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Three maestros of Peking and Kunqu opera to perform at Chinese Opera Festival
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     The upcoming Chinese Opera Festival offers a rare collaboration between three operatic maestros, with Hong Kong's very own Peking and Kunqu opera artist Tang Yuen-ha teaming up with Peking opera grandmaster Li Yusheng and iconic Kunqu opera performing artist Lu Yongchang. Together with Shangdong Peking Opera Theatre, one of the leading national Peking opera troupes, they will present various classic opera excerpts of Peking and Kunqu opera. The Festival is presented by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department.
 
     Li Yusheng is celebrated for his "wusheng" (military male) and "hongsheng" (red-faced male) performances, which critics have described as reaching the stage of total freedom while not a single movement goes beyond the laws of his art. Li's "wusheng" performance has been praised as "simple and beautiful, speedy and steady, brisk and graceful, gentle and powerful". His acting in Guan Yu plays brings out the boldness and vigour of the old general and at the same time touches the heart of the audience. "The Death of Yang Zaixing at River Xiaoshang", a play that Li personally arranged and performed, was listed in 1989 as a grand "wusheng" performance art model and an exemplary repertoire in China's "Quintessential Peking Opera Series". 
 
     Tang Yuen-ha is Hong Kong's "hall-of-fame" Peking opera and Kunqu opera art performer, with career highlights including the Plum Blossom Award for Chinese Theatre, the highest honour in the Mainland for theatre artists. Her performances have been likened to a breath of fresh air, as well as being "authentic and eloquent". One critic hailed her as the "Pearl of Peking Opera and Kunqu Opera of Hong Kong".
 
     Lu Yongchang is a role model for the "laosheng" (old man) genre in Kunqu opera, and his unrestrained performances always bring the character to life. Along with unique singing and reciting skills, he has played Chen Zuiliang in the master's version of "The Peony Pavilion".
 
     Details of the performances are as follows:

July 8 (Saturday) 7.30pm
Auditorium, Kwai Tsing Theatre
Excerpts: Peking Opera "The Crossroads", Peking Opera "The Teahouse" from "The Story of the Iron Bow", Kunqu Opera "An Investigation in Disguise" from "Fifteen Strings of Coins", Peking Opera "Covering the Well" from "The Battle of Changban Po"

July 9 (Sunday) 7.30pm
Auditorium, Kwai Tsing Theatre
Excerpts: Peking Opera "Fighting in the Melon Garden", Kunqu Opera "Painting the Portrait" and "Bidding Farewell at the Grave" from "The Story of the Lute", Peking Opera "The Defeat at Maicheng"

     Tickets priced at $150, $220, $300 and $380 are now available at URBTIX (www.urbtix.hk). For telephone credit card bookings, please call 2111 5999.

     For programme enquiries and concessionary schemes, please call 2268 7325 or visit www.cof.gov.hk.
 
Ends/Wednesday, June 7, 2017
Issued at HKT 12:50
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