Chinese Contemporary Classical Opera

Many western classical operas are frequently being staged in China.
But Chinese contemporary composers also write new operas in the western style, although mostly based on a Chinese story.

Chinese contemporary classical opera (Chinese: 当今古典歌剧; pinyin: dāngjīn gǔdiǎn gējù; lit. ‘contemporary classical singing drama’) is a 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 Girl (1940). Chinese-language western-style opera is to be distinguished the Revolutionary operas of the Cultural Revolution such as Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy which were mainly an adaption of Peking opera with socialist text and subjects, with some influence from Soviet musical theatre. The 1950s-70s saw several patriotic socialist operas, such as Red Guards on Honghu Lake (1956). Modern operas with a continuation of “realist” socialist elements include A Village Teacher (2009).

China has several separate geju companies under the Ministry of Culture, parallel with the traditional Chinese opera companies. The most prestigious are the Beijing-based central geju-yuan China National Opera House troupe (CNOH), and the Shanghai-based Shanghai Opera House company. In each case the term “Opera House,” geju-yuan, refers to the institute or company, not to a fixed building or theatre. The street addresses of both companies are merely administrative offices and rehearsal rooms. Other notable geju companies around China include the Liaoning geju yuan, based in Shenyang and others. The status of geju has been boosted by availability of new world-class venues such as the China’s National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing (“The Big Egg” on Tiananmen Square East) and the new Shanghai Grand Theatre. Since its opening in 2009 CHNCPA has staged operas such as Xi Shi and A Village Teacher in 2009, The Chinese Orphan in 2011, and the folk-opera The Ballad of Canal in 2012. The Shanghai Grand Theatre has similarly staged Chinese-language geju of the Shanghai Opera House company along with Italian, French and German-language operas.