Composition in Action -- Central Conservatory of Music Chamber Opera Show
Presented by the Composition Department of Central Conservatory of Music, The Chinese Chamber Opera Composition Promotion Project has been successfully held for six seasons. Since the beginning, Prof. Guo Wenjing, a renowned composer and the former chairman of the department, has been serving as the artistic director of the project. This project has made a positive contribution in fostering young talents of music composition, libretto writing and vocal performance.
By the invitation of the 2019 China Shanghai International Arts Festival's R.A.W!Land, we carefully selected four students’ chamber operas to participate in the festival. We will gather rising stage directors, young conductors, and outstanding CCOM student singers to form teams producing these operas. On this unique platform of the Shanghai International Art Festival's Youth Promotion Plan, we would like to present this Composition in Action, advocating the synergies between compositional theory and practice, which has long been implemented throughout the composition program of the Central Conservatory of Music.
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1.The Forest of Swan
It is adapted from a true story. In the beautiful and rich Qilu land, there was a paradise. There were beautiful lakes, trees embracing this piece of wetlands tightly. Every year there will be a group of spirits from Siberian fly to this oasis, and play. But with the expansion of the city, the trees along the shore were pushed down, more and more factories has been established. The original blue sky was covered with haze, the original clear lake becomes turbid, also gave off a bad smell. But the swans did not give up this home, they are tenacious to live here. But the pollution became serious and food was declining, some swans had to eat garbage, which led to the sickness of many swans. When the swans went to the edge of despair, the emergence of a young man awakened the conscience of mankind, changed their fate, and changed the lost paradise as well……
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2.Jigokuhen
The story, set in the Heian period, depicts the conflict between Korean painter Yoshihide and his patron, the cruel and egotistical Hosokawa.
The plot of Hell Screen centers on the artist Yoshihide. Yoshihide is considered “the greatest painter in the land”, and is often commissioned to create works for the Lord of Horikawa, who also employs Yoshihide’s daughter in his mansion.
When Yoshihide is instructed to create a folding screen depicting the Buddhist hell, he proceeds to inflict tortures upon his apprentices, so he can see what he is trying to paint. Supernatural forces seem to be present. one time, Yoshihide speaks in a devilish voice. The story climaxes when Yoshihide asks the lord to burn a beautiful lady in a carriage so he can finish the screen. The lord concedes, but, in a macabre twist, Yoshihide must watch as his daughter and her monkey are the ones who burn.
The story ends with the magnificently horrible screen completed.
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3.I Love Peach Blossoms
At the time of the Tang Dynasty, Feng Yan, a teenager in Yuyang City, committed adultery with Zhang Ying's wife. One night, when Zhang Ying returned home drunk, the wife of Zhang hastily hid Feng Yan, but Zhang Ying pressed Feng Yan's towel on the chair when he was drunken. And by the time Feng Yan wanted to escape, Zhang Ying beckoned his wife to bring the towel. She quietly came to Zhang Ying's side, and at that time the towel was pressed under his body and she had mistaken Feng Yan’s intention that it was his knife in the waist that he wanted to kill her husband. Then she quietly drew out the knife and handed it to Feng Yan and Feng Yan felt that the woman was ruthless and killed her with it.
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4.Wang Qi
A scholar named Wang Qi decides to learn magic arts from Taoist priests on a mountain. One year later when he has made some achievements, he returns home and shows off to his wife. She complaints about his neglect of the family, but he doesn’t think so. The reunion of this couple sparks a farce.
