Opera artists across the Straits to perform together in Beijing

A top-ranked Chinese Opera actor Li Baochun (right) and a young artist give a short demo performance at a lecture that spreads the knowledge of Peking and Kunqu operas on August 8, 2017 in Poly Theatre in Beijing.[Photo:China Plus]

Professional players from the Peking and Kunqu operas across the Taiwan Straits will soon be hitting the stage in Beijing.

The driving force behind these shows is the C.K Foo Foundation. The NGO looks forward to helping promote cultural exchanges in China by touring Peking Opera shows.

"The Palace of Eternal Life", "Zhao Kuangyin, the founder of the Song Dynasty" and "The Lotus Lamp" are scheduled to meet Beijing audiences this weekend.

Xu Fei has more.

Since 2012, the C.F. Koo Foundation-led Taipei Li-yuan Peking Opera Theatre has cooperated with Poly Theatres on the Chinese mainland. They've presented over 70 shows of 10 classic operas including "The Jester" and "Distance Tests a Horse's stamina".

Taipei Liyuan was founded in 1998, ten years after its most celebrated leading actor-director Maestro Li Baochun, came to Taiwan and started his career as a partner in the Koo foundation.

The Koo foundation's project of promoting Chinese Opera is led by Vivien Ku. According to Ku, the cross-Straits cooperation in opera started when they were seeking opera bands to accompany opera shows.

Vivien Ku recalls:

"About 30 years ago, there were few qualified opera bands in Taiwan. Due to a shortage of good teachers, learners could not figure out what to do, and had to rely on videos to teach them. As a result, everyone had to fumble on his or her own. We thought it was impossible to stage a good play without a qualified band. We had been looking for years for good opera bands that could play the jinghu and the yueqin, the Chinese traditional musical instruments. Then an opera band from the Chinese mainland came to help and they rehearsed with us in Taiwan for more than a month. That was our first-ever hand in hand cooperation. When they departed, all the artists from the mainland were very sad. Upon their return to the mainland, they wrote to me, describing their experiences in Taiwan as the most creative time in their careers."

Later, as the opera shows were increasing in popularity in Taiwan, Taipei Liyuan began inviting mainland opera singers on stage. At the moment at least half of the performers are from the Chinese mainland while the other half is from Taiwan.

During Taipei Li-yuan Peking Opera Theatre's ongoing tour in Beijing, all three shows are given by three performing artists from Taipei and three from the mainland. The mainland opera artists are selected from Tianjin Peking Opera Theatre and Suchou Kunqu Opera Theatre.

Vivien Ku again:

"Escorting Jingniang Home" is a part of Kunqu opera "Zhao Kuangyin". The lead actress plays a girl named Jingniang who has been kidnapped by a group of bandits. Actually, the lead actress is a mainlander who married a man from Taiwan. She and her husband met in Beijing when he continued his studies in Beijing. Then they fell in love and moved to Taiwan together. She is a Northern Kunqu Opera performer. We all know that "Escorting Jingniang Home" is a seminal piece in Northern Kunqu opera. She is quite happy. She'd never dreamt this could happen. She thought her marriage meant she had to permanently quit Kunqu opera stage."

Their course for promoting Chinese performing arts, especially Chinese Opera, has not only facilitated people-to-people exchanges across the Straits, but also brought opera fans closer to the stage.

Alongside their shows at the Poly Theatre in Beijing, Li Baochun and his opera troupe have also given short demo shows followed by their interpretations of the new elements they invented in the adaptation of Peking opera and Kunqu opera.

Finding new changes with excitement, an audience member surnamed Li promised she would come for sure to watch all three shows at the Poly Theatre.

"I'm sixty years old now. I watched these three opera shows with my parents when I was a young child. I plan to review all of them in the theatre. Today, the actors and actresses didn't dress up. Actually the change of opera costumes is complex but pleasant to look at. To me, the tunes sound so pleasant that it could be taken as a form of pop music. I hope not only opera artists but audience members have kept the art form going."

Both the Peking opera and Kunqu opera have gone through several changes over the past few centuries.

Today, Chinese traditional operas are very modern. Li Baochun admits the innovation of Peking opera is a new subject for both mainland and Taiwan artists.

"Take The Lotus Lamp as an example: some audiences compare it to a Broadway musical. In fact, it's not an accurate interpretation. By absorbing some rhythms and movements of modern dances as well as new, fashionable music, we make the opera appear different in terms of audio and visual effects. This is one of our bravest endeavors."

Each single show is a testament to the common efforts across the Straits in preserving their shared legacy of Chinese opera.

Vivien Ku again:

"Every time we saw opera performances like this, we cannot help but fully recognize that cross-Straits exchanges are strictly necessary. The more we do in this regard, the more we will benefit from it. Friends made through art can last a long time."