Music critic Michael Anthony has written extensively on DRC throughout our evolution. On this new chamebr version he has written two long articles:

1.MinnPost:

2. Classical Voice North America:

MINNEAPOLIS — Bright Sheng, a recipient of a MacArthur “genius” grant and one of the leading composers of our time, told an audience at a pre-show dinner at the University of Minnesota’s Campus Club on Nov. 23 that he was dubious when approached more than a decade ago about composing an opera on Dream of the Red Chamber, one of the iconic novels of Chinese literature.

A sprawling, five-volume work of the late 18th century by Cao Xueqin with 120 chapters and 400 characters chronicling the decline of an aristocratic family in imperial China, the novel had already inspired numerous films, two TV series, and a handful of Chinese operas. But never had the story made it onto the international operatic stage — and never in English.

Like most Chinese and Chinese-Americans, Sheng had read the novel several times, first as a teenager in his native Shanghai during the Cultural Revolution, when it was banned. He understood the scope of the task, and he asked the prolific playwright David Henry Hwang to collaborate with him on it. Together they had written a successful multi-cultural chamber opera, The Silver River, that was premiered in 1997 at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival. Hwang also thought the book too big to adapt. But then Sheng came up with the workable idea of paring the story down to its core, which he saw as a love story about a mythological Stone and Flower who come down to earth from heaven, where they are reincarnated as humans so that they can experience and express their love. The outcome is wistful and sad.

“We tried to be faithful to the novel,” Sheng told the diners at the Campus Club. “But above all, I wanted it to be touching. My hope was that at least one person in the audience seeing this opera would cry.”

San Francisco Opera premiered the work in 2016, giving it a lavish production, taking it to Hong Kong and mainland China, and then reviving it in San Francisco six years later, the first time this venerable company had ever revived one of its commissioned works. And now, in November 2024, Dream of the Red Chamber was premiered in a new, scaled-down version in Ted Mann Concert Hall at the University of Minnesota, a collaboration of the university’s Opera Theater program and the Twin Cities-based Chinese Heritage Foundation (CHF), which, going back to 2011, had provided the initial funding for what came to be called “the Dream project.”

“This is a work of profound artistic importance,” said Matthew Shilvock, managing director of San Francisco Opera, who had flown to Minneapolis the night before to see the production at Ted Mann. “This is a piece, with its blending of Eastern and Western cultures, that brought new audiences to San Francisco in a way that hadn’t happened before. And it’s amazing to see the work come full circle, moving from the Twin Cities to San Francisco, then to Hong Kong and Beijing and several other Chinese cities and finally back to Minneapolis.”

(Shilvock confirmed that his company will premiere next season an operatic version of another Chinese literary classic, The Monkey King, with music by Huang Ruo and libretto by the ever-busy David Henry Hwang.)

“There was a need to present a smaller version of this opera, so we could bring the message to a wider audience,” said Pearl Lam Bergad, executive director of CHF and the core organizer behind the commissioning of Dream of the Red Chamber. She dedicated the Nov. 23 performance to Ming Li Tchou, a prominent leader of the Twin Cities Chinese community, who died at the age of 100 on Nov. 1. In 2004, on the occasion of her 80th birthday, Ming created the CHF with a mission to promote and perpetuate Chinese culture, history, and arts through education and to encourage innovation in the arts.

“Ming was totally committed to producing this opera,” Bergad said. “She gave the initial money for the commission. She said to me, ‘I will see it through.’ “

The goal of this new work, which was given four performances at Ted Mann, was to create a version of the opera suitable for universities and medium-sized opera companies, neither of which would likely have the resources to mount so opulent a production as was seen in San Francisco, said to be budgeted at $5 million.

How different was this chamber-opera version from the original? Changes to the actual score and the text were minimal, Sheng said. He made only a few cuts in the vocal lines and the orchestra parts. Two choral numbers, one at the start of the opera and another at the end, both sung by beggars, were cut.

Even so, for someone who saw both San Francisco productions, this new version, staged by David Walsh, and conducted so persuasively by Mark Russell Smith, seems like and certainly feels like a different show, even though it isn’t. Walsh and his capable creative team have made some bold and often clever choices: extensive use of projections, for instance (the careful work of John Marks), not just onto the stage but on the side walls of the hall, and an eye-filling set both spacious and intricately detailed, in the upper reaches of which was an ornate bridge that allowed characters to arrive and exit as if to and from a great distance. John Lutz created the imaginative set. Tim Yip, the Oscar-winning designer of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, served as artistic consultant. Kim Griffin designed the opulent costumes.

Usually, when a big production is re-imagined for use by schools and smaller companies, the result is rather plain and sparse — a reduction, in other words. This one, even though it is, according to reports, the most expensive the Opera Theater has ever presented, never looks like an effort in cost-cutting.

Walsh’s basic set-up was unusual and worked to everyone’s benefit. The orchestra sat onstage behind the set — we never really saw Smith or his excellent players — and the stage was extended out into the audience to accommodate what was surely the production’s chief innovation, the use of dancers, both as a substitute for choristers and as a way of expanding the emotional impact of the solo numbers. The result was immersive, offering a more intimate — and certainly more moving — experience of the story and the characters than was the case on the big stage in San Francisco, good as that production was.

Zhongmei Li, who came to the U.S in 1991 after several years as a principal dancer in her native China and remains much in demand as a freelance choreographer, designed the show’s energizing, graceful, and often dramatic dance numbers, fusing Chinese dance tradition with a modern-dance sensibility, working with an ensemble of about a dozen dancers made up of students and local dancers as well as with three New York-based virtuoso solo dancers — Johnson Guo, Xinyi Zhang, and Miaotian Sun — who act as body doubles or avatars for a particular main character.

Those with long memories here might recall a time when the University School of Music’s strength was thought to be the teaching of theory and composition and that in areas of performance it was weak, chiefly because the school didn’t have a decent concert hall. That changed in 1993, when Ted Mann was dedicated. The voices heard on this occasion, all of them from students, sounded like professionals, and these singers, thanks, one might suppose, to some magic wand that only Walsh operates, actually can act.

And this opera needs actors. The story is essentially a love triangle. When Stone and Flower come down to earth, Stone becomes Bao Yu (the fine lyric tenor Xi Yuan), spoiled heir to the wealthy Jia family, and Flower turns into Dai Yu (coloratura soprano Jinglei Yao), a sickly poetic young woman who comes to live with the Jias after the death of her mother. The two are seriously in love, but Bao Yu’s mother orders him to marry Bao Chai (mezzo-soprano Huiyin Tan), a beautiful heiress, to pay back the Jia family’s debut to the emperor.

The singers made these characters and their situations real. The shy Dai Yu sits alone in the second scene of Act One playing her qin, an ancient plucked zither (the actual playing was by the gifted James Chang), singing a gentle song, floating delicate soft notes in her upper register, her spirit portrayed by Zhang’s ethereal dancing. She is soon joined by Bao Yu, and their duet becomes more passionate as they vow that together they “will prove that beauty can transform the world.”

Their ideals eventually crumble into dust, as the story’s narrator, a Taoist monk, had predicted. Bao Yu’s mother, Lady Wang, tricks Bao Yu into marrying the wrong person, Bao Chai, a more practical type who offers sage advice: “A woman’s only chance for happiness is to marry well.” Dai Yu burns the poems she had written to her beloved Bao Yu and drowns herself in a nearby lake.

Among the many accomplished singers were Ying Yang (Lady Wang), Xinyi Zhou (Princess Jia), Yun Kyong Lee (Granny Jia), Wendy Matsutani (Aunt Xue), and Yuran Liu (Imperial Messenger).

The amazing 87-year-old Chungliang Al Huang, philosopher, actor, dancer, calligrapher, and author of many books, including the classic Embrace Tiger, Return to Mountain, which has been translated into 17 languages, played the monk with a wry, jaunty air that suggested the kind of wisdom you might not want to take too seriously. We might call this monk a Chinese Sportin’ Life.

Finally, one of the pleasant surprises of this new version of Dream of the Red Chamber was how good the orchestra sounded. Usually, when an orchestra plays onstage behind a big set, the result is muffled sound. But Smith, who has served as director of the school’s orchestral studies since 2007, had his young musicians playing with agile intensity, delivering big, bright tones throughout the evening, making Sheng’s deft orchestration and deep lyricism sound inspired. (David Carrillo, James Chang, and Leon Kobayashi were the assistant conductors.)

Surely Sheng’s wish came true here. Not just one but quite a few in the audience might have shed at least a tear or two as this story progressed to its sad and bleak conclusion.

Walsh and his people accomplished a great deal. Was there anything to complain about? Yes. Perhaps the beggars’ choruses shouldn’t have been cut. They add something, a sense of social realism, of class consciousness that is worth considering even in a love story.

Original essay by Michael Anthony reprinted and translated with permission from Classical Voice North America.

明尼苏达大学把史诗作品《红楼梦》搬上舞台

这部歌剧改编自一部长达五卷的鸿篇巨制，聚焦于神话中的宝玉和仙花之间的爱情故事。

作者：迈克尔 · 安东尼 (Michael Anthony)

2024 年 11 月 25 日

歌剧《红楼梦》剧照，马克 ·斯坦利 (Mark D Stanley) 摄

盛宗亮是麦克阿瑟“天才”奖获得者，也是我们这个时代最杰出的作曲家之一。周六 (11月23日)晚，在明尼苏达大学校园俱乐部举办的演出前晚宴上，他告诉观众，十多年前，当有人邀请他根据中国文学的经典小说之一《红楼梦》创作一部歌剧时，他曾犹豫不决。

这部五卷本的巨著是曹雪芹 18 世纪末创作的，共 120 回，400 多个人物，记录了中国封建社会一个贵族家庭的盛衰。这部小说已经改编成多部电影、两部电视剧和几部中国歌剧。但此前，该小说从未登上国际歌剧舞台，也从未被改编成英文。

跟大多数中国人和华裔美国人一样，盛先生读过这本小说 – 他读过好几遍呢。第一次读是在文化大革命期间，当时盛还是个十几岁的孩子，在家乡上海，这部小说当时是禁书。他明白这项任务的艰巨性，于是邀请多产的剧作家黄哲伦与他合作。他们曾一起创作了一部成功的多元文化室内歌剧《银河》，在圣达菲室内音乐节首演。黄哲伦也认为这部作品太宏大了，不适合改编。但盛想出了一个可行的办法，将故事精简到核心。他认为这是一个爱情故事，讲述的是神话中的玉石和仙花从天堂来到人间，转世为人，体验和表达他们的爱。结局令人伤感。

“我们尽量忠实于小说原著”，盛说。“但最重要的是，我希望它能打动人心。我希望至少有一个观众在看这部歌剧时会流泪。”

旧金山歌剧院于 2016 年首演了这部制作豪华的作品，并把它带到香港和中国大陆巡演。六年后在旧金山再次上演，这是这家老牌歌剧院首次重新上演其委托作品。上周末，《红楼梦》的新室内乐版在明尼苏达大学的泰德 · 曼音乐厅首演，这是明尼苏达大学歌剧院和位于双城的中国传龙基金会 (Chinese Heritage Foundation) 合作的成果。早在 2011 年，该基金会就为后来被称为这个 “梦想项目”的计划提供了初始资金。

“这是一部具有深远艺术意义的作品，”旧金山歌剧院总经理马修 · 希尔沃克 (Matthew Shilvock) 说道。他前一天晚上飞到双城，在泰德 · 曼音乐厅观看了这部歌剧。“这部作品融合了东西方文化，以一种前所未有的方式为旧金山带来了新的观众。这部作品的巡演之旅从双城来到旧金山，然后到香港、北京和其他几个中国城市，最后回到明尼阿波利斯，这真是令人惊叹。”

（希尔沃克证实，他的歌剧院将在下一季首演另一部中国文学经典《西游记》的歌剧版，该剧由黄若作曲，当今最忙碌的戏剧家之一黄哲伦撰写剧本。）

“我们需要上演一部小型版的歌剧，这样我们才能把信息传递给更广泛的观众，” 传龙基金会执行董事、《红楼梦》委托演出的核心组织者林璧珠女士 (Pearl Lam Bergad) 说道。她将周六晚的演出献给了双城华人社区的著名领袖朱黎慧明女士 (Ming Li Tchou)。朱女士于 11 月 1 日因摔倒和中风并发症去世，享年 100 岁。2004 年，在她 80 岁生日之际，朱黎慧明女士创立了传龙基金会，其使命是通过教育推广和传承中国文化、历史、和艺术，并鼓励艺术创新。

“朱女士全身心投入了这部歌剧的制作，”林璧珠女士说。“她为委托提供了首笔资金。她对我说，‘我会坚持到底。’”

这部新作品上周末在泰德 · 曼音乐厅演出了四场，其目标是打造一部适合大学和中型歌剧院的缩小版歌剧，这两种单位 (大学和中型歌剧院) 可能都没有足够的资源来制作像旧金山那样豪华的作品，据说预算为 500 万美元。（考虑到物价上涨的因素，2022 年的复演成本可能会更高。）

这个室内歌剧版本与原版有何不同？盛说，实际乐谱和歌词的改动很小。他只在声乐和管弦乐部分做了一些删减。两首合唱被删减了，一首在歌剧开头，另一首在歌剧结尾，都是乞丐演唱的。

尽管如此，对于看过旧金山两部作品的人来说，这部由大卫 · 沃尔什 (David Walsh) 执导、马克 · 罗素 · 史密斯 (Mark Russell Smith) 令人信服的指挥的新版本，似乎和感觉上都像是一场不同的演出，尽管事实并非如此。沃尔什和他能干的创作团队做出了一些大胆而又聪明的选择——例如，大量使用投影（约翰 · 马克斯 (John Marks) 的精心之作），不仅在舞台上，而且在剧场的两侧墙壁上，以及一个既宽敞又精致的令人眼花缭乱的布景，在布景的上部有一座华丽的天桥，让角色可以像从很远的地方来来去去一样到达和离开。约翰 · 卢茨 (John Lutz) 创造了富有想象力的布景。荣获奥斯卡奖的《卧虎藏龙》设计师叶锦添 (Tim Yip) 被任命为艺术顾问。

歌剧《红楼梦》剧照。 马克 · D · 斯坦利   摄

通常，当大型作品被重新构思以供学校和小歌剧院演出时，结果会相当平淡和简陋——换句话说，就是缩简版。虽然这部室内版歌剧也是被重新构思的作品，但一点也看不出有削减成本的考虑。尽管有报道说，这是明大歌剧院有史以来最昂贵的演出，

沃尔什的基本设置很不寻常，对每个人都很有利。管弦乐队安排在舞台布景后面——我们实际上从未看到史密斯和他的优秀演奏者——舞台延伸到观众席，以适应这部作品的主要创新——即使用舞者，既代替了合唱队，又进一步展现了独唱歌手的情感。结果是观众感觉身临其境，提供了比旧金山大舞台更亲密——当然也更感人——的故事和人物体验，尽管那部作品很出色。

一九九一年来美之前，李忠梅在中国担任了几年首席舞蹈演员，现在仍是一名炙手可热的自由编导。她为该剧设计的舞蹈充满活力、优雅、且富有戏剧性。她将中国舞蹈的传统与现代舞蹈的感性融为一体，与该剧由十几名学生和当地舞蹈演员组成的舞蹈团队以及三名从纽约请来的独舞大师合作。这三人分别扮演剧中一位主角的替身或化身：郭 · 约翰逊、张歆艺和孙淼天。

记忆力好的人们可能还记得，明尼苏达大学音乐学院曾经的优势在于教授理论和作曲，而表演方面则比较欠缺，主要是因为学校没有像样的音乐厅。1993 年，泰德 · 曼音乐厅 (Ted Mann Concert Hall) 落成后，情况发生了变化。尽管上周六夜晚舞台上出演的都是学生，但她/他们的演唱丝毫不逊于专业演员。而这些歌手，人们可能会认为，多亏了只有沃尔什能操控的魔杖，他们才真正会演戏。

而这部歌剧需要演员。这个故事本质上是一个三角恋故事。当玉石和仙花下凡时，玉石变成了宝玉（优秀抒情男高音席源饰演），富裕贾家被宠坏的继承人，而仙花变成了黛玉（花腔女高音姚惊蕾饰演），一个病态的诗意年轻女子，在母亲死后搬到贾家生活。两人真心相爱，但宝玉的母亲命令他娶美丽的女继承人宝钗（女中音谭慧音饰演），以报答皇帝对贾家的恩宠。

歌手们将这些角色和他们的处境演绎得惟妙惟肖。在第一幕第二场，害羞的黛玉独自坐着弹奏她的古琴（实际上由天才的张建德 (James Chang)演奏），唱着一首温柔的歌，高音区飘荡着细腻柔和的音符，舞蹈演员飘逸的舞姿展现出了她的精神。很快宝玉也加入了她的表演，他们的二重唱变得更加充满激情，他们发誓“他们将一起证明美可以改变世界”。

正如故事的叙述者——一位道教僧人所预言的那样，他们的理想化为尘土。宝玉的母亲王夫人欺骗宝玉，让他娶了一个他不爱的人——宝钗，一个更务实的人。她给了她明智的建议：“一个女人获得幸福的唯一机会就是嫁得好。”  黛玉烧掉了她写给心爱的宝玉的诗，并在附近的一个湖里自尽了。

在众多出色的歌手中，有杨颖（王夫人）、周心怡（贾元春）、李允景（贾母）、松谷温迪（薛姨妈）和刘玉然（钦差大臣）等。

歌剧《红楼梦》剧照。 马克 · D · 斯坦利   摄

令人惊叹的是，现年 87 岁的黄忠良是一位哲学家、演员、舞蹈家、书法家，也是多部专著的作者，其中包括被翻译成 17 种语言的经典著作《抱虎归山》。他在剧中扮演的道士既幽默又调皮、既轻快又诙谐，透露出一种你也许不想太当真的智慧。

最后，新版《红楼梦》的又一个惊喜是周六晚上管弦乐队的演奏效果非常好。通常，当管弦乐队在大型舞台后面演奏时，声音会比较压抑。但自 2007 年以来一直担任明尼苏达大学管弦乐研究主任的史密斯让年轻的音乐家们演奏得敏捷而有力度，整晚都发出响亮的音调，使盛宗亮先生娴熟的编曲和深沉的抒情听起来很有灵感。（大卫 · 卡里罗、詹姆斯 · 张和利昂 · 小林是助理指挥。）

毫无疑问，盛的愿望在周六实现了。随着这个故事发展到悲伤的结局，观众中不止一个人，而是不少人都感动得流泪了。

沃尔什和他的团队这个周末取得了很大的成就。有什么遗憾之处吗？有：也许不应该删掉乞丐乐队的合唱。它们会增加一些内涵，一种社会现实感和阶级意识，即使在爱情故事中也值得考虑。