Australian Premiere For Classic Opera THE RED GUARDS ON LAKE HONGHU

After 60 years of success and more than 3000 shows and now performing for the first time out of China in an Australian first, Hubei Symphony Orchestra of Hubei Provincial Opera and Dance Drama Theatre presents a modern concert production of the classic Chinese opera, Lake Honghu featuring seven principal singers and a chorus of forty.

These milestone concerts will take place at the Sydney Opera House on November 4 with celebrated Australian guest conductor Vanessa Scammell (My Fair Lady, The Merry Widow, South Pacific) and Melbourne Recital Centre led by resident conductor Luo Yilin on November 7 & 8.

The original opera was first performed in 1958 in Wuhan and was staged in Beijing in October 1959. Based on the true story, Han Ying and Liu Chuang led a team of guardians defending their homeland in the scenic Lake Honghu area in the summer of 1930. Interesting to note by means of its famous lake, Honghu City produces forty kinds of fish and an abundance of plants, such as the lotus, reed and a type of lack algae.

Blending western style opera with traditional Chinese and Hubei folk songs and lyrical ballad, the melody is cheerful, full of passion and showsthe revolutionary pioneer's love of the hometown and hope for the happy lives and future. The music structure contains both strength of the Chinese traditional opera and English Opera. The lyrics and the music tell the story and focus on emphasising the character's internal emotions.

Since its debut in Beijing, the opera, composed by Zhu Benhe, Zhang Jing'an and Ouyang Qianshu, has become a national treasure and 'Chinese Classic Opera of the 20th Century'. In 1961, it was adapted into a popular film, and famous passages such as The Honghu Lake, Waves Upon Waves; No Tears, No Sorrow; and Wait and See the Liberation of All Suffering People, have become a part of China's collective memory.

This unique concert production of the former opera aims to celebrate and revive the classic work, the performance preserved the brilliance of the original music, while also making modifications to the arrangements to reinvent the piece for contemporary audiences.

Hubei Provincial Opera and Dance Drama Theatre

Founded in 1952, Hubei Provincial Opera and Dance Drama Theatre is a state-owned performing arts group. it has created many theatrical pieces and has widespread influence both at home and abroad; Some major works including the Chinese classic opera Red Guards on Lake Honghu, opera King Zhuang of Chu, ancient Chinese dance and music epic The Imperial Bells of China, dance Lotus Poem and Wang Zhaojun, musical Love of The Boat Tracker etc. Many performances have won the national dance and music awards.

Hubei Symphony Orchestra

Hubei Symphony Orchestra is a member of Hubei Provincial Opera and Dance Drama Theatre. Since its foundation in 2010, HSO has toured national wide in China and performed major works including opera Red Guards on Lake Honghu, Cherry Blossom, King Zhuang of Chu,Osmanthus Flowers Blooming Everywhere in August, original musical Stone of the Three Gorges Dam etc with Hubei Provincial Opera and Dance Drama Theatre.

FACTS TO KNOW ABOUT LAKE HONGHU'S MUSIC STYLE

The opera is a combination of singing and talking, the voice style is based on Jinzhou Tianmian Flower Drum Opera, lyrics are derived from the daily lives of local Hubei Province People, the songs are sung with the Hubei dialect using local instruments to create the beat and the tone, such as hitting the porcelain plate with chopsticks.

In the Antiphonal singing, it used the technique 'Aria' in English Opera,'Qubai and Banqiang Style' in Chinese Opera.

In the melody, the five major tunes have the characteristics of less words, more aria and 'one word, three signs' style. Sothern drawl is a word meaning that the word is dragged out longer. This is because of the geographical characteristics of the southern part of China, that when working out in the open spaces and talking, usually two people are standing far away from each other and they need to drag the word longer and so the other person can hear correctly.

With strong main characters and distinct music, Lake Honghu is a true reflection of local Hubei people's lifestyle and the history of the liberation process.

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