Festive tour

Peking Opera artists will celebrate the old art form with shows abroad in February, Chen Nan reports. 

The China National Peking Opera Company will perform shows in different countries to celebrate the 200-year-old art form on the first day of the Lunar New Year, which falls on Feb 5.

More than 70 Peking Opera artists and band members will join the tour abroad from Feb 1 to 25. They'll visit the United States, Australia and Europe.

Turandot, a coproduction of the China National Peking Opera Company and Emilia Romagna Theater Foundation, will be staged in Italy from Feb 1 to 10.

Its premiere was held in Bolzano, Italy, on Jan 10.

With actors of China's Peking Opera company playing the lead roles, including Xu Mengke and Zhang Jiachun, the theatrical production, based on a three-act opera of the same title by Giacomo Puccini, will be directed by Italian director Marco Plini. It'll be joined by Chinese dramatists Wu Jiang and Wu Yuejia, as well as musical ensembles from China and Italy.

According to Giuliano Barbolini, president of the Emilia Romagna Theater Foundation, which manages seven Italian national theaters, Turandot is the second collaboration between the China National Peking Opera Company and the foundation, which gives the traditional Chinese art form a Western theatrical twist.

The experimental Peking Opera production Faust, which is an adaptation of the Western masterpiece written by Johann Wolfgang Goethe, made its debut in 2015 and toured Europe. China's Peking Opera company also gave two performances of the classic show, The Legend of the White Snake, at the Alessandro Bonci Theatre in Cesena, Italy, on Jan 5 and 6.

Female Generals of the Yang Family, another Peking Opera classic, will be staged with three performances in Portugal from Feb 8 to 11.

Peking Opera actress Guo Xiao will play the lead role of Mu Guiying, a legendary female warrior.

"Female Generals of the Yang Family is a great display of Peking Opera, which combines a variety of techniques to portray loyal and brave Chinese female roles," says Guo, who has been performing with the China National Peking Opera Company since 2010.