Shanghai Kunqu Opera Troupe to bring ancient Chinese opera back to life

A new concert production of Shanghai Kunqu Opera Troupe will bring to life ancient Chinese opera from 600 years ago.

Taihe Zhengyin: Kunqu Opera from the Collection of the Palace Museum Series 1 is scheduled to premiere at the AIA Grand Theatre in Shanghai on Dec 11 and 12.

The program has been selected from 11,498 books of the opera collections from the imperial court of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), according to Gu Haohao, director of Shanghai Kunqu Opera Troupe. The first series will consist of three stories featuring two important festivals in traditional Chinese culture: the Mid-Autumn Festival, or the Moon Festival, and the Double Ninth Festival, also known as Chongyang Festival.

The first story is about the life of poet and essayist Tao Yuanming (365-427). This marks the first time Tao has been portrayed in Kunqu theater in the modern age. The second story is about a marshal's triumphant homecoming, while the third is based on the legendary love story between Tang Dynasty Emperor Li Longji and his concubine Yang Yuhuan.

"We have made extensive research, re-arrangement and re-writing of the Qing Dynasty opera collection at the Palace Museum in Beijing, and eventually decided to present these three stories as the first series," she said.

The new production will be directed by Tian Qinxin, head of the National Theatre of China. Tian used to learn to sing Kunqu opera herself as a schoolgirl, and the combination of Kunqu and the Palace Museum brought up her creative impulse. "Most of the operas in the Palace Museum collection are of enduring charm and very brilliant," she said. "This series of production marks a very important re-discovery of traditional Kunqu art."