1. Lan Tian. This was written in the sky.
2. Chen Shengjie. Fully deserved second place (and a new, much better short haircut)! Happiness, huj, huj! I love this guy.
3. Li Bo. Future of Beijing Opera is bright.
4. Guo Yi. Woo-hoo! I told you this excerpt will be a hit! :D But seriously. I didn’t expect such a marvelous achievement. Clever, clever Mr. Chen, talented Guo Yi! Let’s set off the fireworks.
5. Zhao Hua. I’m not a Zhao Hua fan, and I haven’t seen his performance, so I have no opinion, really. I like his wife much better. :)
6. Mu Yu. You know I like Mu Yu. Considering he hardly made it to the finals, this sixth place is awesome. However, the striking 99.01 he got from his “brother” Zhu Qiang launched a smaller rebellion on the net.
7. Yang Shuanghe. Girl power.
8. Wang Zhigang. I like him. Nuff said.
9. Zhang Kai. He was good, he was cute, he was fun. Zhang Kai has a serious fan base, and surely won’t disappear from the Beijing Opera scene in the near future.
10. Lu Su. Disappointment of the day! The segment was hard. I thought that from the three students of Chen Shaoyun, Lu Su will get the best scores. Well, I was wrong. And now I’m a bit sad, too.
11. Wan Lin. I don’t really know him.
12. Yang Yang. The other Yan school laosheng from the set. I’m not an expert, but I really liked his Shang Tian Tai. Some performances of this aria are sooo boring, but this wasn’t! At least for me.
13. Zhang Tong. I still think he looks exactly like Yang Baosen.
14. Cui Weijie. I haven’t seen this part.
15. Yu Hui. 15th place… the most bitter pill I had to take during this contest. I cry.
Moreover: Where is your hair, young daddy?! Y.Y

16. Tong Kewang. I haven’t seen this part either, most likely he made some hongsheng (red face) role.
17. Wang Shuaijun. I’m a bit disappointed, I think he was good enough to get more points.
18. Sun Weian.  I haven’t seen this part.

Another Lianhuantao that would have been worth to buy a ticket to, Wang Ping-Yang Chi edition. I have to take serious steps if I don’t wanna plunge into my grave without seeing this play live.

Here is a little video, another kind gesture from Dalian’s “wanghappy“, with the obligatory bonus song by Wang Ping after the performance – I don’t even say what it is.[DOWNLOAD] 10MB

Article: Peninsula Morning Post 2012-07-27, see page B06

Event’s main page: [2012 CCTV Jingju Contest]
Video page: http://tv.cntv.cn/videoset/C38372

Laosheng semifinals, third day: [PART1] | [PART2] | [PART3]

Day 3, 2012-07-05

I said the third set will be a toughie!

Lu Su made great effort, he was very-very good! Zhang Tong too! I’m sad about Mu Yu. I’m happy about Chen Shengjie.

Jury:

Tan Xiaozeng (谭孝曾), Zhang Guanzheng (张关正), Li Haotian (李浩天), Ren Dechuan (任德川), Niu Piao (钮骠), Zhao Jingbo (赵景勃), Yang Naipeng (杨乃彭), Geng Qichang (耿其昌), Chen Shaoyun (陈少云)

Results:

Zhang Tong 96.61 96.76 96.88 96.79 96.84 96.83 96.93 96.35 96.81 T:96.831
Lu Su 96.87 96.92 96.97 96.90 96.94 96.91 96.90 96.89 96.92 T:96.911
Zhang Kai ? T:96.706
Chen Shengjie ? T:96.949
Mu Yu ? T:96.790
Wan Lin 96.79 96.84 96.81 96.92 96.70 96.71 96.86 96.75 96.68 T:96.780
Guo Yi 96.81 96.88 96.77 96.81 96.69 96.89 96.61 96.83 96.91 T:96.811
Yan Fuqiang 96.27 96.29 96.35 96.31 96.33 96.27 96.60 96.29 96.27 T:96.301

Leaderboard:

Event’s main page: [2012 CCTV Jingju Contest]
Video page: http://tv.cntv.cn/videoset/C38372

Laosheng semifinals, second day: [PART1] | [PART2] | [PART3]

Day 2, 2012-07-04

Jury:

Tan Xiaozeng (谭孝曾), Zhang Guanzheng (张关正), Li Haotian (李浩天), Ren Dechuan (任德川), Niu Piao (钮骠), Zhao Jingbo (赵景勃), Yang Naipeng (杨乃彭), Geng Qichang (耿其昌), Chen Shaoyun (陈少云)

Results: 

Li Youxuan 96.31 96.31 96.29 96.27 96.64 96.33 96.33 96.67 96.33 T:96.363
Huang Jia 96.69 96.39 96.37 96.29 96.37 96.37 96.63 96.73 96.37 T:96.456
Tan Xiaoyu 96.70 96.33 96.33 96.33 96.35 96.31 96.39 96.27 96.35 T:96.341
Yu Hui 96.75 96.90 96.83 96.75 96.92 96.81 96.85 96.93 96.89 T:96.850
Zhang Haoyang 96.29 96.37 96.27 96.63 96.29 96.39 96.37 96.85 96.61 T:96.421
Li Bo 96.85 96.95 96.93 96.89 96.78 96.97 96.78 96.97 96.96 T:96.904
Sun Weian 96.33 96.35 96.65 96.83 96.66 96.75 96.77 96.33 96.29 T:96.549
Wang Zhigang 96.67 96.80 96.87 96.67 96.88 96.77 96.88 96.91 96.85 T:96.817
Yang Shuanghe 96.83 96.68 96.74 96.65 96.90 96.67 96.82 96.37 96.31 T:96.680

Li Bo will be a main rival of Lan Tian (although I suspect Tian will collect that gold…) No secret my faves from the laosheng contestants are Mu Yu, Yu Hui and Chen Shengjie. Yu Hui got good scores today but tomorrow’s set will be a toughie…

Leaderboard so far:

Event’s main page: [2012 CCTV Jingju Contest]
Video page: http://tv.cntv.cn/videoset/C38372

Laosheng semifinals, first day: [PART1] | [PART2]

Day 1, 2012-07-03

Jury:

Tan Xiaozeng (谭孝曾), Zhang Guanzheng (张关正), Li Haotian (李浩天), Ren Dechuan (任德川), Niu Piao (钮骠), Zhao Jingbo (赵景勃), Yang Naipeng (杨乃彭), Geng Qichang (耿其昌), Chen Shaoyun (陈少云)

Results: 

Zhao Hua 96.89 96.86 96.85 96.87 96.82 96.87 96.81 96.79 96.83 T:96.844
Tong Kewang 96.73 96.74 96.73 96.71 96.75 96.69 96.67 96.77 96.87 T:96.731
Su Xu 96.35 96.26 96.31 96.35 96.27 96.29 96.25 96.31 96.63 T:96.306
Yang Yang 96.39 96.78 96.67 96.84 96.39 96.79 96.64 96.39 96.66 T:96.617
Wang Shuaijun 96.77 96.70 96.71 96.77 96.76 96.93 96.95 96.99 96.77 T:96.809
Cui Weijie 96.37 96.66 96.69 96.69 96.72 96.65 96.73 96.81 96.73 T:96.696
Lan Tian 96.99 96.98 96.99 96.94 96.98 96.99 96.98 96.95 96.98 T:96.979
Li Weizhong 96.65 96.64 96.39 96.37 96.31 96.35 96.35 96.65 96.39 T:96.449

I would like to share a clip that doesn’t pop up very often – a slightly symphonic The Orphan of the Zhaos excerpt from a concert in 2009, commemorating the works of Li Muliang (李慕良), famous jinghu player. Originally he was a disciple of Ma Lianliang, who suggested him to better learn playing jinghu instead laosheng role.

Li Muliang, his son Li Zulong and Ma Lianliang
Picture: YNET.com

Later he became the official accompanist of Yan Jupeng (言菊朋) (hopefully in this year I’ll finish the “Yan school in nutshell” article that sits in my Drafts folder :S, feel free to bug me about that), then Ma himself. Naturally he contributed the most to the art of Ma school, as Ma Lianliang’s “perfect partner.”

The excerpt in question is performed by Zhang Xuejin (张学津), the part from the story when Cheng Ying is painting the truth-exposing picture book for the Zhao orphan.
Have I ever posted the picture with Ma Lianliang and the young Zhang Xuejin? I can’t remember, so here it is:

And here is the video:

京剧《赵氏孤儿·观画》Zhaoshi Guer·Guan Hua (The Orphan of the Zhao Family – Looking at the Pictures)
 [DOWNLOAD] 47MB

Mission accomplished. Back to my Poirot DVD. :P

CCTV11 Theater in the Air, 2012-04-12

→ 京剧《上天台》Shang Tian Tai (Up to the Heavenly Terrace)  [DOWNLOAD] 236MB
Wang Ping (王平) as Liu Xiu, Wang Jiaqing (王嘉庆) as Yao Qi.

“Your beard is so siiiiil-ky…” (I’m bad. Again.)

I liked the starting aria. Wang Ping didn’t fall asleep on stage like someone else did recently… 

By the way, I re-worked the title by changing “Ascending the Heavenly Altar” to “Up to the Heavenly Terrace”.
A large platform in the palace used at such-and-such occasions is better a terrace than an altar, right? Or not? What do you think?
And Yao Qi is just going up there to meet Liu Xiu, “ascending” sounds too out of the world for me.

Native English speakers, please help out. Or those who have seen Epang Palace. How does the Tian Tai look like? It’s at the highest point of the complex I guess.

PS. Boo at that individual in the audience.

I posted two with the elders, now I post one with new talents.

I’ve seen this highlights show recently at kuke.com (when it was still free), I think I even mentioned to Bertrand that Fu Xiru’s Shang Tian Tai was “very not bad”. There’s much more to this boy than a cute face. I mean Fu Xiru. :P Maybe he isn’t the meekest young man in the world, but he has talent, taste and works really hard.

Fu Xiru is pretty lucky in regards of teachers, amongst many others he learnt wusheng from Li Yusheng (李玉声), laosheng from Wang Ping (王平) and Li Haotian (李浩天), I bet guidance from these persons came handy in this particular play.

The opera Hit with the Golden Brick has been discussed sufficiently before. (I still think the English title smells but I can’t come up with another one.) The artistic director of this current production was exactly the above mentioned Li Haotian, older brother of Li Baochun. (At the start of this year, Li Haotian, Fu Xiru, Yang Donghu and Zhao Qun starred in a Wildboar Forest, this 40 minutes long audience video has the most interesting parts: @tudou.com. I like both Li brothers, but daddy is simply better… Y.Y)

OK back to the brick. The long photo strip below is the courtesy of 狠老虎不喂 (again), just like these a-ma-zing ones: [Download stage photos].

Main cast:
Liu Xiu: Fu Xiru (傅希如)
Yao Qi: Wang Yue (王越)
Yao Gang: Chen Yu (陈宇)
Concubine Guo: Miao Hairong (缪海容)
Ma Wu: Ren Guangping (任广平)
Deng Yu: Lu Su (鲁肃)
Cen Peng: Wu Xiangjun (吴响军)
Percussion: Liu Lei (刘磊)
Jinghu: Zhou Xiaoming (周晓铭)

京剧《上天台·打金砖》Shang Tian Tai – Da Jinzhuan
Shanghai Tianchan Yifu Theater, 2012-03-16
ed2k: [COPY] (updated on 11 May, I pasted the wrong link previously, sorry.)

Those small steps around 1:19:00 were really not bad.

Just a last thought: great career awaits the round-eyed Lu Su. 

Beauty of  ”Sitting in the Palace” is that there are not two schools that sing it the same way, even the recently discussed crucial point, the ending “jiao xiao fan” line has two different scripts. The Yang school version, used by Yu Kuizhi is already stuck in heads too badly, so let’s post another one.

CCTV aired this 40 min long scene with Geng Qichang and Li Weikang again, so this copy is very neat. Man and wife who have individual style and don’t need to throw in theatrical elements. Nowadays they must be busy with teaching, it was nice to see this video.

→ 京剧《四郎探母·坐宫》Silang Tan Mu·Zuo Gong (Silang Visits His Mother- Sitting in the Palace)
 [part1.rar] | [part2.rar] 299MB
Performed by Li Weikang (李维康), Geng Qichang (耿其昌).
Qingdao People’s Auditorium, year: ???? (let me know)

You know what, I got in the mood for the Yu school version, here is Wang Peiyu’s as well (just because she’s hip):

 [DOWNLOAD] 100MB
Sitting in the Palace performed by Wang Yan (王艳), Wang Peiyu (王珮瑜).

For my and other eMule downloaders convenience here are 4 ed2k links to a few very desirable videos:

Graduation 10th anniversary highlights performances from 2007

Classic highlights 2007-11-12 Chang’an Grand Theater:

• 唐禾香《金玉奴·棒打》Tang Hexiang - Jin Yunu
• 靳学斌《罗成叫关》Jin Xuebin - Luo Cheng Crying at the City Gate (Exactly this performance. Y.Y)
• 王玉兰《百花赠剑》Wang Yulan - Princess Baihua Gifting a Sword
• 严阵《打金砖》Yan Zhen - Hit with the Golden Brick (I’m interested in this one.)
• 李海燕《文姬归汉》Li Haiyan - Wenji Returns to her Homeland (No doubt I’ll like it.)
• 李胜素《生死恨》Li Shengsu - Sorrow Throughout Life and Death (Someone send me a copy with not Li Shengsu…) (edit: Thank you.)
• 于魁智、杨赤《将相和》 Yu Kuizhi, Yang Chi - The Minister and the General Get Reconciled

LINK 1

Laosheng classics 2007-11-13 Chang’an Grand Theater:

• 谭正岩《定军山》Tan Zhengyan – Dingjun Mountain (I could live without this one but oh well. )
• 王珮瑜《击鼓骂曹》Wang Peiyu – Beating the Drum to Scold Cao Cao (I have only a crappy quality flv with Wang Peiyu’s drumming so happiness.)
• 朱强《苏武牧羊》Zhu Qiang – Su Wu Herds Sheep (One more copy is always welcome.)
• 张克《桑园寄子》Zhang Ke – Child Abandoned in the Mulberry Garden (Good!)
• 于魁智《文昭关》Yu Kuizhi – Wenzhao Pass (No big surprises ahead.)

LINK 2

Wuxi special 2007-12-16 Zhonghua Theater Tianjin:

• 石晓亮《打瓜园》Shi Xiaoliang – Fight in the Melon Garden (I’ve seen this one. Hilarious.)
• 常东、奚中路、黄齐峰、田磊《挑滑车》Chang Dong, Xi Zhonglu, Huang Qifeng, Tian Lei - Overturning the War Chariots ()
• 王平、田磊、李静文《八仙过海》Wang Ping, Tian Lei, Li Jingwen - Eight Immortals Cross the Ocean ()

LINK 3 | LINK 4