Curtain rises on a 50-year dream of power and passion
Seventy-five-year-old composer Xiao Bai's life-long dream was finally realized on Friday night as his opera Farewell My Concubine premiered at the Tianqiao Theater. The lavish China Central Opera House production is set to tour America next year.
It was such an epic dream: lavish imperial palace, gorgeous costumes, blooded battles, loyal love and heart-broken ending all displayed in a beautiful score that sustains tension in the story and interprets a hero's ups and downs and a woman's love and hatred.
Both tenor Zhang Haiqing as Xiang Yu and soprano Ruan Yuqun as his lover Yu Ji give impressive performances, echoed glorious responses from the chorus and integrated the orchestra conduced by Yu Feng, the music director of the Central Opera House.
