After the success of the China Philharmonic Orchestra's 2002 New
Year Concert, the orchestra is ready for its next significant move.
On
January 22 and 23, the China Philharmonic Orchestra will perform
dramatic legend "La Damnation de Faust," which will be the China
premiere of this romantic work.
Featuring renowned French tenor Jean-Pierre
Furlan, Chinese baritone Liao Changyong and mezzo-soprano Cao
Zheng, the dramatic legend will be sung in French.
Under the baton of Yu Long, artistic director of the China
Philharmonic Orchestra, the Chorus of the China National Symphony
Orchestra will also join the performance.
Berlioz's "La Damnation de Faust" is one of many 19th- century
musical works based on Goethe's "Faust." This popular poem was used
by many composers who set it to music, including Wagner, Schumann
and Liszt.
Berlioz did not write an opera. He called "La Damnation de Faust" a
"dramatic legend." It is a succession of somewhat static scenes,
more like a pageant. Most of the action doesn't even happen on the
stage but "within the music."
The first performance of "La Damnation de Faust" was only attended
by a small audience. Only two performances were staged during
Berlioz's entire lifetime, both failures.
"...Faust twice performed to a half-empty room. The concert-going
Parisian public, supposed to be fond of music, stayed quietly at
home, caring as little about my new work as if I had been an
obscure student at the Conservatoire; and these two performances at
the Opera-Comique were no better attended than if they had been the
most wretched operas in the theatre's repertory..." wrote Berlioz
in his memoirs.
The failure might be due to the unfamiliarity of the audience to
Berlioz's new form of "dramatic legend," which differed from both
traditional opera and chorus works.
However, since 1877, "La Damnation de Faust" became one of the most
welcomed works in France. More than 100 productions of it were
staged in 30 years. Tunes from the work such as "Rakoczy March,"
"Dance of the Sylphs" and "Dance of the Will-o'-the-wisps" also
became favorites in concerts.
The year 2003 will mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of
Berlioz. Supported by the French Embassy in China, the China
Philharmonic Orchestra's "La Damnation de Faust" will be a tribute
to the great French composer.
In
the China Philharmonic Orchestra's performance of the work, the
three main characters, Faust, Mephistopheles and Marguerite will be
played by Jean-Pierre Furlan, Liao Changyong and Cao Zheng.
Baritone Liao is a winner of many international awards, including
first prize at the 1997 Placido Domingo Operalia Competition, the
largest international vocal competition, first prize at the Queen
Sonja International Music Competition in Norway and first prize at
the 41st Toulouse International Singing Competition in France.
Born to a farmer's family in rural Sichuan Province in Southwest
China in 1968, Liao was recruited by the Shanghai Conservatory of
Music at the age of 19. Trained under renowned professor Zhou
Xiaoyan and tenor Luo Wei, he completed his bachelor's and master's
degrees and was recently given the prestigious position of vocal
department director at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music.
On
November 10, 2000, Liao made his US debut at the Kennedy Center
singing Count di Luna in "Il Trovatore" with the Washington Opera
under the baton of Placido Domingo.
The highlights of Liao's performances in the last three years have
included performances with Jose Carreras in a joint concert to
inaugurate the Shanghai Grand Theatre, at the Bergen Music Festival
with Anne Sophie Mutter and Cecilia Bartoli, and in a joint New
Year's concert with Domingo in Shanghai.
Mezzo-soprano Cao Zheng, who also graduated from the Shanghai
Conservatory of Music, was a winner at the 1993 Palm Beach Opera
International Vocal Competition.
Cao was personally chosen by maestro Seiji Ozawa to sing
Beethoven's ninth Symphony for the recent Olympic Games in Japan,
and appeared with him again in the role of Suzuki in "Madame
Butterfly" for her debut with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in
February 1999.
Cao has also covered roles for the World Premiere of Lukas Foss's
"Griffelkin" with the New York City Opera.
Cao's recent projects include Marguerite in a concert presentation
of "La Damnation de Faust" at the Saito Kinen Festival under Ozawa,
immediately followed by her debut with Michigan Opera Theatre as
Rosina in "Il Barbiere di Siviglia" and Idamante in "Idomeneo" with
the San Francisco Opera.
(China Daily January
21, 2002)