Playwright: Liu Heng
Composer: Hao Weiya
Director: Chen Xinyi
Conductor: Lu Jia
Stage Designer: Gao Guangjian

National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) will stage a large original opera, A Female Teacher in a Village, on December 22, 2009. The original Peking Opera Red Cliff has been successfully launched for NCPA first anniversary celebration. Contributed as a gift to the second anniversary, A Female Teacher in a Village has attracted more attention and higher expectation. This will be the first realistic opera produced by the NCPA, and another Chinese original opera following Xi Shi. 

Deng Yijiang, the spokesman of the NCPA said: "As the first realistic opera produced by the NCPA, A Female Teacher in a Village tells a story happening around us at this moment. It has strongly kept up with the times and is rich in realistic significance, by which the NCPA would like to pay respect to the people of our age. "

Super credits
Consistent with the style of the NCPA, the production of this original opera has gathered again a super team in China: Liu Heng, a well-known playwright of films like Ju Dou, The Knot, Assembly, meeting the challenge of an opera for the first time; composer Hao Weiya, who composed the eighteen minutes' continuation for NCPA version Turandot; director Chen Xinyi, famous for stage operas such as A Woman's Life, Othello, Shang Yang; the stage designer Gao Guangjian, known as the "royal master" of the NCPA and Lu Jia, a renowned overseas Chinese conductor. The whole cast will also bring together well-known artists at home and abroad.

A discussion on the eternal theme of love and sacrifice
The opera presents the values and spirits of our age in a new light without setting it under urban buildings or power struggles. There are characters of pure "fairy" like Yang Caihong, honest and solid "dedicator" like Zhou Luoping, and Li Wenguang who is self-motivated but recreant. Each of the characters is presented vividly on the stage with their sincere happiness, anger, sorrow and joy. "I hope everyone can be inspired." said playwright Liu.

A moving "pastoral" song
Composer Hao Weiya hopes that he will compose a work keeping abreast of the times. "The playwright has given us a particularly touching story. I must convey the emotion through the power of music." Therefore, Hao put a lot of efforts in the details of his music. "I want to convince the audience by my music." he said.

Not only emphasis on the inspiration of the music, Hao also seeks to present in the melody a fresh and pleasant bucolic odor of South China. "I want the urban people living in the concrete jungle to smell a pastoral odor." "I feel a strong passion and conflict in a tranquil countryside, a flow of fervent and true emotion." Mr. Xu Xiaozhong, artistic director of the NCPA, gave his comments after the first audition.

Cast
Yang Caihong (Soprano)
A female teacher in the village, gentle and kind  
                                             
Zhou Luoping (Baritone)
Village head, disabled veteran, honest and solid

Li Wenguang (Tenor)
A master's degree holder, "urban citizen", snob and recreant
     
Meng Qiuxia (Soprano)
A graduate of a normal school, simple and straightforward

Lin Xifeng (Mezzo-soprano)
Villager, Li Wenguang's mother, shrewish and forthright  

Zhou Wushan (Bass)
Villager, Zhou Luoping's grandfather, simple and humorous

Villagers (Chorus)     
                                               
Students (Children's Chorus)                                          

Synopsis
The story happens in a poor mountainous area in South China. The main character, Yang Caihong, from the county town, falls in love with her classmate Li Wenguang who comes from the countryside, when they study in the normal school. After graduation, they take the positions of primary school teacher in Lanxi Village with their lofty ideals. Li Wenguang cannot stand the loneliness and poverty of the countryside and leaves to pursue further study and finally receives a master's degree, with financial support from Yang. However, he repeatedly postpones the wedding.

The story starts in the wedding preparation. The villagers are not optimistic about the marriage, and only Li Wenguang's widowed mother was excited. Yang Caihong is expecting the wedding uneasily. Li is late and claims that the marriage is cancelled because he does not love Yang anymore. Yang is distraught with grief, almost pleading him to change his mind. The widowed mother threatens to cut off the mother-child relationship. Zhou Luoping, the Village Head, criticizes Li for his disloyalty and the quarrel develops into a body conflict. The proposed wedding ends with a break-up. Yang leaves the village with sorrow, but returns halfway as she misses her pupils.

Zhou Luoping is a disabled soldier who lost one of his arms in a traffic accident when serving the army. He loves Yang secretly but was ashamed of telling her the truth, and helps the school silently. Yang falls sick from overwork and fainted in the class because of gastric bleeding. Zhou abandons his last wince and expresses his long-standing hidden love to Yang when carrying her on his back and rushing to the hospital.  Yet he regrets afterwards as he does not want Yang to be stranded in the poor village because of him or the primary school. Finally, he works as the school teacher and tries to get Yang a new job with better conditions. Yang recovers and returns to the village, and tells Zhou that in no circumstances will she give up her choice to work in the village. She also expresses her sincere and solid love to Zhou.  Both are immersed in immense bliss while the tragedy has quietly come at this moment...

It is a rainy season in the mountainous area. Yang gets drown when she rescues the boarders in the flooding canyon on the way home for summer break. Zhou and the children call for Yang and the villagers are in tears, but they can no longer see her. A year later, on the first anniversary of Yang's departing, people visit her tomb holding flowers in their hands to pay tribute. A rainbow appears in the sky along with the holy song of the children as if Yang is expressing her everlasting love and blessings for her home town and beloved ones.

Schedule
Dec. 22　
Conductor: Lu Jia　Cast: Dilber　Yuan Chenye　Ding Yi　Ruan Yuqun　Wang Lei　Guan Zhijing

Dec. 23　
Conductor: Lu Jia　Cast: Zhou Xiaolin　Sun Li　Chen Yong　Ruan Yuqun　Wang Xiaoge　Guan Zhijing

Dec. 24　
Conductor: Lu Jia　Cast: Dilber　Yuan Chenye　Chen Yong　Ruan Yuqun　Wang Lei　Guan Zhijing

Dec. 25　
Conductor: Lu Jia　Cast: Zhou Xiaolin　Sun Li　Ding Yi　Ruan Yuqun　Wang Xiaoge　Guan Zhijing

Dec. 26 (14:00)　
Conductor: Lu Jia　Cast: Zhou Xiaolin　Sun Li　Chen Yong　Ruan Yuqun　Wang Xiaoge　Guan Zhijing

Dec. 26　
Conductor: Lu Jia　Cast: Dilber　Yuan Chenye　Ding Yi　Ruan Yuqun　Wang Lei　Guan Zhijing

Dec. 27　
Conductor: Lu Jia　Cast: Dilber　Yuan Chenye　Ding Yi　Ruan Yuqun　Wang Lei　Guan Zhijing

Dec. 28　
Conductor: Lu Jia　Cast: Zhou Xiaolin　Sun Li　Chen Yong　Ruan Yuqun　Wang Xiaoge　Guan Zhijing