China News Service, Beijing, July 8 (Reporter Ying Ni) "We are united as one, brave the enemy's artillery fire, and advance! Brave the enemy's artillery fire, advance! Advance! Advance! Advance!" As the familiar and passionate melody rang The original national opera "March of the Volunteers", created and arranged by the Shanghai Opera House and jointly produced by the Shanghai Opera House and the Xuhui District Culture and Tourism Bureau, was performed at the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing for the first time recently.
Stills from the original opera "March of the Volunteers". Photo by Cao Jiamiao
Under the command of Xu Zhong, director, conductor and pianist of the Shanghai Opera House, singers such as Sun Li, Li Xinyu, Wu Yiqun, Dong Zhengyan, Chen Chaobin, Song Qian, Yu Yang and the Shanghai Opera House Chorus and Symphony Orchestra The group's passionate performance made every audience excited.
The play consists of two acts and six scenes. From the beginning to the present, screenwriter You Weizhi has revised 12 drafts, striving to highlight the ideological connotation and significance of the times while creating vivid characters with individuality and impact. Touching events. In line with the creative principle of making big things real and small things unobtrusive, the screenwriter focused on capturing one or two core events and core characters in each scene. These events and characters played an inevitable role in promoting the birth of "March of the Volunteers" .
Before it became the national anthem of the People's Republic of China, "March of the Volunteers" was the theme song of the movie "Children of the Storm". Therefore, film has become an important form of expression of the opera "March of the Volunteers". In addition to "reproducing" the difficult-to-overcome filming process of movies such as "The Tribulation" and "The Storm" in the play, the stage design also turned the entire stage into a huge "film set", using a large number of tracks to create a "silky" movie montage. Change of scene. The layered real scenes and flowing images unfold one by one the gun-fired Anti-Japanese War in Songhu, the gorgeous and glitzy Shili Foreign Market, and the spiritual world depicted by artists such as Tian Han and Nie Er.
Stills from the original opera "March of the Volunteers". Photo by Cao Jiamiao
The superb acting and singing skills of baritone singer Sun Li, who plays Tian Han, left a deep impression on the audience. In the view of Li Xinyu, a tenor singer from the Shanghai Opera House, the character creation of "Nie Er" must pursue "physical resemblance", and more importantly, "spiritual resemblance". Nie Er's youth, enthusiasm, vitality and talent are not only the epitome of thousands of Chinese teenagers, but also the cornerstone and future hope of Young China.
In the play, the aria "Shanghai, the Place I Love" sings Nie Er's attachment to Shanghai, his reluctance to abandon his motherland, and his firm belief and practice of faith. The two duets of Tian Han and Nie Er, "Every Word Is Heavy" and "The Wind of May", show their empathy and resonance in different time and space carefully designed by the stage. The former interprets the collision of inspiration from lyrics to songs in "March of the Volunteers" through the interweaving of lines and singing; the latter brings drama, music and emotions to the climax through the spiritual dialogue between the two people.
Stills from the original opera "March of the Volunteers". Photographed by Cao Jiamiao
"Opera was born in Italy. During its more than four hundred years of development, it has been introduced to many countries and has been endowed with different artistic characteristics. Today, we are using Chinese spirit and Chinese culture to celebrate this opera from The overseas 'artistic pearl' not only shows the power of China and the style of its people to the world, but also allows it to be truly accepted by the Chinese people and gain vitality in the cultural life of the people," Xu Zhong said, Shanghai Opera House insists. Integrating Chinese opera with red culture, Shanghai culture, and Jiangnan culture, we have created a series of original opera works that are deeply loved by the audience. This time, "March of the Volunteers", created to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, fully explores the red theme, draws nutrients from China's excellent traditional culture, and uses a stage rich in "Shanghai style" to present red memories, hoping to inspire the resonance of contemporary young audiences. Love and resonance. (End)
