Venue: Concert Hall

Dates: October 17, 2018

Conductor

ZHU Man

ZHU Man currently serves as the permanent conductor of China National Opera House. She ever studied with Professor YU Feng, a celebrated Chinese conductor, president of the Central Conservatory of Music and chairman of Chinese Conductors Association.

Since 2009, ZHU Man has served as the permanent conductor of China National Opera House Symphony Orchestra. She ever directed the performance of a large number of domestic and foreign symphony orchestras including London Symphony Orchestra of the UK, Besancon Symphony Orchestra in France, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra of Canada, Victoria Opera House in Melbourne, Rome Symphony Orchestra, Samsun State Opera and Ballet of Turkey and China Philharmonic Orchestra etc. as well as the world premiere of many works by Chinese and foreign composers.

As the conductor of “2009-2015 China National Opera House International Opera Festival”, she directed operas like Puccini’s Turandot, Madama Butterfly, Tosca and La bohème, Wagner’s Tannhäuser, Valkyrius, Siegfried, Gotterdammerung and Das Rheingold, Verdi’s operas such as La Traviata, Rigoletto, Il Trovatore and Aida, Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana, Leoncavallo’s opera Pagliacci, Chinese opera The White Haired Girl and the Chinese opera commissions Farewell My Concubine, The Love Story of Rawap, Revolution in 1911, Hongbang Tailor and Dream Forest as well as a large number of symphonies. She was also invited to be the conductor of NCPA’s “Weekend Concert” for three consecutive years from 2009 to 2011.

On September 3rd and 4th, 2014, Beethoven’s opera Fidelio was premiered by China National Opera House under the baton of ZHU Man at Poly Theater in Beijing.

Puccini’s opera Turandot and Verdi’s Il Trovatore were staged at NCPA under the direction of ZHU Man in 2012 and 2013 respectively, who thus won the first “Outstanding Young Conductor Award at the Collective Show of Excellent Plays from National Art Theatres and Troupes” launched by the Ministry of Culture.

In 2014, the opera commission Hongbang Tailor directed by her was given the Five “One” Project Award for Excellent Works in the 13th campaign for cultural and ideological progress.

At the invitation of Hungarian Budapest Spring Festival in April 2016, ZHU Man directed the performance of Puccini’s Turandot by over 200 artists from China National Opera House at Hungarian State Opera House in Budapest. Famous German music critic Robert Quitta said the artists presented Puccini’s Turandot at the highest level under the direction of ZHU Man.

Presenter

China National Opera House Symphony Orchestra

Established in 1952, the China National Opera House (CNOH) is directly under the Ministry of Culture of China. The predecessors of CNOH were the Central Philharmonic Orchestra of Yan’an and the art troupe of Luxun Art College, which created the folk dance opera Brother and Sister Explorers in 1943 and the White-Haired Girl in 1945 in Yan’an. CNOH has witnessed many historic changes.

Consisting of an opera troupe, choir, symphony orchestra, stagecraft department and stagecraft plant, etc., CNOH is home to a team of prominent singers, performers, composers, conductors, directors, playwrights and stage designers. Successive presidents of CNOH include, LI Bozhao, ZHOU Weizhi, LU Su, ZHAO Feng, MA Ke, LI Ling, LIU Lianchi, WANG Shiguang, CHEN Xieyang, LIU Xijin and YU Feng. Chaired by the Party Secretary YUAN Ping, it has LIU Yunzhi (famous violinist), JU Xiongzhi, YANG Xiong and YAO Hong (famous singer) as vice presidents.

CNOH has won over 100 national-level awards, including the Award of Five “One” Project, Award of National Excellent Stage Art Works Project, Wenhua Award of the Ministry of Culture, Wenhua Award for New Plays and Wenhua Performance Award. It gave excellent performance in major events such as the BRICS Summit, Boao Forum for Asia, APEC Summit and the celebrations marking the 20th anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to China and the 19th CPC National Congress.

It has premiered, staged and preserved a number of world-renowned classic operas including Turandot, La Traviata, Madama Butterfly, Carmen, La Bohème, Rigoletto, Le Nozze di Figaro, Cavalleria Rusticana, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, I Pagliacci, Les Contes d'Hoffmann, Le Roi d'Ys, Die Fledermaus, Tannhäuser, Valkyrius, Fidelio, Siegfried, Gotterdammerung, Tosca and Das Rheingold. It has also built a strong repertoire of Chinese operas like The White-Haired Girl, LIU Hulan, Song of Grassland, The 100th Bride, Marco Polo, Farewell My Concubine, Dream Forest, Hongbang Tailor, LAN Hui of Beichuan, My Mother Is Called Taihang, The Red Army's Long March, Red Women Army and Manas, as well as the wonderful dance drama HUA Mulan.

CNOH has staged Chinese and foreign operas in Italy, France, Finland, the United States, Japan, Indonesia, Syria, Algeria, Switzerland, Slovenia, Morocco and other countries, making a great coup at the Palais des Nations, Puccini Festival, Budapest Spring Festival and Ljubljana Summer Festival. Since its introduction by CNOH into China in 1989, Puccini’s classic opera Turandot has become an important repertory play of CNOH and been successfully performed as a representative work of CNOH in Cairo, Damascus, Rome and Puccini’s hometown at Lake Orta. CNOH presented the play at Hungarian Budapest Spring Festival in April 2016 and in Switzerland again six months later, giving full expression to the superb art of the play.

In addition, CNOH has enriched its performance forms. Besides the complete opera performance, its creative opera and opera galas have been widely-recognized and praised by the audience. In May 2016, it staged Puccini’s classic opera Madama Butterfly at NCPA Opera Festival, and gave a concert of four operas – Turandot, Madama Butterfly, Tosca and White-Haired Girl in Wuhan. It gives more than 100 performances all over the country every year. In celebration of the 95th anniversary of the founding of the CPC, it took part in the concert, “Eternal Faith”, held at the Great Hall of the People and the CCTV programme “Great Banner”, and organized the Mass Singing Contest “Flapping Red Flag, Resonant Singing” sponsored by the Ministry of Culture. It also appeared in CCTV’s key themed programme “Magnificent Voyage” to welcome the triumphant convocation of the 19th CPC National Congress.

CNOH has also organized various kinds of activities. In 2016 alone, it gave performances and one-to-one assistance in the villages, schools and homes for the aged in Lichuan, Zunyi, Jilin, Yushu and other places.