From January 6th to 7th, the large-scale original musical "Crimson Kapok," created and performed by Xinghai Conservatory of Music, was staged for two consecutive performances at the Beijing Tianqiao Art Center, making a brilliant appearance as an important part of the 5th Beijing Tianqiao Musical Performance Season.
"The Crimson Kapok" is a biographical stage production based on the revolutionary life of Yang Yin, an early revolutionary of the Communist Party of China and a martyr from Zhongshan, Guangdong. The work uses the historical period from 1911 to 1929 as its narrative thread, focusing on Yang Yin's glorious life of dedicating himself to the revolution, pursuing truth, and sacrificing for his beliefs. Through the artistic presentation of real historical events, it vividly portrays the unwavering ideals and beliefs, and the spirit of sacrifice and dedication of early Chinese Communists. The entire play integrates individual fate and emotional writing into a grand historical narrative.
The work organically integrates Lingnan musical elements into the melody and orchestration, forming a musical style with a distinct regional cultural identity. The stage design constructs multiple scene transitions using highly condensed symbolic spaces, achieving "one scene for multiple uses," enhancing the stage's narrative tension and visual expression, and organically unifying ideological, artistic, and entertainment value.
Descendants of Comrade Yang Yin attended the performance and said, "We were deeply moved by watching 'The Red Kapok.' This play not only vividly recreates the glorious years of our predecessors' dedication to the revolution through the power of art, but also allows us to truly feel the passing down of the red spirit from generation to generation."
Since its premiere at the Zhongshan Cultural and Art Center in 2021, "The Crimson Kapok" has been performed 23 times in Zhongshan, Guangzhou, Tumushuke and other places, attracting nearly 40,000 offline audience members and reaching over one million people online. The play was selected for the 2021 Guangdong Provincial Grassroots Stage Art Masterpiece Support Program and won the second prize for large-scale stage art works at the 15th Guangdong Provincial Art Festival. Its CD album is the first independent theatrical album on a major revolutionary historical theme published and distributed by China Record Corporation. Some of its songs were selected for the 2023 National Arts Fund Small Stage Project and the National Publishing Fund and the Central Propaganda Department's key publication "Contemporary Original Music Masterpieces Collection 'The People Are the Country'".
Directed by Zhong Hao, a first-class director and chairman of the China Musical Theatre Association, with Zhao Haifeng, director of the Repertoire Creation Department of the China National Opera and Dance Drama Theater, serving as artistic director, Tao Mo, deputy secretary of the Party Committee and president of Xinghai Conservatory of Music, serving as music director, Yang Shuo, secretary-general of the China Musical Theatre Association, serving as screenwriter, Chen Si'ang, professor of the Composition Department of Xinghai Conservatory of Music, serving as composer, and Tao Lei, stage designer of the China National Opera and Dance Drama Theater, serving as visual director, the production integrates the creative and performing resources of multiple departments of Xinghai Conservatory of Music, with more than 200 teachers, students, and professionals participating. This performance in Beijing is a concentrated test of Xinghai Conservatory of Music's original artistic creation capabilities and talent cultivation achievements, and vividly demonstrates the school's commitment to the educational philosophy of "rooted in Lingnan culture, continuing the red gene, integrating science and humanities, and serving the development of the Greater Bay Area," reflecting the school's responsibility to serve the times with high-quality artistic works and cultivate new talents for the times through artistic practice.
(By Li Xiaomeng, Guangming Daily All-Media Reporter)
