The essence of Chinese Opera comes to Hue Festival 2024

Zhejiang Opera embodies its own distinctive personality and style, emphasizing a balanced integration of folk elements and martial arts (Festival Photo)

Different from Peking Opera (which originated in Beijing) known to many, Zhejiang Opera (婺剧) is a genre of opera with its roots in Zhejiang province, showcasing its own distinctive personality and style, emphasizing a balanced integration of folk elements and martial arts, seamlessly incorporating both aspects in artistic presentation.

Established in 1956, the Zhejiang Wu Opera Research Center of China has performed in 49 countries and territories across 5 continents. Over nearly 70 years of formation and development, the Zhejiang Wu Opera Research Center of China has actively restored, developed, and innovated, enriching the traditional art of Zhejiang Opera.

At the Hue Festival 2024, the Zhejiang Wu Opera Research Center will introduce highlighted performances (Festival Photo)

The performances are filled with inspiration and emotional appeal, featuring graceful choreography, dazzling martial arts, resounding music, and well-defined character personalities portrayed through costumes and appearances, promising audiences captivating and remarkable performances.

Participating in the Hue Festival 2024 in Hue Ancient Capital, the Center will present and perform some highlighted excerpts such as: the 9 part Dragon Dance (perfectly depicting the dragon's movements symbolizing auspiciousness and vitality); the opera "Lü Bu Tames the Red Hare" (recounting the conquest of the Red Hare by the famous general Lü Bu during the Three Kingdoms period); Solo performance of the "Apple Picking" (a song about happiness, commonly used in autumn gatherings, expressing passion, describing the northern Chinese villagers in autumn, picking apples and chatting together); the opera "Three Battles with the White Bone Demon" (telling the story of Tang Monk and his disciples going to India to seek scriptures, where the White Bone Demon wants to eat the monk and transforms three times into human forms to carry out the scheme but is discovered and defeated by Sun Wukong); the opera "Xuzhou Walls" with a 6-minute excerpt focusing on choreography, showcasing stunning martial arts moves (telling the story of a female warrior fighting against celestial soldiers and generals in the city of Xuzhou).

Taking place from June 7th to 12th, the International Art Festival Week Hue 2024 with the theme "Cultural Heritage with Integration and Development" promises to bring new and unique experiences of culture, history, and art to the people and visitors.