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The China National Opera House (CNOH) or China Central Opera (中央歌剧院) is a State-run
opera company Opera is a form of Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a lib ...
based in
Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...
,
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
, and under the
Chinese Ministry of Culture The Ministry of Culture (MOC) was a ministry of the government of the People's Republic of China which was dissolved on 19 March 2018. The responsibilities of the MOC, which were assumed by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, encompassed cultu ...
. CNOH consists of an opera troupe, a choir, a symphony orchestra and a stagecraft, costume and scenery departments. It is affiliated, through common direction under the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, with the Shanghai Opera House company and other ''geju'' companies around China.


History

The China Central Opera was preceded in
Yan'an Yan'an; ; Chinese postal romanization, alternatively spelled as Yenan is a prefecture-level city in the Shaanbei region of Shaanxi Province of China, province, China, bordering Shanxi to the east and Gansu to the west. It administers several c ...
in 1942 with the performance of the Yangko drama (秧歌剧)
Brothers and Sisters Opening up the Wasteland A brother (: brothers or brethren) is a man or boy who shares one or more parents with another; a male sibling. The female counterpart is a sister. Although the term typically refers to a family, familial relationship, it is sometimes used ende ...
(兄妹开荒),Contemporary Chinese theatre - Page 8 Roger Howard - 1978 "1 The yangko dramas Brothers and Sisters Open up Wasteland and The White-haired Girl were produced by the Lu Hsun Academy in Yenan. These musical plays owed something to the modern drama (huachu) — in particular in their more ." and the White-Haired Girl. The opera troupe relocated to Beijing in 1952 and was officially established in 1952 as the national opera company directly under the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.


Productions in China

CNOH staged La Boheme in Beijing in 1986 with Luciano Pavarotti and later Turandot in the Forbidden City. Then in June 2001 came the successful
Three Tenors The Three Tenors were an operatic singing trio, active between 1990 and 2003, and termed a supergroup (a title normally reserved for rock and pop groups) consisting of Italian Luciano Pavarotti and Spaniards Plácido Domingo and José Carreras ...
Forbidden City Concert. In 2009, CNOH staged Turandot with
Zhang Yimou Zhang Yimou (; born 14 November 1950) is a Chinese filmmaker.Tasker, Yvonne (2002). "Zhang Yimou" i''Fifty Contemporary Filmmakers'' Routledge Publishing, p. 412. . Google Book Search. Retrieved 21 August 2008. A leading figure of China's Cinem ...
in the "Bird's Nest"
Beijing National Stadium The National Stadium (), the Bird's Nest (), is a stadium at Olympic Green in Chaoyang, Beijing, Chaoyang, Beijing, China. The National Stadium, covering an area of 204,000 square meters with an 80,000 person capacity (91,000 with temporary ...
, and again in the
Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium () is a stadium in Beitun District, Taichung, Taiwan. The stadium officially opened on November 9, 2006, replacing the antiquated Taichung Baseball Field. Located on the corner of Chongde Road (崇德 ...
in Taiwan.


Tours abroad

CNOH has toured abroad since its conception, first in socialist countries, then in the west. In 1988 CNOH was guest company at the
Savonlinna Opera Festival Savonlinna Opera Festival () is held annually in the city of Savonlinna in Finland. The Festival takes place at the medieval Olavinlinna (St. Olaf's Castle), built in 1475. The castle is located amid spectacular lake scenery. Origin The birth ...
performing Carmen, Madam Butterfly, Verdi's Requiem as well as Chinese-language opera. In 2008 CNOH toured America with 10 performances of the original creation
Farewell My Concubine (modern opera) ''Farewell My Concubine'' (Chinese: 歌剧《霸王别姬》, ''geju "Bawang bie ji"'') is a Chinese-language western-style opera composed by choral conductor and composer Xiao Bai (萧白), to a libretto by Wang Jian (王健) for China Nationa ...
. In the same year CNOH performed Puccini’s Turandot in
Cairo Opera House The Cairo Opera House (, ''Dār el-Opera el-Masreyya''; literally "Egyptian Opera House"), part of Cairo's National Cultural Centre, is the main performing arts venue in the Egyptian capital. Home to most of Egypt's finest musical groups, it is ...
. On 24 November 1956, they were on return to China after an opera tour in
Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...
/West-Europe. During the return flight, ten Chinese members were among those dead in the
1956 Eglisau Ilyushin Il-12 plane crash Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan after 57 years. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, E ...
.


Building

The administrative offices, practice rooms and a rehearsal theatre, often referred to as the "Central National Opera House," are located at
Chaoyangmen Outer Street Chaoyangmen Outer Street () is a major through route in Beijing, China, and runs through the Chaowai area near Chaoyangmen. Geographically, it is in the eastern urban area, and is still considered very close to the city centre even though it lies ...
Dongzhong-jie 115, south-east of Dongsi Shitiao Station in West Beijing, however since the opening of the
National Centre for the Performing Arts National Centre for the Performing Arts may refer to * National Centre for the Performing Arts (China) The National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) (), colloquially described as The Giant Egg (巨蛋), is an arts centre containing an opera ...
at
Tiananmen Square Tiananmen Square or Tian'anmen Square () is a city square in the city center of Beijing, China, named after the Tiananmen ("''Gate of Heavenly Peace''") located to its north, which separates it from the Forbidden City. The square contains th ...
East, performances at the permanent theatre of the Opera company are rare. The company instead performs in larger theatres around China, including the
Shanghai Oriental Art Centre The Shanghai Oriental Art Center (), abbreviated SHOAC, is one of the leading performance and cultural facilities in Shanghai. The five interconnected hemispherical halls or "petals" are shaped to resemble a butterfly orchid from above.SHOAC"Prelu ...
, supplies opera singers to television stations and for concert performances, and tours abroad. On April 20, 2022, a press conference was held at the newly built Opera House in Beijing. The total construction area of the theater is 41,000 sqm. On May 1, 2022, the National Opera House officially opened to the public. On the evening of July 6, 2022, the opening concert of the National Opera House Theater was performed.


Repertoire

The repertoire of the company has now expanded to
Madame Butterfly ''Madama Butterfly'' (; ''Madame Butterfly'') is an opera in three acts (originally two) by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It is based on the short story " Madame Butterfly" (1898) by John Lut ...
,
Eugene Onegin (opera) ''Eugene Onegin'' (, ), Op. 24, is an opera (designated as "lyrical scenes") in 3 acts (7 scenes), composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The libretto, organised by the composer himself, very closely follows certain passages in Alexander Pushkin ...
,
Carmen (opera) ''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the Carmen (novella), novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first perfo ...
, La Traviata,
Gianni Schicchi () is a comic opera in one act by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Giovacchino Forzano, composed in 1917–18. The libretto is based on an incident mentioned in Dante's ''Divine Comedy''. The work is the third and final part of Puccin ...
,
Turandot ''Turandot'' ( ; see #Origin and pronunciation of the name, below) is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to a libretto in Italian by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni. Puccini left the opera unfinished at the time of his death in 1924; it ...
,
Aida ''Aida'' (or ''Aïda'', ) is a tragic opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni. Set in the Old Kingdom of Egypt, it was commissioned by Cairo's Khedivial Opera House and had its première there on 24 De ...
,
La Boheme LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second most populous city in the United States of America. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music *La (musical note), or A, the sixth note *"L.A.", a song by Elliott Smit ...
,
Rigoletto ''Rigoletto'' is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the 1832 play '' Le roi s'amuse'' by Victor Hugo. Despite serious initial problems with the Austrian censors who had c ...
,
The Marriage of Figaro ''The Marriage of Figaro'' (, ), K. 492, is a ''commedia per musica'' (opera buffa) in four acts composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with an Italian libretto written by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienn ...
,
Otello ''Otello'' () is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on William Shakespeare, Shakespeare's play ''Othello''. It was Verdi's penultimate opera, first performed at the La Scala, Teatro alla Scala, M ...
Cavalleria Rusticana ''Cavalleria rusticana'' (; ) is an opera in one act by Pietro Mascagni to an Italian libretto by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and Guido Menasci, adapted from an 1880 Cavalleria rusticana (short story), short story of the same name and subsequent ...
,
The Barber of Seville ''The Barber of Seville, or The Useless Precaution'' ( ) is an ''opera buffa'' (comic opera) in two acts composed by Gioachino Rossini with an Italian libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The libretto was based on Pierre Beaumarchais's French comedy ' ...
Les Contes d'Hoffmann ''The Tales of Hoffmann'' (French: ) is an by Jacques Offenbach. The French libretto was written by Jules Barbier, based on three short stories by E. T. A. Hoffmann, who is the protagonist of the story. It was Offenbach's final work; he died in ...
, Le Roi d'Ys, as well as
Chinese-language western-style opera Chinese contemporary classical opera () is a Chinese-language musical art form drawing on western opera traditions - distinct from modern developments of traditional Chinese opera. One of the first western-style operas was '' The White Haired Gir ...
s, such as
Liu Hulan (opera) ''Liu Hulan'' (刘胡兰) is a 1954 Chinese-language western-style opera by Chen Zi. It is based on the death of a 14-year-old communist party girl Liu Hulan, who was elevated into a revolutionary martyr. Part of the original opera was composed i ...
, Song of the Grasslands, Ayiguli,
The Hundredth Bride ''The Hundredth Bride'' 《第一百个新娘》 is a 1980 Chinese-language western-style opera by Wang Shiguang and Cai Kexiang. The opera is set in Uyghurs, Uygur areas. Songs from the opera were distributed using the jianpu Chinese numbered musi ...
,
Marco Polo (opera) ''Marco Polo'' is an opera by the Chinese-born composer Tan Dun set to an English libretto by Paul Griffiths. It premiered in Munich on 7 May 1996. Described variously as an "opera within an opera" and a "fantasia on an epic journey", the multi-la ...
,
Du Shiniang ''Du Shiniang'' (杜十娘) is a popular story and theatre plot in China. It exists as a Yue opera, as a Sichuan opera, and also as a 2006 "hybrid" Chinese-language western-style opera in the repertoire of the China Central Opera. The plot conce ...
, Farewell My Concubine, Countryside Girl Teacher, The Love Story of Rawap 2009 and
Revolution in 1911 In political science, a revolution (, 'a turn around') is a rapid, fundamental transformation of a society's class, state, ethnic or religious structures. According to sociologist Jack Goldstone, all revolutions contain "a common set of elements ...
2011, staged in Macau.


People

Presidents of CNOH include Li Bozhao, Zhou Weizhi, Lu Su, Zhao Feng, composer Ma Ke, Li Ling, Liu Lianchi, Wang Shiguang, Chen Xieyang and Liu Xijin. Conductor Yu Feng is the current president. Notable singers of the company, past and present include Yuan Chenye, baritone.


References


External links


China National Opera House website
{{authority control Chinese opera companies Theatre companies in Beijing Music of Beijing 1942 establishments in China Musical groups established in 1942