Opera is developed through music, and opera is passed down through music. The artistic characteristics and inherent development laws of Chinese opera determine the unique status and value of music in opera. In the two hundred years of glorious history of Peking Opera art, the spirit of passing on the fire from generation to generation and the pursuit of integrity and innovation have laid a solid foundation for the charm and vigorous development of Peking Opera music.

On January 13th and 14th, the Peking Opera Music Bicentenary Tour "Profound Peking Opera Rhythm·Chinese Essence" will be staged at the National Centre for the Performing Arts. This event was co-sponsored by the Capital Jinghu Art Research Association, the National Academy of Chinese Theatre Arts, and the National Centre for the Performing Arts, and participated in the "Peking Opera Film Project" filming by the National Peking Opera Company, Jingju Theatre Company of Beijing, Tianjin Jingju Theatre Company, Tianjin Youth Jingju Theatre Troupe, Shanghai Jingju Theatre Company, The Fujian Jingju Theatre Company and 12 other Peking Opera troupes across the country participated in the performance, gathering nearly a hundred famous Peking Opera masters and performers from all over the country, including old, middle-aged and young people. It is a grand event to study the development history of Peking Opera music.

The performance will be divided into two parts, the upper and lower parts, with a total of four chapters, highlighting the formation and development history of Peking Opera art and the context of the times of innovating the old, highlighting the colorfulness, breadth and profoundness of the Chinese quintessence. In the first part of the performance on January 13, the first chapter "The Convergence of Hui-Han and the Convergence of All Rivers" tells the story of the eclectic and inclusive artistic style created by the art of Peking Opera in the history from the arrival of Hui Opera in Beijing to the final formation of Peking Opera; the second chapter " "Different Schools Compete" tells the story of the continuous enrichment of various industry schools, vocal styles, and band accompaniment instruments, which promotes the continuous development of Peking Opera music and tunes.

In the second part of the performance on January 14, the third chapter "A Hundred Flowers Bloom" tells the story of Peking Opera music after the founding of the People's Republic of China, under the guidance of the literary and artistic policy of "three simultaneous adaptations" of traditional plays, new historical plays, and modern plays and "innovating the old and bringing forth the new" Creation shows a new look; the fourth chapter, "Keeping integrity and innovating, carrying on the past and opening up the future" takes modern Peking opera as a representative and tells how folk bands, Chinese and Western mixed bands, and Western orchestras continue to expand the expressive functions of Peking opera music and spread the artistic creation, singing and performance of Peking opera. a new future.

Translator: BAI Jing

Reviewer: BAI Jing 1