Bonesetter\u2019s Daughter<\/em>, I looked up to see a familiar face in the crowd: Liu Xuefeng, one of the most active and independent-minded music critics in Beijing.<\/p>\nXuefeng is quite famous at home for regularly attending festivals like Bayreuth and Salzburg that most critics in China still treat as quasi-mythic entities. He\u2019s reported from La Scala, Covent Garden and the Vienna State Opera, but never before from America. I made sure to catch up with him in San Francisco Opera\u2019s pressroom at intermission.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe dedication of the audience is so much greater here than in Europe,\u201d he said. \u201cThe number of people attending a pre-concert talk, and their level of concentration, was remarkable. We\u2019re just starting to present public lectures like this in China, but they are usually feature events in themselves. We should also implement talks before every performance. Many operas that are standard in the West are still new in China.\u201d<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t want to tell him that the attendance was due more to a particularly San Francisco subject matter and the celebrity of Amy Tan than to the regular opera audience, but he quickly moved on to discuss Simon Boccanegra<\/em> and the final dress rehearsal of <\/span>Die tote Stadt<\/em>, which he\u2019d seen earlier that week. After seeing three events on three afternoons, Xuefeng is now hooked on matinee performances, which rarely take place in China.<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cThere\u2019s a huge level of acceptance in the audience here,\u201d he said. \u201cEuropean audiences would be far more picky about seeing three such completely different operas in the same place.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since I had a pretty good idea by now how the Chinese press is treated, I asked him what he thought of the SFO press office and what China had to learn.\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cFirst of all, there\u2019s mutual respect here,\u201d he said. \u201cRespect breeds responsibility. The ultimate goal is to serve the art, not for individual gain. In China, there is too much bartering for mutual benefit, and this is false both to your readers and to the art.\u201d<\/p>\nI know a bit about such bartering in China, where journalists get packets of money (the standard payment is about 200RMB [US$25] to attend a press conference, 1000 RMB [US$120] to write more than a few lines). But critics often have to temper their reviews, lest they be blacklisted by press departments and denied tickets or any media assistance for their publication.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlso, they\u2019re very good on program content\u00a0 <\/span>\u2013 the program book itself and the press materials, both of which are underdeveloped in China,\u201d he continued. \u201cThere is attention to detail and a level of preparation here that is not the rushing around at the last minute we\u2019re used to.\u201d<\/p>\nI wanted to tell Xuefeng that there was plenty of last-minute rushing around at the SFO press office, especially this early in the season, but he did have a point. I did break down and tell him that the Chinese-language materials were prepared especially for Bonesetter<\/em> and not to expect them for, say, <\/span>Porgy and Bess<\/em> later in the season.<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cPromotion for arts organizations is very new in China,\u201d he added. \u201cFive years ago, you couldn\u2019t even get production shots to run with a review. Now presenters and critics both have to think about how to sustain and develop that relationship, because that is also the way they can cultivate their audience.\u201d<\/p>\n
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