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6th Chinese Opera Festival to launch in June (with photo)
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     The Chinese Opera Festival presented by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department will be held from June 19 to August 2. The event, now in its sixth year, will feature a series of rich and colourful programmes.

     The Festival will showcase nine different Chinese operatic genres, including Peking opera, Kunqu opera, Cantonese opera and Su opera. The "Mulian" series, including Quanzhou Dacheng opera of Fujian, Qi opera of Hunan and Qimen Mulian opera of Anhui, will also be specially featured in the Festival.

     Opening the Festival will be the Shanghai Peking Opera Troupe with Shang Changrong, a Peking opera maestro hailed as a "national treasure", and Shi Yihong, a distinguished artist of the Mei Lanfang school, performing "Farewell My Concubine" (Complete Edition); Chen Shaoyun, a renowned virtuoso of the Qilintong (Zhou Xinfang) school, performing the highly dramatic "How a Dead Cat was Substituted for a New-born Prince"; and the immensely enjoyable spectacular of "Sun Wukong's Battle at the Spider's Web Grotto".

     Mulian opera is one of the oldest styles of Chinese opera and is rarely seen in Hong Kong. The Mulian Opera Series features three distinctly different troupes from Fujian, Hunan and Anhui. The Quanzhou Wu Tianyi Centre for Dacheng Opera Heritage of Fujian will be making its debut in Hong Kong with some uniquely executed excerpts with religious features. The Centre for the Preservation of Qi Opera of Hunan (formerly the Qi Opera Theatre of Hunan) is returning to perform its stunt-filled "gaoqiang" version of "Monk Mulian Rescues His Mother" and other traditional excerpts, in demonstration of how "gaoqiang" can trace its origin to Mulian opera. Artists from Limu Village and Lixi Village of Qimen, Anhui Province, will perform for the first time ever in Hong Kong to allow the local audience to see how Mulian playlets are performed in village ancestral halls. The honest, unpretentious style of presentation, with genuine, heartfelt warmth, will display interesting differences from the urbanised versions audiences are so used to.

     The new Cantonese opera "Her Majesty Wu Zetian" will be presented by renowned Cantonese opera actors Wan Fai-yin, Yuen Siu-fai and Tang Mi-ling along with outstanding young actors. Widely acclaimed last year, "The Eight Classic Pieces" will return for a second edition under the artistic direction of famous Cantonese opera singer Leung So-kam, in the form of "Monk Biancai Releases the Demon". The libretto has been re-arranged and will be performed by well-known Cantonese opera stars Law Kar-ying and Ng Chin-fung together with Leung Chi-kit and Cheng Wing-mui to illustrate the art of the exquisite ancient singing style.

     The Peking Opera Theatre of Beijing will perform "Elegant Sounds of Good Times", recovered and collated from a rare and exclusive script found in the Forbidden City. The performance will remain true to the original discipline, from stage props and design to performing style, including singing and dialogue. The artists will include Tan Xiaozeng of the Tan Xinpei School and renowned "qiandan" (male actors in transvestite female roles) performers Wen Ruhua and Hu Wenge, who will adhere rigorously to the original singing style to showcase the features of early Peking opera. Tang Yuen-ha and Gen Tianyuan of the Hong Kong Jingkun Theatre will collaborate with Shandong Peking Opera Theatre to perform "The Number One Scholar as the Matchmaker" and Peking opera and Kunqu opera excerpts. Suzhou Kunqu Opera Theatre of Jiangsu and the Su Opera Troupe will also perform their two-pronged specialities here in Hong Kong for the first time, with Wang Fang, Zhao Wenlin and Yu Jiulin starring. This will definitely be a rare occasion not to be missed.

     Details of the performances are as follows:

Opening Programme: Shanghai Peking Opera Troupe
June 19 to 21
Grand Theatre, Hong Kong Cultural Centre

Mulian Opera Series: Quanzhou Wu Tianyi Centre for Dacheng Opera Heritage of Fujian
June 23 to 25
Theatre, Hong Kong City Hall

Mulian Opera Series: Centre for the Preservation of Qi Opera of Hunan
June 27 to 29
Theatre, Hong Kong City Hall

Mulian Opera Series: Qimen Mulian Opera Troupe of Anhui
July 2 and 3
Theatre, Yau Ma Tai Theatre

"'Monk Biancai Releases the Demon' from 'The Eight Classic Pieces'" - Reverberating Notes from South China Series
July 5
Auditorium, Sha Tin Town Hall
July 6 and 7
Theatre, Ko Shan Theatre

Peking Opera Theatre of Beijing
July 17 and 18
Auditorium, Ko Shan Theatre New Wing

A New Cantonese Opera "Her Majesty Wu Zetian"
July 21 to 23
Auditorium, Kwai Tsing Theatre

Jingkun Theatre and Shandong Peking Opera Theatre
July 29 and 30
Auditorium, Ko Shan Theatre New Wing

Suzhou Kunqu Opera Theatre of Jiangsu and Su Opera Troupe
August 1 and 2
Grand Theatre, Hong Kong Cultural Centre

     Tickets for the Chinese Opera Festival 2015 will be available tomorrow (April 17) at URBTIX. Half-price tickets are available for senior citizens aged 60 or above, people with disabilities, full-time students and Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) recipients (limited tickets for full-time students and CSSA recipients are available on a first come, first served basis). Please refer to the programme booklet for group booking discount schemes.

     For programme enquiries, please call 2268 7325, or visit www.cof.gov.hk. For credit card telephone bookings, please call 2111 5999. For Internet bookings, please visit www.urbtix.hk.

     Apart from stage performances, this year's Chinese Opera Festival will have ancillary programmes for guided appreciation, such as lectures and talks, stage tours, screenings of Chinese opera films, talks given by artists and exhibitions. Scholars and experts will also be invited to participate in a Forum on Chinese Traditional Theatre in Relation to Sacrificial Rituals.

Ends/Thursday, April 16, 2015
Issued at HKT 19:00

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