On Wednesday night, Visitors on the Snow Mountain, a new Chinese opera produced by the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) in Beijing, will have its Shanghai debut at Shanghai Culture Square on Fuxing Road Middle.

 

The opera's story and music are based on a 1963 black-and-white Chinese film of the same title.

Set in 1951, when the frontier of northwestern China was infested by spies and guerillas from neighboring countries, the movie tells the spy-against-spy story of a group of PLA (People's Liberation Army) frontier soldiers in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. They avoid pitfalls of many kinds and suppress spies in the form of beautiful Uyghur girls and merchants.

The film was a nationwide hit in China. Songs from the movie such as "Why the Flowers Are So Red" and "Memories of Comrades" are known by many and still frequently performed today.

The music for the movie was written by Lei Zhenbang. His daughter Lei Lei, who herself is a famous movie composer, did the music for the opera.

Lei Lei's husband, lyricist Yi Ming, adapted the story for the stage. It is directed by well-known theater director Chen Xinyi.

The music is performed by the NCPA Orchestra led by conductor Lu Jia. The singers include Han and Uyghur people.

Lei Lei told the Global Times that she did not set out to surpass her father's music in the film. Instead, she took the six interludes from the movie and adapted them for the opera.

"The six songs from the movie had to stand out," Lei said, adding that while the opera has its own identity, it also stays close to the movie. "The opera was the joint effort of two generations of composers," she added.

In 2006, Lei visited the Tashkurgan Tajik Autonomous County on the Pamirs Plateau in farwest Xinjiang, where her father came to create the film's music. When she was there, she coincidentally met the local folk musicians who introduced her father to some local music in the 1960s and helped him with the score.

"This made me have a better feeling about the beauty of the music my father created for the film," Lei said.

She stayed with a local family of the Tajik nationality. They gave her an eagle flute, a traditional musical instrument made from the wing bone of an eagle.

The instrument will also be used during the opera.

Playwright Yi Ming also feels a special closeness to the opera.

(From top) Scenes from the Chinese opera Visitors on the Snow Mountain which is to be staged on Wednesday night at Shanghai Culture Square Photos: Courtesy of the performing venue

"I am familiar with the songs in the film and I respect my father-in-law very much," Yi said.

"For both these reasons, I feel close to this opera and I am motivated and passionate about working on it. It is not only the music that is being passed on, but also the affection between people and families," Yi added.

The iconic scenery of the film, including the snow mountain, the red flowers of the Pamirs Plateau and the white poplar trees, also features in the opera's set.

The snow mountain is created using a kind of glass fabric. When the stage lighting is shining on it, the folds of the fabric look like the ridges on the snow mountain.

Date: Wednesday, 7:15 pm

Venue: Shanghai Culture Square

上海文化广场

Address: 597 Fuxing Road Middle

复兴中路597号

Tickets: 80 yuan ($12.79) to 680 yuan

Call 6472-6000 for details