Passing the baton

On Aug 27 and 28, another student of Zheng's, conductor Gao Song, led the Fuzhou Strait Symphony Orchestra in Fujian province and the Xiamen Opera Philharmonic Chorus to perform the Chinese version of La Traviata. Zheng introduced the opera and guided the audience to help them better understand it on social media platform, Douyin, on Aug 27. This attracted more than 3 million viewers.

"Performing Western operas in Chinese with Chinese singers brings the Western art form closer to domestic audiences. What we are trying to do is to find the most accurate translation for the libretto, as well as using proper Chinese words that go well with the music," Zheng says.

Zheng has been credited with introducing opera and classical music to Xiamen. In 1998, she founded the Xiamen Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2000, Zheng and the Xiamen Philharmonic Orchestra premiered The Echoes of Hakka's Earth Buildings, which is an original Chinese music piece, in Fujian's Longyan city. Composed by Liu Yuan, it pays tribute to the history and lives of the Hakka people. So far, Zheng has led the symphony in the performance of the music piece about 80 times in over 12 countries and regions.

For Wu, who has been devoted to conducting choral singing for decades, she had not conducted an opera for a long time. She says that the process of preparing for conducting the opera took her back to her youth.

She also notes that Zheng has been supportive of her ideas about choral singing as a teacher and a friend.