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Farewell My Concubine (modern opera)

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2010 production official poster

Farewell My Concubine (Chinese: 歌剧《霸王别姬》, geju "Bawang bie ji") is a Chinese-language western-style opera composed by choral conductor and composer Xiao Bai (萧白), to a libretto by Wang Jian (王健) for China National Opera House which toured America with the opera in 2008.[1][2][3]

The opera is unrelated to the soundtrack to Chen Kaige's Farewell My Concubine, which was composed by Zhao Jiping.[4]

References

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  1. ^ UCLA China National Opera House Performance: Farewell My Concubine
  2. ^ Washington Post A Chinese Makeover For European Opera "a Chinese story that was transformed into a Western-style opera sung in Mandarin, a task that took former top conductor Xiao Bai more than 18 years to complete"
  3. ^ To Westernize the opera, Xiao Bai worked with famed librettist Wang Jian. Together, the two artists developed a new "Western-style" production distinct from traditional "Beijing-style" opera (incorporating instrumental music, vocal performance, pantomime, dance and acrobatics). This version of "Farewell My Concubine" captures the framework of a classic Italian opera, but is sung entirely in Mandarin with English subtitles.
  4. ^ Encyclopedia of Contemporary Chinese Culture - Page 1012 Edward L. Davis - 2012 Among his most famous film scores are those for Raise the Red Lantern (1991), To Live (1993) and Farewell My Concubine (1993). He is also a noted composer for the concert stage. Son of the painter Zhao Wangyun, Zhao Jiping was trained