Li Xiaofeng, the first graduate student of Qin Opera in China: Becoming a scholar-type Qin Opera artist is my lifelong pursuit
2022-06-23 17:45:16Source: Xi’an News Network
He is the first graduate student of the performance major of the Chinese Opera Academy in Qin Opera, and he is the winner of the highest award of Chinese opera “Plum Blossom Award”. On the stage, he looks handsome and sings loudly, and his roles such as Zhou Ren, Chen Xiang, and Lu Mengzheng are deeply rooted in the hearts of the people; off the stage, he has a hearty personality and is not old. Li Xiaofeng, a well-known Qinqiang student in the five northwestern provinces, said that he has a deep love for Qinqiang, and becoming a scholar-type Qinqiang artist has always been his pursuit.
voracious learning, not only art, but culture
Li Xiaofeng was born in Lintong County, Shaanxi Province. Since childhood, he followed his mother to go to the village to go to the village to go to the theater. He almost never missed a performance in the village, and the seeds of Qin Opera also took root in his young heart. However, when talking about how to get on this road, he said with a smile: “For a rural child, it is too false to say that it is because of love. The idea at the time was to find a way out.” At that time, the state advocated the cultivation of literary and artistic backbones for rural areas , established the Lintong Teachers’ Literature and Art Training Course. Li Xiaofeng stayed in the training course for five years, learning singing, reciting, doing, and playing, and developed excellent boy skills. During the training course, he mainly studied the Qin Opera model operas “Taking Tiger Mountain by Outwit”, “Shajiabang” and so on. In 1976, he learned an excerpt opera “Blocking the Horse”. Li Xiaofeng was admitted to the Shaanxi Provincial Art School. Later, someone laughed and said that he didn’t expect that the handsome civil and military students who became popular in the five northwestern provinces later on, initially entered the provincial art school but was an actor who played “Wu Chou”.
At the Provincial Art School, Li Xiaofeng began to study eagerly. On the one hand, he learned Qin Opera art, and on the other hand, he also learned cultural knowledge. He said: “I really cherish this time. On the one hand, it is not easy for rural children to learn, and on the other hand, I really like to sing.” Due to the five-year study career in the training class, Li Xiaofeng started out better than his peers. Earlier, “Others are still practicing walking, and I can already do somersaults”, but he still did not relax his demands on himself, and still worked overtime to practice. He was at an energetic age. He said that he was able to play four games in one breath. Ten spins, seven front flips. It is also God’s blessing, during this period, he passed the voice-changing period smoothly. Li Xiaofeng recalled: “It was also interesting to say, because many boys in the class could not sing after changing their voices, and I became a single seedling after successfully passing through the voice-changing period, so there would be “You West Lake”, I played Pei Sheng, and five Li Huiniang took the role; “The Legend of the White Snake” is also, there are several white ladies, and I am Xu Xian; and “The Orphan of Zhao’s”, I play the concubine, and also the son of the concubine…”
During this period, Mr. Chen Youhan, a famous opera aesthetician, was shocked by the opera aesthetics of Mr. Chen. Every winter and summer vacation, he would ride a bicycle to Mr. Chen’s place to study aesthetics theory. After he really learned about its unique aesthetic ideas, he felt that he had benefited a lot. “I feel that I have obtained the true scriptures, and I must speak quickly and slowly, and pay attention to every word at the beginning, belly, and suffix, instead of just taking it seriously. I often feel that if I hadn’t studied opera aesthetics, I would have been a craftsman, and after understanding Chinese aesthetics, I would not have strayed from my own track on the road of Qin Opera.”
Teaching and learning, Qin Opera actors worshipped Peking Opera masters as teachers
In Li Xiaofeng’s studio, he still retains a lot of the original materials, as well as a large number of tapes, VCDs, etc. The reporter noticed that there are also some Peking Opera tapes and discs. Li Xiaofeng said that he has listened to a lot of Peking Opera arias, and integrated their inheritance and development with Qin Opera. For example, in his performance of “White Forced Palace”, which is a combination of Peking Opera “Xiaoyaojin” and Qin Opera “White Forced Palace”, it gathered the audience. The family has grown up in one body; and in “To Persuade My Brother by Chai Chai”, the movements of going up the mountain, going down the mountain, and crossing the river are also the nutrients he absorbed from Peking Opera.
In 1987, in the first “Xifeng Cup” radio competition, Li Xiaofeng’s “White Forced Palace” stood out. This Xiaosheng play, which is known for his singing skills, would not have dared to try it if he had an excellent voice. Li Xiaofeng was born with a good voice. , not only crisp, bright, mellow and sweet, but also added its own unique singing method and skills, making it sound familiar and novel, with a unique charm. Li Xiaofeng became an instant hit and was loved by more and more fans. In 1993, he was rated as one of the “Top Ten” Young Actors of Qin Opera in Shaanxi Province. At the same time, he also participated in major performances at home and abroad such as the 2nd and 3rd China Arts Festival and the Hong Kong “Chinese Local Opera Exhibition”.
In 1994, Li Xiaofeng took the famous Peking Opera performing artist Mr. Ye Shaolan as his teacher and boldly developed the performance art of Xiaosheng. Why did a Qin Opera actor take a Peking Opera artist as his teacher? When the reporter asked this question, Li Xiaofeng laughed: “Because the arts are similar, not to mention that all industries are niche students. I have learned very good niche performances from Teacher Ye. For example, how about a fan? Take, how to play Dajue, they are all Lingzisheng, Lu Bu wants to be savage, Zhou Yu wants to be full, all of which are not learned in Qin Opera performances before. From Mr. Ye, I also learned the steps of Yepai Xiaosheng, who is literate and elegant. , Wu Sheng is handsome, and he has indeed gained a lot.” Li Xiaofeng said that Mr. Ye Shaolan also kept him rough and heroic in Qinqiang, and warned him not to lose the essence of Qinqiang: “Mr. Ye spoke very clearly, and he often said, ‘Teaching is good, Qinqiang is good There’s a lot of good stuff and he’s going to talk to me about it’.”
The first graduate student in the Qin Opera field, planning to integrate “Tang Poetry + Qin Opera”
In 2003, Li Xiaofeng took the three excerpts dramas “To Persuade Your Brother to Fight Chai”, “Bai forcing the Palace” and “War of the Intestines” to hit the top Chinese drama “Plum Blossom Award”. These three excerpts are repertoires that have been circulating on the Qin Opera stage for a long time, and they are also traditional operas that the audience loves to see. Li Xiaofeng regarded them as his own repertoire and won the award, which is both self-confidence and strength. After winning the “Plum Blossom Award”, Li Xiaofeng strengthened his idea of becoming a scholar-type opera actor. In 2005, as a local opera actor, Li Xiaofeng applied for the Peking Opera postgraduate class of the China Academy of Opera, systematically studied the cultural theory of opera in Beijing, and became the first postgraduate student in the field of Qin Opera. He told reporters: “When you reach the top of the mountain, you have to go down the mountain to climb another top of the mountain. The art is endless, and the learning is endless.”
After graduating from graduate school, Li Xiaofeng re-shot his personal classic trilogy: “Zhou Ren Returns to the House”, “Splitting the Mountain to Save the Mother” and “Golden List Title”, of which “Splitting the Mountain to Save the Mother” plays the role of a triangle – scholar Liu Yanchang, middle-aged Liu The three roles of Yanchang and Xiao Chenxiang, Shengjiao Opera, Xusheng Opera and Wusheng Opera, all performed well in singing and acting, each doing their best, this is a unique miracle on the Qin Opera stage. In the rehearsal of “Golden List Topic” in 2019, he personally revised the script and acted as the starring role, enriching a niche drama for the Qin Opera stage.
The so-called art is endless. In 2019, Li Xiaofeng officially worshipped Wang Xiangrong, the king of Northern Shaanxi songs, as his teacher, and he also wrote a number of Tang poems and opera songs in succession, and launched the “Li Xiaofeng Opera Song “Peach Blossom on Human Face” Internet-wide K-song Contest”. The annual timeline was very active. It has attracted the attention of netizens all over the country and even overseas travelers. After the great success of the event, Li Xiaofeng plans to blaze a new path for the integration of the two categories of “Tang Poetry + Qin Opera”, so as to win more audiences for Qin Opera and better promote and inherit Qin Opera.
Text/Xi’an Newspaper All-Media Reporter Zhang Jingtu/Xi’an Newspaper All-Media Reporter Shang Hongtao