Beijing Music Festival: Renowned Peking opera kicks off Beijing's music fest

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The annual Beijing Music Festival kicked off Friday with a new version of the traditional Peking opera "Farewell My Concubine" as its opening show. Directed by Chen Shi-Zheng -- a globally active Chinese director of operas, musicals, and dramas -- the show combines multimedia, modern dance with large-scale music performance.

"Farewell My Concubine" is a romantic and tragic story based on the legend of ancient hero Xiang Yu and his beloved concubine Yu Ji. He was defeated during his endeavors to unify China against Liu Bang, the eventual founder of the Han Dynasty over 2-thousand years ago.

In Chen's adaptation, he retains the singing from traditional Peking Opera and uses interactive multimedia techniques as a vehicle to convey the inner voices of the characters.

He combines modern stage technology with elements such as dancing, lighting and even a real horse.

CHEN SHI-ZHENG DIRECTOR "I wanted to create a new version of this story based on the classics, but break away from the usual limitations of Peking Opera to create a contemporary theater vocabulary that would resonate with today's audiences. Tradition is not merely about form, it's about the spirit that the form is built upon, we should let its spirit live in the life that surrounds us."

The orchestra for the show not only uses traditional Chinese musical instruments but also has a five-piece band of Western musical instruments, including the violin, cello and harp.

Chen also presented his musical theater -- " The Orphan of Zhao" -- at the festival.

The piece tells the story of an orphan's revenge against those who killed his family members. It features a group of foreign artists.

Chen said he attempted to create a new form of expression that was "neither Western nor Chinese, but rather a new kind of theater," in which these elements could equally co-exist yet remain transparent.

With the theme of "Entering the 21st - Dawn of a New Era," the 21st Beijing Music Festival will present 21 performances which will include operas, orchestral symphonies and works of chamber music. It runs until October 26th.