On the evening of September 14th, led by Shanghai Opera House Artistic Director Xu Zhong, opera singers from China and abroad, professional musicians from the Shanghai Opera House Symphony Orchestra, and singers from the Shanghai Opera House Chorus will perform a performance for

On the evening of September 14th, led by Shanghai Opera House Artistic Director Xu Zhong, opera singers from China and abroad, professional musicians from the Shanghai Opera House Symphony Orchestra, and singers from the Shanghai Opera House Chorus will perform a performance for the Shanghai audience. Mozart's classic opera "The Marriage of Figaro".

On the afternoon of September 13, at the Shanghai Oriental Art Center Concert Hall, the artists began their only dress-up rehearsal before the performance.

This work was created on the eve of the French Revolution. The original text of the story comes from the French writer Beaumarchais. It uses the absurd emotional life of European aristocrats as the starting point to develop a twists and turns and bizarre plot description. It is humorous but also poignant about the European society at that time. The aristocracy criticized. Mozart used Beaumarchais's novel as the basis, excerpted the story of the second part of the "Figaro Trilogy", and wrote one of the greatest opera works in his life, "The Marriage of Figaro".

This work, which was ill-fated at the beginning due to its critical and revolutionary nature and was even banned due to strong protests from the German and Austrian aristocrats, finally withstood the test of history. In 2017, "The Marriage of Figaro" was selected as the greatest opera in history in a readers' poll organized by BBC Music Magazine.

The characters and stories in this work shine brightly in the light and smooth Mozart-like melody. The rich orchestration levels are even more dazzling and the ears are overwhelmed, thus producing the effect of "more music than drama" .

From Figaro's "Don't Be a Lover Again" to the "little footman" (played by a soprano) Cherubino's "Do You Know What Love Is" dedicated to the countess, to Rosina and Susanna's duet "Ode to the West Wind" is a great aria that has been sung for centuries and has been sung again in later classic movies such as "The Shawshank Redemption".

"Do You Know What Love Is" dedicated by Cherubino to the Countess.

When the prisoners are behind bars. When they raised their heads to listen to "Ode to the West Wind" played from the loudspeaker, these Americans who did not understand Italian were deeply moved by the beautiful melody and the soprano's voice as graceful as a nightingale, revealing their incomparable desire for freedom. look. This classic scene produced a subtle emotional foreshadowing for the subsequent plot of the male protagonist's escape from prison, and became a classic scene in the history of 20th century movies.

Not to mention the prologue music of "The Marriage of Figaro", which has been a popular selection for concerts and recordings of the world's top orchestras in the past. The gorgeous melody as smooth as mercury is well known and loved by music lovers all over the world.

The extremely musical nature of this opera prompted the artists of the Shanghai Opera House to choose to present it in a "semi-stage" version. The orchestra walked onto the stage of the concert hall from the orchestra pit, which is usually hidden under the opera stage. Played with concert quality.

At the same time, in order to help the audience understand the characters and engage in the plot, all opera singers not only have complete dramatic performances, carefully designed costumes, but also simple props to construct a dramatic space on the stage and complete the interpretation of the entire opera. interpretation.

Before the rehearsal, the actors confirmed whether the props were stable.

For this performance, the Shanghai Opera House specially invited bass David David · Jiang Gregorio · young people who have won international awards such as · Konesa and baritone Dou Qianming. A generation of opera singers participated in the rehearsal performance. During the rehearsal on September 13, the singers showed excellent musical expression, and their silky interaction with the band created a strong resonance in Dongyi's concert hall.

The careful design of the performance style, the careful consideration of the casting, and the careful rehearsal before the performance have all raised the expectations for the performance on the 14th; and the market has indeed produced a positive response. So far, the performance has received It achieved excellent box office results - after all, this performance, which lasted for more than three hours, was a rare complete presentation of Mozart's masterpiece.