MY ONE SPECIAL DAY AT THE OPERA IN BRUSSELS, BELGIUM

穿着男高音的戏服，wow，好重，但是好漂亮！

 With Tenor Jeremy Ovenden. I'm actually in his costume!

纪念亨德尔逝世250周年，由拿督黄纪达基金会发起，与比利时顶级歌剧院皇家马内歌剧院联袂制作的亨德尔新版歌剧《Semele》（塞魅丽）已于布鲁塞尔首演，近期前往北京，成为历史上首次在中国演出的巴洛克歌剧。2010年会亮相上海。

Handel's opera “Semele” written in the Baroque period has not been performed for a long time.  I am not sure exactly when this opera was written, but I would assume around the 1700's.   

This performance of “Semele” that I attended was produced in the beautiful Theatre Royal de la Monnaie Opera House in Brussels, Belgium as the opening opera of the season.  The co-producer is my friend Lady Linda Davies黄铃玳爵士夫人 (she was married to a British Lord, thus the title Lady).  She used her cultural foundation KT Wong Foundation to support the enormously expensive performance.  It was her vision and her dream. 

The performance was dedicated to her mother.  Linda was born in Malaysia, but lived in the UK most of her life.  She set up a foundation in her father's name and has done some magnificent work in cultural exchange including seminars and flower shows.  A very impressive lady!  She has been working on this opera for over 2 years.  Like everything she has done before, the opera was really well produced, a first class job.  Even the brochure was done elegantly. 

Since I was in London, and quite close to Brussels, I took the Eurostar train for 5 hours to see the performance and returned to London the same day.  It was a very long and tiring day, but it was really a very special experience which I am sharing with you.

The foundation of the opera is Handel's music of course.  After all it is an opera.  The music is Baroque which I so rarely hear.  The conductor Christophe Rousset is a very well-known Baroque expert.  The orchestra is interesting with some instruments that are rarely seen.  There were also some good singers.  The Tenor that sang Jupiter was Jeremy Ovenden and he was real good.  I was particularly fascinated with the Counter-Tenor whose voice is of course a much higher one than the traditional tenor.  I rarely heard such.
 

"Because man himself is a monster, god is also a monster."

--Zhang Huan(Director)

“Semele” is based on a classical Greek myth.  The story plays upon the confusion and consequences brought by passion, jealousy and burning desires and the blurring of reality with dreams.  It is the story of a "Material Girl" who, despite being betrothed and having captivated the ultimate prize of Jupiter, King of the Gods, the vain Semele still remains dissatisfied placing unrealistic demands upon her immortal lover that ultimately leads to her destruction. 

“因”和“果”，欲望和兽性是《塞魅丽》的核心问题。正因为人本身是怪兽，神也是怪兽。人类具备动物的本性，有一个内在的野兽。欲望、贪恋、以及对控制和拥有的渴求是我们不能改变的。人类不得不永远无休在退化中发展。循环往复。回到原初。

从中国泊来的450年历史的家族祠堂被完好的复原在Samele的舞台上

在戏中，这座祠堂是塞魅丽结婚的圣殿，是创造爱情的天堂，是她被摧毁的坟墓，也是她获得重生的圣土。

As a Chinese, you will find this opera very interesting because almost all the visuals are Chinese.  It starts with the set.  It is a beautiful old Chinese temple that was literally transported to Brussels from China.  It was a very old house with beautiful pillars.  The lighting was also superbly done by Wolfgang Göbbel from Germany, one of the world's greatest stage lighting designers. 

“老实说，我从来没有想过自己能有机会成为西方歌剧的导演和舞台设计，特别是原版歌剧，对我来说是如此的遥远和陌生。尽管我做了多年的行为艺术，这是完全不同的表演类型。回顾我与剧院注定的缘分，又是看起来有些荒谬，但是突然间它仍是我命运的一部分。”——导演张洹

Zhang Huan, a famous Chinese visual artist was the director and the stage designer.  It was stunning!  The other visuals were like white Chinese dragon, Chinese monk saffron robes worn by the chorus, Mongolian wrestlers.  Han Feng, my talented designer friend designed the magnificent costumes.  Typically of Han Feng, she is able to use very common Chinese fabrics and make them into sumptuous gowns for stage.  Really proud of her yet another achievement!
 

韩枫设计的舞台服装

The 2 female singers were Chinese, too.  Huang Ying, one of my favorite Chinese singers whose performance of “Madame Butterfly” at the Metropolitan Opera a couple of years ago brought the house down.  She was the lead soprano.  Although Baroque was not her forte, she did a marvelous job.  The last act was particularly taxing to her, as she was on stage throughout.  Liang Ning was the superb Cantonese Alto.  Both of them made such impression with us.  I saw a lot of people in the audience that travelled from all over Europe to come to listen to the opera. 

Me with Female Leads Huang Ying(Left) and Liang Ning(Right)

Brussels is an old city.  All the architecture is old.  Even the audience seems like an older one (because it is the matinee performance, I guess) but the reaction was that although the opera too was old, the Chinese interpretation made the whole performance feel uniquely new.  Even the love-making scene and the naked women on stage were unexpected!

Hey, when this opera comes to China, I encourage you all to see it.  It will probably come at end of this year and next year to Beijing and Shanghai. Oh, I really hope you can share in this wonderful experience!

Lady Linda Davies, Conductor Christophe Rousset and me in the gorgeous opera house