Live: Chinese Opera + Inner Landscape

A unique chance: attend the screening of the film Inner Landschap by Frank Scheffer with the live performance of Chinese opera singer Shen Tiemei.

In a rapidly changing China old traditions are under pressure. Composer Guo Wenjing attempts to navigate this landscape and forms a bridge between the old and the new China, and between Eastern and Western musical styles. In his music, he says, you can hear people’s souls. Dutch filmmaker Frank Scheffer filmed the making process of Guo’s new opera Si Fan, which he composed for the New Ensemble making use of a dying form of opera from Sichuan.

The film screening of Inner Landscape on Friday 1 February will be preceded by a special live performance of Chinese soprano Shen Tiemei, percussionists and three other singers. The event starts at 20:30 in de Willem Burgerzaal of ‘de Doelen’. 

Shen Tiemei will perform a part of the opera Feng Yi Ting, which is the epic tale of Diao Chan, one of the fabled Four Beauties of ancient China, who wins the heart of the brave general Lu Bu with her seductive charms to implement a smart interlocking to get rid of a ruthless warlord who plans viciously to seize the empire throne. The body of work of composer Guo Wenjing also contains a modern, hybrid chamber opera based on the traditional Chinese opera Feng Yi Ting.