Sink or Sail: Beijing’s First Stab at Wagner

The National Centre for the Performing Arts is opening this season’s Opera Festival with Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman, a dark oceanic tale about a ghost ship’s damned captain and his search for love. Nothing says “gunning for world dominance” like a Wagnerian opera, but this is an especially ambitious endeavor for the NCPA.

Why? For one, it’s being pulled together in a very short time. Opera consultant Giuseppe Cuccia admits: “Most opera houses decide on a production two to three years in advance, but the NCPA just decided a few months ago to do Wagner. This is very risky because you can’t always find the right performers so quickly. We were able to assemble an excellent cast, thank God … So we are being rewarded for our courage.”

Staging The Flying Dutchman also means taking on a new language and tradition. Apart from Bizet’s Carmen and the operetta Die Fledermaus, the NCPA has focused mainly on Italian opera. Director Giancarlo del Monaco delighted crowds with his production of Tosca last year, but Wagnerian opera is a different beast. True to form, the celebrity director is embracing the challenge. He jokes, “I’m not a Wagner specialist, but that’s good, because they are dangerous. The more they understand Wagner, the less they know what they’re actually saying.”

As usual, two separate casts (one international, one Chinese) will perform the show. Most of these performers are experienced in singing German, but the language will be new to soprano Sun Xiuwei, who plays the female lead, Senta. Prized globally for her turns in Madame Butterfly, Turandot and Tosca, Sun is relishing the opportunity to finally perform Wagner: “On Chinese New Year’s Eve, all my family was gathered, but I spent 16 hours that day learning the libretto. I’ve loved the challenge and believe I’ve learned it well. I hope the audience enjoys my Senta.” NCPA program director Li Zhixiang followed by saying that thi s wi l l mar k the first - ever performance of a Wagner opera by an all-Chinese cast anywhere in the world.

And how will del Monaco and his team bring the raging sea to the NCPA stage? With film, projectors, lighting and hundreds of yards of silk. “We want the audience to feel they’ve walked into a movie theater. We’re taking a very cinematic narrative approach.”

All this promises a dramatic opening night. The NCPA is taking quite the leap of faith, and if things go swimmingly, we’ll be catching a historic operatic spectacle.

Set sail with The Flying Dutchman at the NCPA Apr 3-8.

Click here to see the April issue of the Beijinger in full.

Photo courtesy of the NCPA.