Quanzhou Grand Theatre to add cultural glamour to port city
Quanzhou Grand Theatre, a new landmark of Quanzhou, a famous port city in Southeast China’s Fujian province, will open to the public at the end of June.
The theater is currently the largest, most advanced and most comprehensive theater in south Fujian province. The original opera Marco Polo, co-produced by Chinese and Italian artists, will be presented as the opening performance of the theater.
As an important economic hub in China’s southeast coastal area, Quanzhou is also renowned as the birthplace of Minnan (southern Fujian) culture. Nanyin music, Liyuan opera and puppet shows are cultural cards Quanzhou has played well at home and abroad.
Quanzhou is building a multicultural development center in its prime area consisting of four landmark buildings: the Quanzhou Grand Theatre, Quanzhou Science and Technology and Planning Museum, Donghai Worker’s Cultural Palace and the Quanzhou Library, which is in the shape of the erythrina, Quanzhou’s city flower.
Quanzhou Grand Theatre was designed with a theme of the “Melody of the Maritime Silk Road”. The façade and interior design of the building takes in the marine elements such as the layers of waves and glistening sea, which not only creates a light and transparent effect like silk, but also reflects the rhythm of dance and music. They capture the cultural characteristics of Quanzhou as the starting point of the Maritime Silk Road.
The theater has a 1,442-seat opera hall and a 492-seat concert hall, both of which are equipped with international advanced facilities to meet the needs of complex performances. The concert hall employs state-of-the-art acoustic building materials to guarantee high quality sound.
The opera hall of the Quanzhou Grand Theatre
The concert hall of the Quanzhou Grand Theatre
The theater announces at a press conference that it will stage Marco Polo as its opening performance starting on June 30.
The Chinese original opera Marco Polo, with a cast of nearly 200, was produced and presented by China Arts and Entertainment Group Ltd (CAEG), CPAA Theatres, the Silk Road International League of Theatres and Guangzhou Opera House. It is directed by Kaspar Holten, former Opera Director at the Royal Opera House in London, and composed by Enjott Schneider, director of the German Association of Composers.
The opera is a three-act creation in Chinese, recounting the legendary travels of Marco Polo and his father and uncle to and from China through the Silk Road and the Maritime Silk Road. The opera also charts the romance between Marco Polo and a young Chinese woman named Chuan Yun and the rise and fall of the Song and Yuan dynasties (960-1368).
The theater is about to launch the opening performance season lasting for over a month, in which it will offer 19 performances of various types, including evening performances of singing and dancing given by China Oriental Performing Arts Group, a piano solo concert by famous pianist Li Yundi, the Broadway original musical The Wizard of Oz, and other performances presented by brilliant domestic and foreign artists.
“In years to come, Quanzhou Grand Theatre will give due consideration to the characteristics of Quanzhou city and its cultural development, and make full use of the resources and platform advantages of the CAEG and CPAA Theatres to initiate a branded art festival, create an original play and spread Quanzhou culture,” said Qin Wenhuan, deputy general manager of the CAEG.
