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Opera star's one-man show about brothers
By Zhang Qian |
May 13, 2012, Sunday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
TIAN Haojiang, one of China's greatest opera singers and for years a fixture at the Metropolitan Opera, has turned his talent to a dramatically different kind of musical performance - a one-man show about his brother and himself.
"From Mao to the Met," is how Beijing-born Tian's extraordinary life has frequently been described in some Western media. Though he grew up in a musical family, he hated piano and worked in a factory as a teenager.
Now he is performing his own musical "Sing Brother Sing" at Shanghai Grand Theater on June 5 and 6. The story will be told and sung in Mandarin; English subtitles will be provided.
With songs and monologues, Tian plays both himself and his brother, from their childhood (he was born in the mid-1950s) through the "cultural revolution" (1966-1976) to the present day.
Tian and his brother were eight years apart, his brother was older and their lives took diverging paths: His brother was an ordinary worker while he miraculously became a famous basso cantante opera star known worldwide.
Multimedia and stage designs will present past, present, future and dream states.
Tian was inspired to tell the brothers' story when he visited his dying brother years ago.
"He was an ordinary worker in Beijing while I spent most of my time singing at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. We were eight years apart in our different life paths. We were familiar and yet distant."
"But that three-hour reunion before his death helped me recognize my brother and myself all over again."
During those three hours, there was no sadness, just singing and reliving the past their shared, or wish they had shared; they remembered the tress they climbed and the lake where they went fishing.
"I found a brother I thought I was going to lose; I came out the survivor but no longer knew how to live. For my own sanity, I had to piece together painstakingly those three hours again," Tian says.
He turned to the theater, "which can best help one recapture and redefine. Since I am more a man of music than of words, I need songs to fill in where words fail."
Tian selects around 10 songs that recapture different periods in his life. They include childhood songs from Beijing in the 1960s, Chinese-versions of Russian love songs that they sang in secret as youths in the 1970s, revolutionary propaganda songs that defined the "cultural revolution" (1966-1976) and prototype Chinese rock songs that rocked young people into a new century.
Beethoven's "9th Symphony" and excerpts from "La Boheme" are also featured in the play.
Met debut
Since his Metropolitan Opera debut during the 1991-1992 season, Tian has been recognized worldwide as one of the most talented basso cantantes, singing more than 1,300 performances of 40 operatic roles. He performed at the Metropolitan Opera for nineteen years, in 26 operas.
Tian performed as General Wang in Tan Dun's 2006 opera "The First Emperor," opposite Plácido Domingo at the Metropolitan Opera. He performed the title role in Guo Wenjing's 2007 opera "Poet Li Bai" in Rome, Denver, Colorado, Beijing and Shanghai.
The one-man play about Tian and his brother was first presented as work-in-progress in Beijing in 2009 for a select audiences and later expanded to the current version for a large audience.
Tian is more accustomed to singing opera with others on stage, so a one-man show is a challenge.
"It is difficult to play somebody else on stage, but it is even more difficult to play yourself," Tian says. "I want to keep myself open to the audience throughout the show. It will be simple, plain and honest acting."
Date: June 5-6, 7:30pm
Address: 300 People's Ave
Tickets: 50-250 yuan (US$7.97-39.87)
Tel: 962-388
"From Mao to the Met," is how Beijing-born Tian's extraordinary life has frequently been described in some Western media. Though he grew up in a musical family, he hated piano and worked in a factory as a teenager.
Now he is performing his own musical "Sing Brother Sing" at Shanghai Grand Theater on June 5 and 6. The story will be told and sung in Mandarin; English subtitles will be provided.
With songs and monologues, Tian plays both himself and his brother, from their childhood (he was born in the mid-1950s) through the "cultural revolution" (1966-1976) to the present day.
Tian and his brother were eight years apart, his brother was older and their lives took diverging paths: His brother was an ordinary worker while he miraculously became a famous basso cantante opera star known worldwide.
Multimedia and stage designs will present past, present, future and dream states.
Tian was inspired to tell the brothers' story when he visited his dying brother years ago.
"He was an ordinary worker in Beijing while I spent most of my time singing at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. We were eight years apart in our different life paths. We were familiar and yet distant."
"But that three-hour reunion before his death helped me recognize my brother and myself all over again."
During those three hours, there was no sadness, just singing and reliving the past their shared, or wish they had shared; they remembered the tress they climbed and the lake where they went fishing.
"I found a brother I thought I was going to lose; I came out the survivor but no longer knew how to live. For my own sanity, I had to piece together painstakingly those three hours again," Tian says.
He turned to the theater, "which can best help one recapture and redefine. Since I am more a man of music than of words, I need songs to fill in where words fail."
Tian selects around 10 songs that recapture different periods in his life. They include childhood songs from Beijing in the 1960s, Chinese-versions of Russian love songs that they sang in secret as youths in the 1970s, revolutionary propaganda songs that defined the "cultural revolution" (1966-1976) and prototype Chinese rock songs that rocked young people into a new century.
Beethoven's "9th Symphony" and excerpts from "La Boheme" are also featured in the play.
Met debut
Since his Metropolitan Opera debut during the 1991-1992 season, Tian has been recognized worldwide as one of the most talented basso cantantes, singing more than 1,300 performances of 40 operatic roles. He performed at the Metropolitan Opera for nineteen years, in 26 operas.
Tian performed as General Wang in Tan Dun's 2006 opera "The First Emperor," opposite Plácido Domingo at the Metropolitan Opera. He performed the title role in Guo Wenjing's 2007 opera "Poet Li Bai" in Rome, Denver, Colorado, Beijing and Shanghai.
The one-man play about Tian and his brother was first presented as work-in-progress in Beijing in 2009 for a select audiences and later expanded to the current version for a large audience.
Tian is more accustomed to singing opera with others on stage, so a one-man show is a challenge.
"It is difficult to play somebody else on stage, but it is even more difficult to play yourself," Tian says. "I want to keep myself open to the audience throughout the show. It will be simple, plain and honest acting."
Date: June 5-6, 7:30pm
Address: 300 People's Ave
Tickets: 50-250 yuan (US$7.97-39.87)
Tel: 962-388
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