as one of the most adventurous and dynamic orchestras in the country. Lü Jia took up the post of Chief Conductor in February 2012, succeeding Chen Zuohuang, the current Conductor Laureate, NCPA's Music 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 the highest levels of artistic excellence and takes pride in its long-term collaborations with the finest musicians of our time. Artists associated with the orchestra in the past two years have included Lorin Maazel, Christoph Eschenbach, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Yan Pascal Tortelier, Gunter Herbig, Gilbert Varga, Lang Lang, Stephen Kovacevich, Leo Nucci, Yuja Wang and Han-Na Chang, among many others. Maestro Lorin Maazel praised the orchestra for its 'amazing professionalism and great passion in music'. After working with them in a series of concerts and the NCPA's new production of La Traviata in June 2010. Maestro Christoph Eschenbach also declared it 'one of the finest orchestras in Asia'.  

In 2011 alone, the first season after its establishment, 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 newly commissioned opera The Chinese Orphan. In addition, the orchestra also played a key part in NCPA's 2011 Gustav Mahler Project, performing his Symphonies No. 1, 2, 3, 8 and 10 under the batons of Christoph Eschenbach, Yoel Levi, Jun Maerkl and Chen Zuohuang respectively. These were followed by performances of two Wagner operas in 2012, in their Chinese premieres, Der Fliegende Hollander andLohengrin. Most recently in 2013, the orchestra presented varied programmes marking major anniversaries of Wagner, Verdi and Britten, including a performance of the mammoth Ring without Words under the baton of its creator, Lorin Maazel. It continues to build on important partnerships with prominent musicians such as Mehta, Eschenbach, Ashkenazy, Placido Domingo and the pianist Rudolf Buchbinder.  

Most recently, the NCPA Orchestra has flexed its wings on the international stage with high-profile touring work, receiving widespread international praise for its performances. In 2012, the orchestra was invited by Kissingen Summer Music Festival and Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, and its first German tour continued with concerts in Nürnberg, Hamburg and Berlin, followed by appearances at the Sydney Opera House. In 2013, the orchestra undertook its first Asian tour with concerts in Singapore, Seoul and Macau. During the 2014/15 season, the orchestra has participated in NCPA's opera productions including Eugene Onegin, Aida and Cavalleria Rusticana, as well as appearing on concert stage with conductors and soloists such as Lü Jia, Zubin Mehta, Christoph Eschenbach, Myun-Whung Chung, Anthony Wit, Lang Lang, Wang Jian and Yuja Wang. The orchestra has completed its very first North American tour in November 2014, under the baton of its Chief Conductor Lü Jia.