Tan Dun performed the opera "Tea Soul" under the name of tea, and his old work made his debut on the Shanghai stage. Tea Soul | Opera | Stage
On the evening of June 7th, the large-scale opera "Tea Soul", led by Tan Dun and directed by Hu Xuehua, was performed at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. Mysterious Eastern elements, ever-changing stage light and shadow, and exquisite and pure opera singing by actors bring a refreshing opera appreciation experience to Shanghai audiences.
The opera "Tea Soul" is divided into three acts, and the characters in the play have distinct personalities: the Prince Fusang, who is obsessed with the tea ceremony and has the utmost love and nature; A pure, kind, beautiful and intelligent Tang Dynasty princess; The Tang Dynasty prince, who loved his younger sister but was obsessed with power, as well as the majestic and open-minded Tang king, who loved tea and poetry, and the daughter of Lu Yu, who was determined to promote his father's "Tea Classic".
Tan Dun used various musical elements to shape characters, adopting the unique traditional Chinese cultural characteristics of ancient poetry recitation, the recitation and singing style of ancient opera, and combining the original vocal characteristics with the distinct melodies and rhythms of Eastern music. The opera music is splendid and diverse in style, yet mixed on one stage, showcasing the development trend of modern opera from an international artistic perspective.
Before this performance, Tan Dun said, "Planting tea is difficult, picking tea is even more difficult, and tasting tea is even more difficult. Because tasting tea infuses all the philosophies of Chinese culture, all of which are contained in the character" tasting ". The character" tasting "has three mouth words:" tasting the sky, tasting the earth, and finally tasting the people. "The original intention of this opera is to let the world understand China and showcase China's tea culture.
As Tan Dun said, this work is a carrier that pushes Chinese culture to the world, and in the past 20 years, its performance records have also spread all over the world.
"Tea Soul" premiered in Japan in 2002 and has since been performed in countries such as the Netherlands, France, New Zealand, and Sweden, receiving enthusiastic responses.
In 2008, "Tea Soul" was performed as an Olympic cultural event at the National Theatre in Beijing.
After many years, Tan Dun led the actors to explore and refine the presentation of the stage and the interpretation of each note, providing a clearer explanation of the work's setting: "The stage design of this opera was not in the Tang, Song, or even Han dynasties, because our director is an electric film director who will create from a film perspective, presenting the entire stage through light and shadow, metaverse, and multimedia forms."
In the presentation of music, not only did a large number of percussion instruments with Eastern cultural characteristics participate in the ensemble of the orchestra, but also props such as paper and water were used as instruments, bringing a fresh audio-visual experience to the audience.
"This opera explores the relationship between heaven and earth, people and people, and music and the vast world. These are eternal themes of humanity, and they are also the ones that resonate the most with the audience," said Hu Xuehua, the chief director, as this work made its debut in Shanghai
From May to June 2023, the first "Shanghai Opera House Opera Musical Festival" kicked off at the Shanghai Opera House. In the past month, the "Opera Musical Festival" has successively launched classic operas such as "Camellia Woman" produced by Shanghai Opera House, original musical "Spring Shanghai 1949", opera selection series concerts, and classic opera "The Drifting Dutchman" produced by Shanghai Opera House, providing a good opportunity for Shanghai citizens to approach opera, understand opera, and appreciate opera.
American baritone singer Todd Thomas performed in "The Drifting Dutchman".
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