East meets West in musical treat

Hu Wenge is known for his performance in Peking Opera piece Farewell My Concubine. [Zou Hong / For China Daily]

In 1790, four opera troupes from Anhui province performed for the 80th birthday of Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), and later stayed on in Beijing to develop their performance style.

Almost exactly a year later in Vienna, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart conducted the premiere performance of the opera The Magic Flute, about 10 weeks before he died at the age of 35.

Just as The Magic Flute went on to become one of Mozart's most famous operas, the musical style of the Anhui troupes also flourished, eventually becoming the Peking Opera, which is now regarded as a national treasure.

This Chinese opera will be combined with Western music in one show at the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing on Aug 25, in a concert marking the 70th anniversary of victory in the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (1937-45).

Those performing will include Peking Opera masters Hu Wenge, Zhang Xinyue and Lin Zhenjie, from opera troupes in Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin, and they will be accompanied by the center's symphony orchestra and chorus conducted by Hu Yongyan.

"In English the same word, 'opera', is used to denote these two musical forms, but in fact they are totally different," says Hu Yongyan, 59, a renowned Chinese-American conductor, who studied at Yale University and Juilliard School in New York and is now president of the EOS Orchestra of the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing.

"Looking back, the two art forms began to flourish about the same time. ... Both were first staged at royal court before becoming popular among the masses."

Under Hu Yongyan's baton, the orchestra and chorus will interpret traditional and contemporary Peking Opera works, such as Farewell My Concubine, The Red Lantern and Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy.

"I have spent a lifetime researching and playing Western classical music," the conductor says.

"The combination of Western classical music and Peking Opera is a challenge for me."

Peking Opera shows are accompanied by a small group of musicians, playing instruments such as the jinghu, a high-pitched, two-stringed fiddle, and various percussion instruments, which produces an intimate feeling, he adds.