The world premiere production of The First Emperor, a historical pageant of ancient China, will open on December 21, 2006. The new work, commissioned by The Met, will be composed and conducted by Tan Dun and staged by legendary film director Zhang Yimou, who made his operatic debut directing Turandot at the Forbidden City in 1998. Novelist Ha Jin co-wrote the libretto with Tan Dun. Plácido Domingo sings the title role of China’s great leader who unifies the country, but sacrifices the happiness of his daughter, Princess Yue-yang, to be portrayed by Elizabeth Futral and Sarah Coburn. The Emperor also forsakes his dear friend, a composer, Gao Jian-li, sung by Paul Groves, whom he forces to create music for the imperial inauguration. The work is based on Historical Records by Sima Qian (c. 145 – c. 85 B.C.) and on the screenplay by Wei Lu, The Legend of the Bloody Zheng.


=====

拭目以待！

这是自立上回提到的歌剧吧，秋天就要上演了，看来是用英语唱。用
英语谱歌剧不容易，有人说英语还是未成熟的歌剧语言，我蛮首肯的
。如果用汉语唱怎么样？剧中肯定有京剧武场之类的场面吧？

李安走好莱坞，谭盾张艺谋走大都会。果然不一样的！