This is an operatic event that I'm really looking forward to. Jing Xiang's Savage Land, based on Cao Yu's play of feudal oppression and revenge, is already a classic in Mainland and even produced by the Washigton Opera. Its dramatic music, full of soaring vocal melodies and jarring, at times atonal orchestration promises a compelling music drama. I interviewed music director Yeh Tsung and leading lady Li Jing-Jing for the February issue of Time Out Singapore (which I hope will be available online in due time). Here's more information from their official press release:
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| Savage Land leading lady Li Jing-Jing |
Savage Land －An Opera in Concert
by Singapore Chinese Orchestra (Singapore/China)
Adapted from renowned Chinese playwright Cao Yu’s classic play The Wilderness, Savage Land – An Opera in Concert takes you on a heart-wrenching journey through music and song.
Savage Land was the first Chinese-language Western-style opera that was performed in the West. With music readapted by SCO resident composer Phoon Yew Tien from the original composition by Jin Xiang and libretto by Cao Yu’s daughter Wan Fang, this operatic concert experience transports you to a countryside in Northeastern China during the early 20th century. With bold strokes, it paints a realistic picture of the social injustice, inequality and conflicts experienced then.
Under the baton of Music Director Tsung Yeh and directed by Goh Boon-Teck, opera singers Zhang Feng (as Chou Hu), Li Jing Jing (as Jin Zi), Zhang Ya-Lin (as Jiao Da Xing), Zhu Hui-Ling (as Jiao’s mother), William Lim (as Chang Wu), and Melvin Tan (as Bai Shazi) take the stage with Singapore Chinese Orchestra and a 60-member National University of Singapore Choir led by Nelson Kwei.
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| Leading man, baritone Zhang Feng |
Savage Land plays for one night only on 28 February 2015 (my birthday!) Find out more about tickets at the Events Page!
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