shows the beauty of Chu Opera and reveals the youthful style. On June 8th and 15th, the "Xiyuan Song of Summer" Youth Special - Wuhan Youth Art Talent Training Achievements Exhibition held special performances for Chen Xiaomeng and Deng Yaqian respectively. At the Wuhan Chu Theater Chu Le Theater, two young Chu opera actors presented excerpts of classic plays to theater fans. Their every move, every frown and every tone allowed the audience to immerse themselves in the beauty of Chu Opera.
Chen Xiaomeng. Photo courtesy of the theater
The elegant and elegant Chu opera style focuses on the youthful style of Chu opera
The majestic figure of Lu Bu, the "Pheasant-born", the solemn and dignified "official-born" Liu Yanchang, and the chic and elegant Liang Shanbo, the "Jin-born"... June 8 , in "Three Lives Have a Drama—Special Performance by Wuhan Young Artistic Talent Chen Xiaomeng", Chen Xiaomeng brought you three excerpts from the classic plays "Little Banquet", "Baolian Lantern·Huayue Temple" and "Visiting Friends". The actors used a variety of performance forms, different eyes, body postures, and singing voices to interpret three distinctive characters, presenting the unique charm of the three Peking Opera niches: "Guan Sheng", "Pheasant Wei Sheng" and "Jin Sheng".
Chen Xiaomeng. Picture courtesy of the theater
Chen Xiaomeng is the head boy of Wuhan Chu Opera Theatre, a national second-level actor, and was selected into the Wuhan Youth Art Talent Training Program. He has won Hubei Drama "Peony Award", Hubei Chu Opera Art Festival "Performance First Prize" and other awards. . Chen Xiaomeng mainly plays Wen Xiaosheng. He has handsome appearance, smooth voice, delicate performance, simple and natural performance. In the performance that day, he used his superb skills and abundant emotions to portray the characters in the play vividly, and the classic arias were brought to life in a new form. The audience at the performance received continuous applause.
On the afternoon of June 15, the "Appointment with a Clear Sound - Special Performance by Wuhan Young Artist Deng Yaqian" was packed with people. As the performance kicked off, Deng Yaqian, dressed in white, performed the legendary love story of the heroine Li Huiniang in "Li Huiniang: Ghost Resentment" with her tearful singing and agile and light posture. In "Lanke Mountain Night Dream Crown Belt", Ms. Cui played by Deng Yaqian is full of emotion and tension in her singing, narration and performance. She is delicate and exaggerated to achieve the effect of "one person is present, the whole stage is full of drama".
Deng Yaqian plays Cui in "Lan Ke Shan·Ye Meng Crown Belt". Photo by Ye Feiyan
It has been 20 years since Deng Yaqian entered Wuhan Art School at the age of 11 and became involved with Chu opera. She entered the Wuhan Chu Theater in 2008, focusing on boudoir roles. She is a national second-level actor and was selected into the Wuhan Art Youth Talent Training Program. She has won the Hubei Drama "Peony Award", the Hubei Local Opera Art Festival "Outstanding Actor Award", Wuhan "Jianghua Award" for artistic talents, etc.
On the same day, Deng Yaqian presented excerpts of classic plays "Li Huiniang: Ghost Resentment", "Lanke Mountain: Night Dream Crown Belt" and "The Story of Jingchai: Throwing into the River through a Carved Window" to the theater fans. She has a dignified appearance, a mellow voice, a simple performance, and is good at portraying characters. During the performance, through the unique musical tension of the high tune of Chu opera, the fate of three women with different characters, "Li Huiniang", "Cui Shi" and "Qian Yulian", were respectively displayed, leaving a fresh and elegant lingering sound, showing their graceful dancing figures.
The legacy is passed down from generation to generation, and young actors continue to inherit it.
The two special performances were hosted by Yu Weigang, winner of the 30th China Plum Blossom Award for Drama. There were also on-site comments by Chu opera masters Wu Bo and Zhang Yiping, and Gan opera performing artist Tu Linghui. Talk about the profession, the repertoire, and the actors, and conduct in-depth interpretations to allow the audience to experience the all-round and three-dimensional style of young artistic talents.
Chu Opera is one of the main local operas in Hubei and is a national intangible cultural heritage. With the help of the superb performances, inheritance and creation of generations of actors, Chu Opera has been able to travel through time and space and continue to shine with "new voices".
Wu Bo (left) commented on the spot. Picture courtesy of the theater
"This is a showcase of my learning achievements. Three plays were performed, different characters have different styles, and the 'hands, eyes, body, and steps' of each play are different, which is a test of my performance and control abilities. "Before the performance, Chen Xiaomeng conducted a lot of rehearsals under the guidance of Chu Opera seniors, striving for excellence.Among them, "Little Banquet" specially invites Wang Ming, a national first-class actor from Shandong Tokyo Theater and the third generation successor of Ye (Sheng Lan) Xiaosheng, to direct. "Baolian Lantern Huayue Temple" was taught by Rong Mingxiang, the representative inheritor of Chu Opera, a national intangible cultural heritage project, and rehearsed under the careful guidance of Wu Bo, a Chu opera performing artist and national first-class actor. Chen Xiaomeng In terms of performance and singing, I have learned from my teachers. I have learned from others' strengths, studied hard and practiced hard, and strived to form my own unique performance style.
Zhang Yiping (left) commented and Yu Weigang hosted. Photographed by Ye Feiyan
The famous Chu opera performing artist Zhang Yiping commented on the spot and shared the story behind Deng Yaqian’s learning of Chu opera. Zhang Yiping, who is nearly eighty years old, said affectionately at the scene: "The special performance is only a partial display of the results of daily learning. 'One minute on stage, ten years of hard work off stage'. There are more things behind the scenes that everyone has never seen." Work hard." She revealed that in order to find the most appropriate stage performance, Deng Yaqian once tied a sandbag and sang while running. She practiced repeatedly, often sweating, and achieved the light and elegant figure that the audience appreciates today. Deng Yaqian also learned the classic drama "Jingchai Ji: Casting into the River through the Carved Window" from Gan opera performing artist Tu Linghui. The play is a Qingyang opera repertoire of Gan opera, and Jiangxi Qingyang opera and Hubei Qing opera are both high-level operas, and are intrinsically related in art.
The young talents and young faces on and off the stage have become the bright colors of the performance. According to reports, the supporting actors in the two performances are also mainly young people. "The inheritance and development of Chu Opera are inseparable from the cultivation of young talents." The person in charge of Wuhan Chu Opera Theater said that adhering to the concept of "the training of young artistic talents must have clear goals, careful planning, and rich content", the Chu Opera Theater has carefully cultivated a number of Young opera actors with profound artistic attainments, full of innovative vitality and high market recognition have continuously cultivated high-quality artistic talents for the development of Chu opera and opera.
(Ye Feiyan)
[Editor: Chen Ming]
[Source: Changjiang Daily-Changjiang Net]
