Iconic US opera runs a gamut of emotions

Porgy and Bess is a triumph of international cooperation and technical expertise, Chen Nan reports.

Cape Town Opera's acclaimed production of American composer George Gershwin's 1935 masterpiece, Porgy and Bess, arrived at Beijing's Poly Theater with shows running on Saturday and Sunday. The Sunday show closed the 27th edition of the Beijing Music Festival — one of the largest music events in the capital first launched in 1998.

Performed by the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra under the baton of American conductor Kazem Abdullah, this semistaged (limited use of props and costumes) production was held in Shanghai on Oct 8 before its Beijing shows.

With an English-language libretto written by DuBose Heyward (with lyrics by Heyward and Ira Gershwin), which was based on Heyward's novel, Porgy (1925), Porgy and Bess is set in the African-American community of Charleston, South Carolina, and tells a heartfelt story of love and struggle, portraying the lives of marginalized people searching for dignity amid poverty. Since its debut nearly a century ago, the opera has undergone various adaptations, serving as a powerful symbol of cultural exchange across the globe. It is considered to be the first great American opera.