Author: Liao Yang
Ten years ago, He Hui, who had been in Europe for many years, made his debut at the National Grand Theater, and a “Masquerade Ball” fulfilled the long-awaited listening wish of Chinese music fans for many years.
Ten years later, the “Good Voice” who conquered the West with his strength will return to the National Centre for the Performing Arts and will star in two concerts and one opera as an artist-in-residence for the 2022-23 season.
The opening concert of the music season on September 16, He Huiyuan plans to cooperate with the National Centre for the Performing Arts Orchestra “Madame Butterfly” excerpts, due to the epidemic cannot take place, it is expected to be rescheduled for May next year; in November, Hehui will star in the National Grand Theater. The theater version of “Tosca”; in April next year, Hehui will also perform opera fragments of Puccini and Wagner together with the National Centre for the Performing Arts Orchestra.
“Being an artist-in-residence is an affirmation of my 25-year career. It’s an honor!” He Hui said excitedly.
“To make the audience cry, not to be moved by yourself”
“Aida”, “Tosca” and “Madame Butterfly” are the three golden signs of Hehui’s galloping on the international stage, and they are also the opera repertoires she has been invited to perform most frequently. Among them, “Madame Butterfly” has performed 192 times.
“An oriental woman who is both gentle and strong.” He Hui described that Madame Butterfly is a typical oriental character, but Puccini’s writing style is very Italian. She wants to cross cultural barriers and interpret it with an Italian-style voice.
Hehui also has to grasp the two sides of Mrs. Butterfly’s character: in the first act, she is gentle, lovely, pure, and rejoicing in love; in the second and third acts, she is deserted and stubborn in the second and third acts, who have been emptying her boudoir for three years. , She was strong and decisive, and finally committed suicide with a knife.
“Eastern culture has the concept of love that lasts forever, so she ended up committing suicide.” It is difficult for Westerners to understand what “jade broken” is, but Easterners with similar cultures are easy to empathize with. In addition to an oriental face, the unique advantage of performing Madame Butterfly.
“This opera is a ‘marathon’ for sopranos. It is very important to sing for three hours in a row. It is very important to distribute power and control calmly.” The stage that singers dream of – the Metropolitan Opera in New York, she has been invited to star for three consecutive times, and even sang 10 times in one go in 2019.
This version of “Mrs. Butterfly” is directed by British film director Anthony Minghella, and audiences who like “The English Patient” must be familiar with him. His wife from Hong Kong loves Wong Kar-wai, and the Chinese son-in-law’s understanding of Eastern culture is also different from that of Western directors. Lanterns, paper-cuts, puppets, screens… The rich oriental sentiment made American audiences fascinated, and it was hard to get a ticket for the performance. It even saved the Metropolitan Opera House and swept away the previous decadence.
“Very beautiful!” In the late autumn of 2019, He Hui stayed in New York for more than two months to sing “Mrs. Butterfly”. In order to prevent fatigue or illness, the Metropolitan Opera specially assigned three alternate sopranos. As a result, she sang from beginning to end, and she performed 10 performances by herself, and there was thunderous applause.
Puccini is not only a master of color in opera music, but also a master of polishing tragedy. When he premiered “Madame Butterfly” in Bordeaux, France, in 2003, he was in love with Hui Hui and cried from the beginning of the rehearsal. After the performance, local music critics commented, “A Chinese set the theatre in Bordeaux on fire”.
Since then, Hehui has always sang “Mrs. Butterfly” with tears in her eyes. After 120 performances, she found that the tears of the actors were meaningless, so she began to restrain her tears, control her emotions, and focus on using her voice to impress the audience, “The audience can’t see your tears. , and it will interfere with your voice, you want to make the audience cry, not to be moved by yourself.”
In May next year, in the presence of music director Lv Jia and the National Centre for the Performing Arts Orchestra, He Hui will show his skills and sing the highlights of “Mrs. Butterfly”, including several duets by Mrs. Butterfly and Pinkerton. , there are also those arias like fine wine, Lady Butterfly believes that Pinkerton will return and reunite with her “Sunny Day” is also on the list.
2021 Beijing New Year Concert, with the National Centre for the Performing Arts Orchestra conducted by Hui and Lv Jia
Hehui and Lu Jia have a long-lasting friendship
“This is a ‘dramatic’ opera, and the play is to be performed”
Tosca is another famous tragedy by Puccini. Contrary to Madame Butterfly, Tosca is a purely Italian character, and Hehui wants to get rid of the oriental body language and transform herself into an authentic Italian woman.
“This is a ‘dramatic’ opera, and the performance is the highlight. Every lyric and every action has its meaning, and the play needs to be performed.” He Hui concluded that in order to play Tosca well, not only must Beautiful singing skills and excellent acting skills are a double test.
In October 2021 at the Hamburg State Opera, Germany, He Hui performed the 100th performance of “Tosca” in her career. Interestingly, this is also her first opera in the “hometown of opera” Italy, where she became famous during the First World War.
It was in 2002 at the Royal Opera House in Parma, Italy, and He Hui was placed in Group B of “Tosca”. The day before the performance, she went to watch the premiere of Group A, and found that the audience didn’t like the baritone’s performance and voice, and people kept booing, which made her tremble with fear.
I will be on stage the next day, what should I do? “Tosca is the goddess of opera, and Callas is the soprano I admire most. I suddenly found a fulcrum. I’m not playing Tosca, I’m playing Callas.” He Hui found a way to relieve tension. A key, imitating Callas’ gestures, quickly entered the character.
On the night of the performance, the audience was surprisingly quiet. When she finished singing “For Art, For Love”, the door of Italian opera was knocked on. Italian opera audiences are notoriously professional and critical, and to conquer them is to conquer the world opera audience.
Twenty years later, Hehui will challenge the National Centre for the Performing Arts version of “Tosca” and sing three times in one go. This is the first time she has performed the entire Tosca in China, and it is also the first time that the National Centre for the Performing Arts has rehearsed the opera after a lapse of 10 years.
This version was born in 2011. The sloping church, the huge statue of Angel Michele… The Italian gold-medal opera director Giancarlo de Monaco created a spectacle on the stage by means of cinematography, filling the dramatic tension of this opera. In previous productions, Tosca jumped from the sky with his back to the audience, but here, Tosca jumped from the shoulder of a 5-meter-high angel, allowing the audience to face the tragedy of Tosca’s love for love.
There are all kinds of tragedies on the opera stage. Over the years, He Hui has played many heart-rending tragedies, and most of the heroines died in the end. No impact, not realistic, but I will try to separate the stage from life.”
Every performance is like a competitive sport for Hehui, and she has to show the highest level. Proficient in Western languages and in-depth understanding of Western culture is the secret to her success.
“Most opera characters do go against Asian faces. But when you open your mouth on stage, the audience doesn’t think about your nationality, only whether your voice fits the musical characteristics, whether your performance moved them. She said that if there is any shortcut to learning opera, it must be to learn language, try to make it your second language, sing the meaning must be absolutely correct, and the taste must be absolutely authentic.
He Hui in the National Centre for the Performing Arts version of “Masquerade”
He Hui in the National Centre for the Performing Arts version of “Aida”
“They have a stronger sense of cooperation and quicker reflexes”
Every soprano has its own position. Hehui is a lyrical drama soprano. She is delicate in the atmosphere, yet tender in her passion. She has a natural advantage in singing operas by Verdi and Puccini. The repertoire has left its mark on the National Centre for the Performing Arts.
In 2012, the NCPA version of “Masquerade” premiered, and Hehui became the focus of the audience – this is the first time that Hehui has performed an entire opera in China after ten years in Europe, and it is also the first time that Chinese music fans have been looking forward to for many years. return. Two years later, He Hui returned for the NCPA version of “The Troubled Poet”.
“Aida”, the pinnacle of Verdi’s opera, has drawn a rich brushstroke for the cooperation between the two parties.
In 2012, the National Centre for the Performing Arts and the New National Theater of Japan jointly produced the concert version of “Aida”, and Hehui joined two rounds of performances in Tokyo and Beijing. In 2015, the National Centre for the Performing Arts version of “Aida” was born, and the conductor Zubin Mehta hand-picked He Hui as the female lead. Performing in Beijing is naturally the best choice.
On the night of the premiere of “Aida”, the enthusiasm of the audience almost overturned the roof. At the curtain call, He Hui bent down and grabbed a handful of yellow sand on the stage, and kissed affectionately, “As a singer who has gone abroad from China, I am really excited to be able to return to the motherland and sing my best works!”
In just over ten years, the National Centre for the Performing Arts has rehearsed more than 80 operas, and He Hui was amazed by this gorgeous transcript. In addition to the world-class production team and performance team, the live performance of the NCPA Orchestra also left a deep impression on her.
As a rare orchestra in China that spans the fields of opera and symphony, the NCPA Orchestra has insisted on walking on two legs since its establishment in 2010.
“Compared with the symphony-based orchestra, they are obviously more comprehensive in music, of course, have more experience in opera art, better cooperation with singers, stronger sense of cooperation, and faster response ability. He Hui said that this is also a big test for the conductor. “Lv Jia’s music feels very good. He can well arouse the emotions of the singer and the orchestra, and he is very sensitive to grasp the details and speed that the singer needs.”
The fate of He Hui and Lv Jia can be traced back to 2005. This year, He Hui made her debut on the world‘s largest open-air opera stage, the Verona Amphitheatre, and premiered the opera “Turandot” (as Liu Er). Lu, then the artistic director of the Verona State Opera Jia is the conductor of the scene, and he is also the first Chinese to be the director of an Italian opera house.
Ten years ago, Lu Jia put down everything in Europe and returned to China. He made his debut as the chief conductor of the National Centre for the Performing Arts Orchestra at the 2012 Chinese New Year Concert. Since then, he has led this “amphibious orchestra” to perform more than 30 operas. It was also in 2012 that He Hui returned from Europe to perform “Masquerade Ball” produced by the National Centre for the Performing Arts for the first time, and has since become a frequent visitor to this art palace. In the past ten years, two opera singers who have shined in different waterways have jointly witnessed the take-off of opera in China.
For He Hui, singing opera is like running a marathon. She has been running for 25 years by accident, and she is already used to flying around the world with a suitcase. In recent years, the “Supergirl” has returned to China to perform more frequently, and Chinese audiences have more opportunities to see her. “Opera is a kind of beauty that can be seen by the eyes and heard by the ears. Art brings more Chinese audiences.” (Liao Yang)
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责编：金凌冰 ]