The Implication of Traditional Chinese Culture in Peking Opera

Beijing Opera, as a national opera, is also a part of Chinese traditional culture, is an important form of traditional Chinese culture. It not only shows the characteristics of Chinese traditional culture, but also contains fine traditional virtues and spiritual thoughts. In order to spread the Chinese culture like Peking Opera from generation to generation and promote its international spread, this paper aims to explore the characteristics and implications of traditional Chinese culture embodied in Peking Opera.

The state of Australian performance design: A roundtable discussion on scenographic practice, education and research through the lens of the Prague Quadrennial

As the Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space 2019 (PQ19) drew to a close, Australian designers, researchers and educators gathered to discuss the impact of PQ on our scenographic communities while querying the evolutions and challenges facing design practice. Australia’s vast geography made this event a unique opportunity to bring together leading experts from multiple states and capture contemporary perspectives. At the midpoint between the 2019 and 2023 gatherings – a time of global pandemics, political unrest and educational transformation – this article offers the outcomes of this roundtable as a unique snapshot of the state of design practice within Australia through the lens of the Quadrennial. The roundtable was themed around Australia’s presence at PQ19, the effects of PQ19 on those present and the ripples to be felt by those at home, and what attendance illuminated about current developments and concerns in practice, teaching and research. Led by practitioner-researchers Tessa Rixon and Madeline Taylor, the roundtable featured both the curators of Australia’s country and student exhibits; award-winning set, costume and lighting designers with diverse experiences from national opera to independent theatre; and educators and researchers from the nation’s top universities. The resulting discussion presents a unique perspective on the gaps and weaknesses in the design education, practice and research; first-hand insights on the challenges and opportunities available in both exhibiting and participating in the PQ; and the need to actively promote and privilege diverse voices and a multiplicity of representations in the process of claiming a ‘national’ scenographic identity. The roundtable was the first to capture multiple expert first-person Australian perspectives on the PQ while simultaneously contributing to the ongoing international discussion of performance design through the lens of artists, educators and researchers.

Opera against the Odds

Until 1864, provincial opera operated within a Napoleonic system designed to ensure hierarchically ordered provision for large and smaller towns nationwide and in the colonies. Discussion of how the system worked, how it was funded, how it served indirectly to erase regional difference, and how raw material from Paris (Grand Opera and the voice types it required) became too expensive, helps explain why the system was already at a breaking point by the 1830s, catalyzing heated local and local–national debates. The significance of provincial opera’s travails, its competitors in the entertainment sector from café-concert to radio, and the importance of two regional triumphs—Wagner and open-air opera—become clear in the light of this Paris-generated organizational history. Considerations of decentralization shift at this point to those of the tensions between genre of “national opera” and the centrifugal forces of cultural regionalism (with its attendant identitarian concerns), using the nature and significance of operatic “local color” as a test bed.

The significance of the stage achievements of the creative Baklan’s dynasty for the development of Ukrainian ballet (second half of XX - early XXI century)

The purpose of the article is a comprehensive study of the stage achievements of F. Baklan, V. Potapova, I. Zadayanna, and O. Baklan in the context of the development of Ukrainian ballet in the second half of the XX - early XXI centuries. The methodology of work contains the following research methods: analytical, dialectical, systemic, general historical, comparative-historical, etc. The scientific novelty of the publication is that it first explores the significance of the artistic work of the masters of the musical theater of the creative dynasty Baklan, who made an important contribution to the rise of domestic academic choreography of the Soviet era and independence. Conclusions. The importance of the artistic achievements of the figures of the stage of the theatrical Baklan’s dynasty for the development of national ballet is difficult to overestimate. The founders of the creative family - Honored Artists of the USSR Fedor Baklan (1930-1983) and Varvara Potapova (1932-2018) joined the cohort of leading dancers of the Kyiv Opera and Ballet Theater T. Shevchenko 1950-1960s, which after the crisis of drama contributed to the formation on the domestic stage of a new form of music and dance drama ("poetic dance") under the direction of choreographers-innovators - V. Vronsky, R. Zakharov, F. Lopukhov, S. Sergeeva, M. Tregubova. The creative work initiated by parents on the stage of the National Opera of Ukraine in the 1980s and 2000s was continued by Honored Artist of Ukraine, conductor Oleksiy Baklan (b. 1961) and his wife, Honored Artist of Ukraine Iryna Zadayanna (1962–2005), who created and will continue to generate high art aimed at the highest European theatrical standards.

Ukrainianization of national opera theater

The purpose of the article is to single out artistic and organizational peculiarities of opera art of the period from the Ukrainian National Republic in the 1930s. To illuminate the role and importance of prerequisites and formation of Ukrainianization as a factor of formation of national opera culture in the first half of XX century. The methodology lies in the application of comparativist and comparative-historical methods, which allowed to highlight and compare the period, researched, from its beginning to the extreme years. Allowed to characterize historical events with a retrospective distance of a century. The scientific novelty consists of incomprehension of the influence of Ukrainianization on opera art in Ukraine. For the first time, the Ukrainianization of the culture of the population from the time of the UPR to the appearance of the very concept of "Ukrainianization", which appeared after the formation of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, is considered in detail. Conclusions. Through the analysis of scientific publications, monographs, and archival sources we can determine the approaches and formation of the policy of "Ukrainianization" of opera art in the first half of the twentieth century. There is a possibility to compare the "Ukrainization" of the national opera art in the period of the Ukrainian People's Republic and the Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic.

A Conversation on Directing Opera

Katie Mitchell has been directing opera since 1996, when she debuted on the operatic stage with Mozart and Da Ponte’s Don Giovanni at the Welsh National Opera. Since then, she has directed more than twenty-nine operas in major opera houses around the world. Mitchell here speaks of her directorial approach when working with the genre, addressing various aspects of interest for those who want a better grasp of the dynamics of opera-making in the twenty-first century. Ranging from the director’s imprint, or signature on the work they put on the stage, to the relationships forged with people running opera institutions, Mitchell reflects on her experiences when staging opera productions. She sheds light on some fundamental differences between theatre-making and opera production, including the issue of text – the libretto, the dramatic text, and the musical score – and the very basic fact that in opera a director is working with singers, that is, with musicians whose attitude and behaviour on stage is necessarily different from that of actors in the theatre. Running throughout the conversation is Mitchell’s commitment to ensure that young and contemporary audiences do not see opera as a museum artefact but as a living performative experience that resonates with the aesthetics and political imperatives of our contemporary world. She speaks of the uncompromising political imperatives that remain central to her work ethic, even if this means deserting a project before it starts, and reflects on her long-term working relations with opera institutions that are open to new and alternative approaches to opera-making strategies. Mitchell underlines her respect for the specific rules of an art form that, because of its collaborative nature, must allow more space for theatre-makers to venture within its complex performative paths if it wants to secure a place in the future. Mario Frendo is Senior Lecturer of Theatre and Performance and Head of the Department of Theatre Studies at the School of Performing Arts, University of Malta, where he is the director of CaP, a research group focusing on the links between culture and performance.

ON THE IMAGE OF FEMALE MUSIC IN CHINESE NATIONAL OPERA

Chinese national opera has a history of more than 100 years. From "Sparrow and Children" created by Li Jinhui in the 1920s, it is known as the embryonic form of Chinese national opera. Then Chinese opera has experienced five periods of development. This paper will sort out the development of Chinese national opera, focus on the female characters described in opera according to the historical period of combing, division, and select the most representative of the four opera heroine Xi er, celery, Jiang Jie, Aiguri, to analyze its musical image. The conclusion of this research is of practical significance to promote the und