#Chinese opera code

The audience in Kaohsiung was more unanimously appreciative of Tso’s efforts as she and the rest of the cast sang against the backdrop of a production that floated abstractly through time and space from the original setting of Roman-occupied Gaul to the Cold War space race.īefore the start of the pandemic, opera lovers in Taiwan could expect local productions to feature the same stars as graced the world’s top opera houses elsewhere in the world. In 1964, The New York Times reported that “pro and anti factions” clashed with each other in the balcony of Paris’ Palais Garnier when detractors booed an interpretation of Norma by Maria Callas. The role of Norma is famously challenging for sopranos, demanding exceptional vocal range and control. Unlike in Beijing, the classics of the European canon still hold sway in Taiwan and local performers like Tso are stepping into some of opera’s most iconic roles rather than channeling revolutionary heroes.

Unlike in Taiwan, however, the changes in Beijing have extended beyond just casting: Recent opera seasons have primarily featured original works by Chinese composers, many of them displaying strident nationalist sentiment and glorifying the achievements of the Communist Party. Yet, opera has continued in Taiwan and the result has been a localization of the art form as recent productions have placed domestic singers at center stage, casting them in starring roles that might previously have gone to foreigners.Ī similar shift has taken place in Beijing, previously a regular stop for opera’s greatest global stars, but now cut off from the international circulation of artists by the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC’s) stringent border controls. Prior to 2020, many opera performances in Taiwan featured foreign singers in leading roles, but with the onset of the pandemic those stars could no longer perform in Taiwan because of the quarantine requirement. Still, one aspect of Taiwan’s successful pandemic management also posed a significant challenge to local opera productions: the two-week-long quarantine that all incoming travelers must undergo in specially designated hotels.

#Chinese opera code

Patrons wore masks and scanned a QR code to register their attendance in a national contact-tracing system, but these public health measures kept Taiwan largely COVID-free for much of the global pandemic and its performers on stage even while their counterparts around the world were stuck at home. Norma in Kaohsiung was the type of event that made the COVID pandemic feel distant, even as the Omicron wave was reaching its peak elsewhere. Even though she is treated as coldly as ice cream by her chosen lover, her love for him cannot be extinguished.”įortified with these refreshments, the crowd made its way into the theater where the Taiwanese soprano Hanying Tso-Petanaj sang the opera’s title role, one that has enticed and challenged opera’s greatest divas. Nearby, a small bar was pouring glasses of “Norma pink sparkling wine” and a local gelato stand had established a small kiosk serving “Norma sundaes.” A sign nearby explained, “the chocolate brownie is a metaphor for Norma’s fiery love. A local food truck was offering portions of Pasta alla Norma, a Sicilian eggplant dish named after Bellini’s opera because, according to a perhaps apocryphal story, a happy diner declared it to be a masterpiece on par with the bel canto classic. As buskers performed Italian arias, vendors dished out creations based on the evening’s program, Vincenzo Bellini’s Norma. As they waited to enter the theater, people explored an opera-themed bazaar set up underneath the towering canopies stretched between the wings of the sprawling performing arts center to resemble local banyan trees.

On a warm evening this past January, a crowd gathered outside the Weiwuying Opera House in Kaohsiung, Taiwan’s second largest city, more than an hour before the night’s performance was scheduled to begin.