If the staging of a Kunqu opera is literature rendered in three dimensional form, the flow of instrumental music would be a new reading experience extended from literature. An incidental invitation has given rise to a new direction in aesthetics.  The abstract qualities of melodies can extract even more emotive imaginings from the ancient rhymes and texts. This is a rare feast for the ears and an exceptional experience of sensations for every listener and member of the audience.

In this encounter between the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra and Kunqu Opera, the two perennial theatre favourites, Peony Pavilion and The Palace of Eternal Life, have shed most of their visual and dramatic elements of the stage. Through the musical notes, the singing and reciting of Zhang Jun, lauded “the Prince of Kunqu”, the audience is given a whole new experience erstwhile unknown as reader of texts.  Similarly, the newly adapted version of the encounter between Du Liniang and Liu Mengmei, and the relationship between Emperor Ming of Tang and Lady Yang, are merged into the musical notes. Their life and death, the beauty of their stories, all can be diluted or intensified by your own imagination. And this is the most unique feature of this performance, which offers us a new aesthetic experience to be remembered.

Peony Pavilion　Composed and arranged by Gu Guanran based on the vocal music of the original Kunqu opera
1. Overture
2. Introduction ‘Who would feel tormented by spring as I?’
3. Jin-Chan-Dao ‘The doors are locked’
4. Shan-Po-Yang ‘Passions thrive in spring without a cause’
5. Shan-Tao-Hong ‘Round the corner, to the railing by the peony’
6. Talking to the Portrait (Spoken line delivery and music)
7.‘If only the moon that set would rise again, the lamp would be lit again’
8. Jiang-Er-Shui ‘My heart is fleetingly drawn’
9. Finale

The Palace of Eternal Life　Composed and arranged by Jin Fuzai based on the vocal music of the original Kunqu opera
The first movement: Memories of Tang in its Most Glorious

1. Duan-Zheng-Hao

The second movement: The An-Shi Uprising
2. Dao-Dao-Ling
3. Tuo-Bu-Shan

The third movement: Song of the Rainbow Dress
4. Qi-Yan-Hui
5. Xiao-Liang-Zhou

The fourth movement: At Maweipo
6. Yao-Pian

The fifth movement: Everlasting Regret
7. Qi-Yan-Hui
8. The Emperor Holds Court
9. Coda