NCPA festival to stage 26 opera shows this year

Richard Wagner's only comic opera, Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg－a coproduction of China's National Center for the Performing Arts, the Royal Opera House and Convent Garden from London and Opera Australia－will headline the NCPA Opera Festival.

The opera will be staged in Beijing from May 31 to June 7.

The joint production is directed by Kasper Holten and choreographed by Signe Fabricius. It will feature the NCPA Orchestra and NCPA Chorus under the baton of Chinese conductor Lyu Jia.

Composed between 1845 and 1867 and first staged at the National Theatre Munich in 1868, Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg is based on the life of German poet and composer Hans Sachs. The opera also helped to reflect Wagner's reforming of German arts.

According to Lyu, Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg is the fifth Wagner operatic production by the National Center for the Performing Arts. It's the second opera to be produced by the NCPA in collaboration with the Royal Opera House. Italian composer Umberto Giordano's Andrea Chenier, which was staged in 2015, was the first.

Lyu, who is also the opera director of the NCPA and principal conductor of the in-house orchestra, notes that in its 10th year, the NCPA Opera Festival, which will be held from April 13 to July 26, will showcase 26 performances of nine opera productions, mostly from China.