My “short prayer” was answered, no, not by some supernatural being but Lu Wen again. Besides the awesome pictures, she made a ca.8 min long video of Sitting in the Palace, that contains the most interesting part.

Video quality is superb, 1920×1080.
The audience is a bit noisy, yelling most loudly during Wang Ping’s gadiao (that ending “screamy” sound in “jiao xiao fan”), and someone is shouting “Woo-hoo!” afterwards, but it doesn’t really bother me.

Cheng school fans will like this video too, since it’s featuring Tianjin’s young promise, Lü Yang.

→ 京剧《四郎探母·坐宫》Silang Tan Mu·Zuo Gong (Silang Visits His Mother- Sitting in the Palace)
 [DOWNLOAD] 188MB
Performed by Lü Yang (吕洋), Wang Ping (王平).
Shanghai, 2012-05-05

Another goodie is a 4-5 minutes long recording from the same source, Lu Wen’s tudou videos. Xiong Mingxia and Jin Xiquan held a lecture in the Shanghai Library (ref) on the 29th last month, and they performed a short part from Jin Yunu, the scene when Yunu finds the hungry scholar in the snow.

→ 《戏演人生鉴古今》@tudou.com [HERE] 110MB
Jin Yunu snippet by Xiong Mingxia (熊明霞) and Jin Xiquan (金喜全).
Shanghai, 2012-04-29

Picture of the happy Jin family from here.

And, aaand CCTV11 will air a concert on the 23rd (this Wednesday), reliable source (himself) confirmes that Jin Xiquan also participated in this production, with the boating scene from Tale of the White Snake.
Do you remember I was whining I don’t have a nice copy of that? I’m afraid after this many good news something bad will happen to me…

A very pretty video with a very pretty cast for today, a traditional Cheng school play from the experimental troupe of the Jingju Theater of Tianjin.

Lü Yang starred in two performances last September in Mei Lanfang Theater, The Unicorn Purse and Muyang Juan (“Shepherd Story”). The latter is also known as Zhu Hen Ji (Story of the Red Scar/Birthmark), it’s one and the same story, but I prefer the second title, I think it’s more descriptive.

→ 京剧《牧羊卷》Muyang Juan (Story of the Red Scar)
2011/09/03, Mei Lanfang Grand Theater, Beijing
CCTV: [1] | [2] | [3]
ed2k: [COPY]

112 stage photos: [DOWNLOAD] 21MB
I forgot who made these photos, sorry.

Cast:
Zhao Jintang: Lü Yang (吕洋)
Zhu Chundeng: Tan Xiaozeng (谭孝曾) (special invitation)
Mrs. Zhu: Li Hong (李宏)
Mrs. Song: Han Qing (韩庆)
Song Cheng: Shao Hailong (邵海龙)
Li Ren: Gao Hang (高航)
Zhu Chunke: Sun Lei (孙磊)
Percussion: Sun Yong (孙永), Liu Yang (刘洋)
Strings: Li Hezun (李河遵), Ai Bing (艾兵)

Summary:
Zhu Chundeng’s father from Shandong is ordered to join the army to subdue Huang Long’s riot. To save their sick and elderly dad, Zhu Chundeng and his younger brother Zhu Chunke volunteer instead and go to Pingxi.

Zhu Chundeng’s mom isn’t happy.

Zhu Chunke’s evil mother, Mrs. Song wants to lay her hands on Zhu Chundeng’s property, and sends his nephew, Song Cheng to wait at the roadside and kill Zhu.
Song Cheng ties up Zhu Chundeng in his sleep, but fortunately a hunter, Li Ren shows up and chases Song away.

Without painted face and padded shoulders, Gao Hang is a real cutie-pie. :P

Zhu Chundeng joins the army, and with the help of Li Ren’s bow defeats Huang Long. For his achievements he’s granted the title “Marquis of Pingxi”, and his younger brother, Chunke is also appointed as minister. Li Ren is promoted to commander. They plan to return to their hometown in glory, and immediately behead Song Cheng.

Song Cheng at home tells his mom that Zhu Chundeng fell in battle. Mrs. Song forces Chundeng’s wife, Zhao Jintang to marry Song Cheng, but she resists. When Song Cheng tries to molest her, Zhao Jintang squeezes Song’s hands into the hand mill.

“Mom! Help!”

The upset Mrs. Song sends Zhao Jintang and Zhu’s old mother to the mountains to herd sheep, hoping they will starve and freeze there. She even takes Mrs. Zhu’s expensive robe. Soon the news arrive that Zhu Chundeng is on the way home! Mrs. Song and Song Cheng dig two fake graves, and falsely inform Chundeng that his wife and mother are dead.

Life in the mountains isn’t a real carnival.

Meanwhile Song Cheng tries to escape, but Li Ren recognizes him and he gets arrested. The grief-stricken Zhu Chundeng visits the family tomb, offers sacrifice and fasts for seven days.
Zhao Jintang and Mrs. Zhu accidentally arrive to the same place, and beg for food. After Mrs. Zhu eats the leftover food they got, she recognizes their family tomb and weeps bitterly. Zhu Chundeng hears the crying, invites Zhao Jinteng inside and asks about their misfortune. Zhao Jinteng is very thin, Zhu Chundeng’s appearance also changed, but when Zhu sees the scar on Jinteng’s palm, he finally recognizes his wife.

“Busted!” To wear a phoenix crown disgracefully is an art itself.

The whole family has a happy reunion, Zhu Chunke, who didn’t know anything about his mother’s evil deeds, also pays respect. They invite Mrs. Song in, who quickly flees upon seeing her conspiracy is exposed.

Tianjin Jingju Theater’s contribution to the 6th China Peking Opera Art Festival was a new edition of Qin Xianglian, titled《香莲案》Xianglian An (Case of Xianglian).

I didn’t watch it yet, but the costumes are different than usual. Lü Yang (吕洋) plays Qin Xianglian, Ling Ke (凌珂) Chen Shimei, Wang Jiaqing (王嘉庆) Judge Bao and Wang Zhigang (王志钢) Han Qi.
I like Wang Zhigang. I just read a “review” on Wang Jiaqing (scroll down for example video), commenter said he “already surpassed Meng Guanglu and runs An Ping close”, so let’s see!

Download:
CCTV: [1-3] [2-3] [3-3] [int.]

Interview is included, Wang Ping mentions as particularly interesting thing about the play that it’s featuring many schools, some of them differ from to the usual setup, i.e. Lü Yang: Cheng school, Ling Ke: Yu school, Wang Zhigang: Qi school. Besides this I understood only the conjunctions, but check out Mr. Wang’s necktie and Lü Yang’s bun.

Photos: 戏剧像素

6th China Peking Opera Art Festival - Opening Ceremony (2011/11/02)

Downloads:
 958MB
ed2k: p2p download

Video quality is tolerable, sound is nice. The duet from The Unicorn Purse with Li Haiyan and Li Peihong will be a nice addition to Bertrand’s unicorn collection. :)
Li Weikang sings just as well as messy her hair is…
Mei Baojiu came with four disciples, and entertains us with a trademark excerpt of the Mei school from The Drunken Concubine.  Hu Wenge looks very refined on stage. Only I could forget his pop video I’ve seen lately! 
More special treat for me was Yuan Huiqin as She Taijun and Chen Shaoyun as Xiao He, chasing after Han Xin.
Li Shengsu and Yu Kuizhi improved the country’s image with a new symphonic song, Chao Sheng (Pilgrimage to the Holy Mountain). On the big screen behind them you can see beautiful pictures of mountains, then building cities, bridges and flying banners. Mr. Yu doesn’t look weary this time, I do hope he has some time to relax now and then. His bow tie and pocket square… this particular set was excessively discussed earlier.
I wouldn’t mind something traditional with him in the near future. Soulmates and concert stuff is nice but… you know. I miss old school Yu. ^^

Program list:

(part1)

0:13:10
新创京歌《凤还楚天》new jingju song Feng Huan Chu Tian (Phoenix Returns to the Sky)
Wan Xiaohui (万晓慧), Ma Jia (马佳), Pan Xin (潘欣), Zhu Hong (朱虹), Jiang Yishan (姜亦珊)

Thar he  flies!

0:21:10
京剧《定军山》Dingjunshan (Dingjun Mountain)
Tan Xiaozeng (谭孝曾), Tan Zhengyan (谭正岩)

0:24:10
京剧《壮别》Zhuang Bie from Battle of Red Cliff
Li Hongtu (李宏图), Meng Guanglu (孟广禄)
Nice to hear an up to date Zhuang Bie from Li Hongtu. Meng Guanglu was impressive too.

0:33:10
京剧《曾侯乙》Zeng Houyi
Zhu Shihui (朱世慧)
I don’t get why the reactions of the audience were moderate. Zhu Shihui isn’t obliged to be funny all the time.

0:37:10
京剧《杨门女将》Yangmen Nü Jiang (Female Generals of the Yang Family)
Yuan Huiqin (袁慧琴)

0:44:00
新创交响京剧《我爱这土地》new symphonic jingju Wo Ai Zhe Tudi (I Love This Land)
Shang Changrong (尚长荣); Liu Ziwei (刘子微), An Ping (安平), Du Zhenjie (杜镇杰)
Shang Changrong was amazing, though he didn’t sing. ;) Elegant An Ping has this habit of covering his face with the microphone all the time, what a pity.

0:55:30
京剧《空城计》Kong Cheng Ji (Empty City Strategy)
Wang Xiaochan (王小蝉)
This was a VERY interesting version.

0:59:00
京剧《淮河营》Huaihe Ying (Army at Huai River)
Zhu Qiang (朱强)
Full two minutes. Y.Y

1:00:55
京剧《追韩信》Zhui Han Xin (Chasing Han Xin)
Chen Shaoyun (陈少云)
Now seriously, what’s wrong with this audience?

1:04:50
京剧《龙凤呈祥》Long Feng Cheng Xiang (The Auspicious Dragon and Phoenix)
Dong Yuanyuan (董圆圆), Wu Haoyi (吴昊颐), Lü Yang (吕洋), Chang Qiuyue (常秋月), Wang Rongrong (王蓉蓉)
Representatives of all five great dan schools are present; Mei, Shang, Cheng, Xun, Zhang school respectively. Interestingly I liked Chang Qiuyue the most this time. Possibly because I’m in a huadan mood nowadays.

(part2)

0:02:00
京胡协奏曲《夜深沉·霸王别姬》Ye Shen Chen·Bawang Bie Ji (Deep Night – Farewell My Concubine)
Jinghu:  Li Zuming  (李祖铭); Liu Kuikui (刘魁魁), Zhang Xin (张鑫)

0:09:00
诗朗诵《家园》Jiayuan (Homeland)
Poem read by Qu Xianhe (瞿弦和).

0:10:55
《江姐》Jiang Jie (Sister Jiang)
Zhou Jing (周婧)
I wonder this opera will be listed as “Cheng school repertoire” in future’s Wikipedia?

0:15:15
歌剧《洪湖赤卫队》 Honghu Chi Weidui (Red Guards of Hong Lake)
Liu Danli (刘丹丽)

0:18:55
《蝶恋花》Die Lian Hua (Butterflies Love Flowers)
选段 Zhang Huifang (张慧芳)

0:22:10
《龙江颂》Longjiang Song (Ode to the Dragon River)
Li Bingshu (李炳淑)
Really spirited performance! Audience tries to call her back but the program schedule is very strict. :)

0:25:10
《红灯记》Hong Deng Ji (The Legend of the Red Lantern)
Zhao Baoxiu (赵葆秀)
Patriotic enthusiasm grows…

0:28:10
《红灯记》Hong Deng Ji (The Legend of the Red Lantern)
Liu Changyu (刘长瑜), Chen Jing (陈静), Zhang (张佳春)
…and grows further!

Qian Haoliang (钱浩梁), Liu Changyu (刘长瑜), Gao Yu (高玉) in the classic Red Lantern

0:34:30
诗朗诵《老百姓的史诗》An Epic of the Ordinary People
One more poem read by Qu Xianhe (瞿弦和). Too bad I don’t get a word.

0:37:40
《杨门女将》Yangmen Nü Jiang (Female Generals of the Yang Family)
Ding Xiaojun (丁晓君), Pan Yuejiao (潘月娇), Song Yixuan (宋奕萱), Wang Haoqiang (王好强)

0:49:15
《将相和》Jiang Xiang He (The Reconciliation of the Minister and the General)
Li Jun (李军), Yang Chi (杨赤)
Watching Yang Chi is always fun.

(part3)

0:00:48
《锁麟囊》Suo Lin Nang (The Unicorn Purse)
Li Haiyan (李海燕), Li Peihong (李佩红)

0:05:50
《大登殿》Da Deng Dian (The Great Enthronement)
Geng Qichang (耿其昌)

0:10:30
《谢瑶环》Xie Yaohuan
Li Weikang (李维康)

0:17:25
《贵妃醉酒》Guifei Zuijiu (The Drunken Concubine)
Mei Baojiu (梅葆玖), Hu Wenge (胡文阁), Zheng Xiao (郑潇), Tian Hui (田慧), Shan Nuo (单娜)
I like that Mei Baojiu is always accompanied with disciples, I’ve never seen Shan Nuo for example, I read she was accepted two years ago.

0:21:50
新创交响京剧歌舞《朝圣》Chao Sheng (Pilgrimage to the Holy Mountain)
Yu Kuizhi (于魁智), Li Shengsu (李胜素)

It’s worth to stay up late. *rubs hands*

As part of the one-week long celebration of National Day, the 1-2 October edition of Theater in the Air (CCTV11) is featuring a Beijing opera concert, titled 中国京剧流派传承班学员汇报演唱会.
I risk a translation like “Inheritance of China’s Beijing Opera Schools” (Students’ Concert). Keywords are “future generation” and “continued tradition” – cream of the crop young performers of the most well-known schools of Beijing Opera give account of what they learnt from their masters.

Click the links in the list to watch or download all videos in a rar file.

(edit) The full-length videos seem to be undownloadable, at least for me (as usual). Try your own luck here: Day1 Part1/2 ¦ Day1 Part2/2 :)

PRC National Day (1 Oct) Golden Week (国庆黄金周)
(1-7 October 2011)
Mei Lanfang Grand Theater
Inheritance of China’s Beijing Opera Schools – Concert of the First School-specialized Class (1, 2 October)

1 October 2011

(1)《 咏  梅 》姜亦珊, 窦晓璇, 张蕊麟, 单 莹, 张 云, 宋奕萱, 罗戎征

Yong Mei (Ode to the Plum Blossom) – Jiang Yishan, Dou Xiaoxuan, Zhang Ruilin, Shan Ying, Zhang Yun, Song Yixuan, Luo Rongzheng

(2) 余派 Yu school
《沙桥饯别》蓝天 
Sha Qiao Jianbie (Farewell Dinner at Sandy Bridge) – Lan Tian

(3) 李派 Li (Duokui) school
1.《钓金龟》康静
Diao Jingui (Golden Tortoise Fishing) – Kang Jing
2.《钓 金 龟》吴雪靖
Diao Jingui (Golden Tortoise Fishing) - Wu Xuejing
3.《钓 金 龟》侯宇
Diao Jingui (Golden Tortoise Fishing) - Hou Yu
4.《钓 金 龟》“这几辈贤孝的子休得来论”
Diao Jingui (Golden Tortoise Fishing) - all

(4) 荀派 Xun school
1.《红娘》常秋月
Hong Niang – Chang Qiuyue
2. 《红楼二尤》唐禾香
Honglou Er You (The Two You Sisters of the Red Chamber) – Tang Hexiang

3.《金玉奴》熊明霞
Jin Yunu – Xiong Mingxia
4.《春草闯堂》吕慧敏
Chun Cao Chuang Tang (Chun Cao Rushes to the Court) - Lü Huimin

(5) 李派Li (Shaochun) school

《野猪林》田磊, 窦骞, 刘宸
Yezhu Lin (Wildboar Forest) – Tian Lei, Dou Qian, Liu Chen
I liked Tian Lei! Li Shaochun-ish in voice and acting. Too bad there was no-one else to come.

(6) 叶派 Ye school 
1.《壮别》朱福
Zhuang Bie – Zhu Fu
2.《白门楼》包飞
Baimen Lou (White Gate Tower) – Bao Fei

3.《九江口》金喜全
Jiu Jiang Kou – Jin Xiquan

(7) 杨派 Yang school
1.《洪羊洞》万琳
Hongyang Dong (Hongyang Cave) – Wan Lin
 
2.《洪羊洞》张桐
Hongyang Dong (Hongyang Cave) – Zhang Tong
Yang Baosen reincarnated? Hehe.
3.《洪羊洞》王帅军
Hongyang Dong (Hongyang Cave) – Wang Shuaijun
4.《杨家将》杨少彭
Peng Bei (Suicide At the Tomb) – Yang Shaopeng

(8) Martial skills show
《白水滩》李哲
Baishui Tan (White Water Beach) - Li Zhe
《艳阳楼》王玺龙, 王好强, 魏学雷
Yanyang Lou - Wang Xilong, Wang Haoqiang, Wei Xuelei
《蜈蚣岭》唐恺
Wugong Ling (Wugong Ridge) – Tang Kai
《虹桥赠珠》潘月娇
Hong Qiao Zeng Zhu (Hong Qiao Presenting a Pearl) - Pan Yuejiao

(9) 程派 Cheng school
《锁麟囊》吕洋
Suo Lin Nang (The Unicorn Purse) - Lü Yang

(10)《坐宫》王珮瑜  王艳
Zuo Gong (Sitting In the Palace) – Wang Peiyu, Wang Yan

Waving Good bye! after the patriotic group singing

In midst of the massive Shaoxing opera updates, I compiled this post especially for Bert, who’s continuously providing the Western world with essential pieces of Beijing opera.

I posted a short documentary about Zhang Huoding earlier and promised that I’ll attempt to translate some parts when she’s speaking. There was only one topic she was talking a bit longer about, her relationship to her teacher, Zhao Rongchen. Below is the result of my efforts with translation, really crappy but hopefully it makes some sense:

“By teacher Xu Liweng’s recommendation I started to study Cheng school art in 1993. Later I officially became the disciple of Professor Zhao Rongchen at The National Academy of Chinese Theatre Arts. Learning as the last disciple of Mr. Zhao was really an exceptional honour for me, I can thank to him that I was able to truly understand the art of Cheng school.

Soon after I formally became an apprentice of my master, Mr. Zhao returned to the United States. At that time I was going to perform in a play, San Niang Jiaozi (How Third Wife Taught the Son). Without my teacher on my side, what will I do? I remember I wrote him a letter, and in a short time teacher Zhao sent me back an audio tape. It contained an explanation of the opera’s vocal music, about postures on stage, acting and so on.

In 1996 my master, Zhao Rongchen passed away due to illness. At those times I felt I’m in an extreme artistic crisis. There were still so many plays I haven’t learnt, without guidance how will I be able to advance? It was a really paralysing feeling.

At that time Cantonese opera artist Hong Xiannü from Guangdong happened to come to Beijing to perform. No, not to perform, she came for a meeting. Fortunately I was just performing Suo Lin Nang in Beijing. After seeing the play she seemed to be in quite a cheerful mood. Our director led her to the stage to meet me, and she invited me to her residence the next day.
We had a discussion, she’s been talking about her impressions about my performance, gave me a few ideas and such. To my questions she answered that we need our master, but cannot entirely rely on him. You may try to transplant some parts of the repertoire according to your natural disposition, just give it a go.

I was thinking about her advice, it had a very significant effect on me. Later I started to innovate, bringing forth new ideas and transplanting them into the plays.”

Following videos are featuring several actresses of Cheng school, including Zhang Huoding, Li Haiyan, Li Peihong and Chi Xiaoqiu, but it would be utterly impolite to start without the master, Cheng Yanqiu himself. The first video is the best one I can come up with. It’s a 1956 recording, two years later he died at the tragically young age of 54.

→ 京剧 《荒山泪》Huang Shan Lei (Tears of Barren Hill)
 [DOWNLOAD] 51MB
Cheng Yanqiu (程砚秋) as Zhang Huizhu.

→ 京剧 《嫦娥奔月》Chang E Ben Yue (Chang’e Flies to the Moon)
 [DOWNLOAD] 31MB
Zhang Huoding (张火丁) as Chang’e, ”the lady in the moon”.
Not the best quality video, but this song isn’t a typical piece of her repertoire, also her appearance is unusual. I like how the old man is raving in the audience at 1:20.

→ 京剧 《大登殿》Da Deng Dian (The Great Enthronement)
 [DOWNLOAD] 18MB
Zhang Huoding as Wang Baochuan.
The same applies to this one. I’ve never seen her in Da Deng Dian.

→ 京剧 《春闺梦》Chun Gui Meng (Dream in a Girl’s Room)
 [DOWNLOAD] 31MB
Zhang Huoding as Mrs. Zhang, Song Xiaochuan (宋小川) as Wang Hui.

→ 京剧《武家坡》Wujia Po (The Wujia Slope)
[DOWNLOAD] 20MB
Zhang Huoding as Wang Baochuan, Ye Furun (叶复润) as Xue Pinggui.
Ye Furun is a Taiwanese actor.

→ 京剧 《春闺梦》Chun Gui Meng (Dream in a Girl’s Room)
 [DOWNLOAD] 45MB
Li Peihong (李佩红) as Mrs. Zhang.

→ 京剧《锁麟囊》Suo Lin Nang (The Unicorn Purse)

1. Li Haiyan (李海燕), Chi Xiaoqiu (迟小秋)
   [DOWNLOAD] 34MB
2. Chi Xiaoqiu, Lü Yang (吕洋), Zhou Jing (周婧)
   [DOWNLOAD] 40MB
3. Lü Yang (吕洋), Guo Wei (郭伟)
   [DOWNLOAD] 73MB
4. Liu Guijuan (刘桂娟), Chi Xiaoqiu, Guo Wei, Lü Yang,
   Zhao Huan (赵欢), Jiang Zhi (江汁)
   [DOWNLOAD] 71MB