The 2024 "Happy Spring Festival" Overseas Chinese Opera Spring Festival Gala of the Canadian Chinese Opera Art Association has come to a successful conclusion
The 9th Overseas New Year Opera Spring Festival Gala "Golden Dragon New Year Pear Garden Love", launched by the Consulate General of the People's Republic of China in Toronto and hosted by the Canadian Chinese Opera Art Association, was successfully held on January 21 (December 11) at the Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts!
Prior to this performance, Consul General of the Consulate General of the People's Republic of China in Toronto, Luo Weidong, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and Ontario Governor Doug Ford all sent congratulatory letters for the Canadian Chinese Opera Art Association's Spring Festival Gala.
Moreover, renowned opera masters Yu Kuizhi, Li Shengsu, Yang Chi, Yuan Huiqin, Meng Guanglu, and famous host Bai Yansheng all sent their blessings for the successful hosting of the Association's Spring Festival Gala.
– 戏曲名家祝福贺词 –
The China Association of Performing Arts hosts three major series of opera performances called "Spring, Autumn, and Spring Festival" every year, each with its own style. In the spring, the famous actor Mr. Li Jun from Shanghai Peking Opera Theatre was invited to perform for two days in May, and in the early autumn, the most professional band from North America was invited to accompany the September Autumn Celebration performance. The "Happy Spring Festival" Spring Festival Gala in winter, as the association's annual finale performance, once again came to a perfect end.
This year's Spring Festival Gala has 10 sections and over 70 actors from different age groups, classes, and professions, covering performances from various professions such as Jingxing, Laodan, Qingyi, Huadan, Wudan, Daoma Dan, Xiaosheng, and Laosheng. Mr. Yang Yanyi, a national first-class actor, member of the Chinese Dramatists Association, director of the Chinese Peking Opera Performance Association, famous flower faced actor, and honorary president of the Canada China Opera Association, led a young student from the association to perform, passing on the torch and bringing wonderful performances, winning cheers from the audience.
– 杨燕毅老师与合作小演员 –
The opera performers of this Spring Festival Gala come from different age groups, classes, and professions, covering performances from various professions such as Jingxing, Laodan, Qingyi, Huadan, Wudan, Daoma Dan, Xiaosheng, and Laosheng. The school is diverse, the profession is complete, and both civil and martial arts are equally emphasized. The performance content not only includes popular cultural dramas among fans, but also martial arts dramas that fans are often not good at, with a focus on martial arts and high requirements for physical skills, in an attempt to break the long-term imbalance of "strong culture and weak martial arts". Moreover, this performance also includes other theatrical genres besides Peking Opera, such as Kunqu Opera and Yu Opera, which have their own deep audience base. It also explores and supports rare local theatrical genres such as Jiangxi Tea Picking Opera, hoping to break the trend of stage homogenization and support the development of diverse skills on the opera stage. In addition, last year, in 2023, the Canada China Film Association won six awards at the "Peace Cup", the highest competition arena for Peking Opera fans worldwide, which is known as the "Oscar of Peking Opera Fans". All the award-winning actors performed their representative works at this evening party.
In addition, Chinese and English subtitles were arranged throughout the performance, making it convenient for long-term Chinese and Western audiences of the Chinese Opera Association to enjoy, and fundamentally solving the problem of "not understanding" that audiences may have. Moreover, this performance will not only have a live stage, but also videos related to future performances will be available on Bilibili YouTube、 Small red book, official account and other platforms are released to facilitate "cloud audience" to watch Yazheng.
This performance is directed by Zhang Yanyan, the president of the association and former actor of the National Peking Opera Theatre. Zhang Yanyan and Yang Yanyi are the artistic directors, and Yang Fei, the Beijing Hu teacher of the association and former qin player of the Beijing Peking Opera Theatre, is responsible for composing, arranging, and designing the vocal music. The Canadian Chinese Opera Art Association is the only professional opera organization in Canada with the scale and ability to organize large-scale performances on its own by internal actors. Over the years, its performance level and effectiveness have been continuously improving, and it has been highly recognized and praised by audiences who love traditional Chinese culture living in Canada. Carefully prepared and well-organized, teachers who care deeply and work tirelessly, along with young, middle-aged performers from the Canada China Drama Association, once again presented the audience with a performance that poured sweat and effort.