China Conservatory Celebrates Diamond Jubilee with The Savage Land Conducted by Li Xincao

Anniversaries in China are too often celebrated with musical equivalence to pomp and circumstances. The China Conservatory of Music, Beijing's prestigious music academy founded in 1964, chose otherwise. It premiered a new production of an opera blockbuster about vengeance and death.

On the evening of June 14th during its 60th anniversary celebration, the conservatory put up a new production of The Savage Land, an opera in four acts by Jin Xiang for two nights in a stage direction by Chen Wei. Li Xincao, the conservatory's rector and former President of the China National Symphony Orchestra, conducted the conservatory's orchestra, chorus and soloists in both performances staged at the China National Opera House in Beijing.

Dubbed as the greatest opera ever written by any Chinese composer, The Savage Land is Jin's opus magnum. The storyline is closely woven with materials taken from the award winning play by Cao Yu.

The prelude begins with a menacing chorus that echoes a bleak and hopeless situation back in the old days in China. Chouhu (sung by Gao Peng), who has spent a decade behind the bars set up by landlord Jiao, escapes from prison and seeks revenge, only to find out that his arch rival has died, and his fiancée Jinzi (the role was sung by You Hongfei on the first night and Yang Qi on the second night), was married to Jiao's son Daxing (sung by Xue Haoyin and He Haoyuan), his childhood companion. Though blinded, Mrs Jiao (sung by Hao Miao and Ruan Zixin) has sensed Chouhu's return could mean immediate danger to her household, and therefore coerces her son into getting rid of him. A determined and masculine Chouhu reunites with Jinzi, keeping a numb and soft hearted Daxing out of the loop. While the lovebirds plan to flee, in a chaos Mrs Jiao mistakenly crushes Daxing and Jinzi's baby into death with her iron cane, and Chouhu stabs Daxing's to death. Deep into the woods Chouhu gets lost. Tired of escape, he leads Jinzi to the railway and asks her to bear him a son for vengeance. In desperation, he takes his own life and the choir sings a ghost-like hymn till the end.

The 1987 masterpiece by Jin Xiang is recognized as a Chinese opera that crystalizes the sweeping force of love and hatred, thus revealing the true side of humanity in an earnest way. With his robust music and great range of dynamics, The Savage Land has captured human spirit during its darkest hour, and has celebrated the ultimate power of love through salvation.

For long the opera has been unequivocally associated with the China National Opera and Dance Drama Theatre, a national house that leaves a permanent mark on the opera's performing history by giving the opera's premiere in July 1987. "The conservatory's new production has done justice to the operatic masterpiece," says Mr Jiang Li, an opera critic based in Shanghai, "It successfully reclaims the opera as its own with Chen's effective stage direction and Li's superb job in the pit, not to mention the fantastic singers, most of them students."

Jin Xiang became a professor of the China Conservatory of Music in 1984. He remained on the faculty teaching composition intermittently till he died in December 2015 at 80, leaving behind two major operas and a canon of symphonic outputs. According to the conservatory, the opera has since then been revived by the conservatory for several runs. It is one of the favourite repertoire in graduation concerts. The piano accompaniment version of the opera adapted by the conservatory is quite popular among the students. 

With this opera production, the conservatory also aims to showcase its pedagogical achievement. According to a conservatory staff member who was involved in the production, the production has mobilized the conservatory's entire workforce including some 200 students working in stage and costume design, theatre management, props production, dramaturge under the guidance of experienced artists as part of the From Class to Stage initiative, and singing in choir or as soloists. The staff member said that students have benefited enormously from the rehearsals and the performances as everyone involved has made use of what each has learned from the classroom. 

“The production also confirms the job aspirations of a number of students involved,” said one faculty member. ”Some of them about to graduate are still debating what to do to make a career. While getting involved in the production, those struggling have made up their mind to pursue a career in music and some are determined to become an opera singer after graduation. The production pours out their love for the stage and that’s exactly what they’re trained for.”

About the From Class to Stage programme
The From Class to Stage programme was introduced to the China Conservatory of Music in December 2023. Throughout its four subsidiaries, namely the opera academy, the new music centre, the symphony orchestra and the Chinese orchestra, the programme aims to connect what is taught in the classroom with what is needed on the stage.
A launch pad for promising and aspiring students who are eager to make a career in music or in the music industry, the programme direct the conservatory's resources by offering a wide range of opportunies for both undergraduates and postgraduates to create and perform music under the guidance of experienced performing artists across all the major stages jointly developed with the conservatory's partners in Beijing.