Xiqu

This June, for the opening programme of the 10th Chinese Opera Festival, the Leisure and Cultural Services Department and the Xiqu Centre jointly welcome two of China’s esteemed Chinese opera ensembles – the China National Peking Opera Company and the Shanghai Jingju Theatre Company – to the Grand Theatre stage. The six opening performances present a lineup of the best of China’s Peking opera talents and a panorama of the outstanding artistry of the northern and southern masters of China’s national art form.

Leading the China National Peking Opera Company for the first three performances on 13, 14 and 15 June are Yu Kuizhi, the genre’s foremost living master, and Li Shengsu, bearer of the tradition handed down by Mei Lanfang. On the first night, special guest artist Yang Chi, Director of the Dalian Peking Opera Company and a disciple of Yuan Shihai, joins the cast in The Boar Forest, an iconic piece made famous by renowned Peking opera artist Li Shaochun. This is followed by a performance of the 1923 classic The Great Beauty Xi Shi, widely celebrated as an example of Mei Lanfang’s defining contribution to the genre, and a performance of Mu Guiying Taking Command, Mei’s final masterpiece and the epitome of four decades of extraordinary artistry.

On 17, 18 and 19 June, the Shanghai Jingju Theatre Company presents three distinctive programmes. On the first evening, Wang Peiyu, renowned female artist in the Yu Shuyan tradition of laosheng (old male) roles, performs Vermilion Birthmark. Two classic excerpts, “Water Nymph of Sizhou City”, highlighting the female warrior, and “Chisang Town”, pitching jing (painted-face) against laodan (old female) roles are staged as well. On the second evening, the company presents a double bill featuring Gai Jiaotian’s popular martial arts repertory Wu Song Fighting in the Tavern, followed by two scenes from Yu Tang Chun with Shi Yihong – renowned qingyi (virtuous female) in the Mei Lanfang tradition – as Su San, a destitute woman whose love remains steadfast in the face of death. The final evening offers the quintessential Shanghai-style Peking opera Seven Heroes and Five Gallants, a tour de force of expert singing and martial arts skills, in which each performer enjoys a moment in the limelight, and which is capped with a breathtaking display of liantan – an extended vocal passage shared by seven actors on stage together.