Casual chat has creative repercussions

Performers take a curtain call at the premiere. CHINA DAILY

The result was Jingyun Honglou (meaning "Dream of the Red Chamber, Peking Opera-style"), a concert that premiered at the National Library Arts Center last year.

A year on, the concert will once again be performed at the same venue on Friday and Saturday.

The famous Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) novel, which is considered one of the four masterpieces of Chinese literature, chronicles the downfall of the wealthy and influential Jia family, and is set against a backdrop of social and political upheaval.

When the television adaptation premiered in 1987 on China Central Television, the series and the soundtrack were enormously successful and became a classic. In an early interview, Wang said that it took him four-and-a-half years of continual work to finish the soundtrack and portray the characters through music, during which he had many sleepless nights.

"The story of the Dream of the Red Chamber has been performed many times, in different traditional opera styles. But to present these well-known songs in a Peking Opera style was a first, and it got a warm response from the audience," says Li.

Jingju, another name for Peking Opera, is a 200-year-old art form that combines singing, dancing, acrobatics and martial arts. Different singing styles have been developed over the centuries. Performers from the Jingju Theatre Company of Beijing played the characters in the concert.

The story's lead character, Jia Baoyu, is the link between the songs and alludes to the original plot. For some of the pieces, dance and choral singing helps flesh out scenes from the novel.

"I am a big fan of the novel and of the TV series. I have watched it over and over again, and I can sing all the songs," says Peking Opera actress Zheng Xiao, who plays the role of Lin Daiyu in the concert. "I have been trained in Peking Opera since I was a child. We also have a Peking Opera version of the Dream of the Red Chamber, but this concert follows an innovative format, and I had to rehearse for a long time, which was very challenging."

Zheng says that she reread the novel and restudied the relationships between the characters, especially Lin Daiyu. "She is a sentimental and romantic woman but she is also very independent and determined," Zheng adds.