11/6/06

Today’s morning session got off to a great start as Tan Dun, the composer and conductor, and Zhang Yimou, the director, gave a production presentation to the cast and staff of this production. We started by having everyone introduce themselves. Zhang Yimou, one of China’s best-known movie directors, met many of the cast members for the first time. We learned that he was actually born and raised in the area around Xian, where the historical First Emperor lived and consolidated his power, uniting seven warring kingdoms to create the first Chinese Empire in about 221 B.C. Zhang Yimou described the historical facts that are known about Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor, including these: he began the project of building the Great Wall, he standardized weights and measures throughout China, he unified the system of road widths and the size of cart wheels, thereby increasing transportation, and he also standardized the written Chinese language. In addition, the vast underground army of terra cotta warriors, discovered near Xian in the 1970’s, was constructed on his orders as a way to protect his soul in the afterlife. He also was a brutal ruler, and caused the deaths of many thousands of his own people. In standardizing the language, he ordered that all the old books and records be burned, and he also carried on many wars in order to solidify his rule. Tan Dun pointed out that in tackling this piece, he was interested in exploring the contradictions in this ruler, a man who wanted to establish the peace, but who inevitably must wage wars in order to do so.

Zhang Yimou also introduced the scenic design, and showed everyone photographs of the scenery, which were taken when it was set up for the first time on the Met’s stage in August for preliminary lighting rehearsals. He also introduced Emi Wada, the costume designer, who has worked with him before on his movies Hero and The House of Flying Daggers. Emi Wada then introduced her beautiful sketches for the stunningly colorful costumes she has designed for this production.

Fan Yue, Zhang Yimou, and Wang Chaoge
Photo: Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera

After the lunch break, the cast reassembled for the first sing-through of the score, with piano. Tan Dun conducted them, and while everyone wasn’t yet letter perfect on their parts (Plácido Domingo joked that there would be a $5 fine for every mistake!), it was very exciting for everyone to hear what the opera sounds like for the first time! Wu Hsing-Kuo, a famous Peking Opera performer from Taiwan is the first singer we hear in Act One, and everyone was very impressed with the very Chinese sound of his music and his voice. It seems that this piece is going to result in lots of interesting cross-cultural discoveries!

This entry was posted by Peter McClintock on Monday, November 13th, 2006 at 3:04 pm and is filed under The First Emperor. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.