Farewell My Concubine (modern opera) explained

Farewell My Concubine (Chinese: 歌剧《霸王别姬》, geju "Bawang bie ji") is a Chinese-language western-style opera composed by choral conductor and composer Xiao Bai (萧白), to a libretto by Wang Jian (王健) for China National Opera House which toured America with the opera in 2008.^{[1] [2] [3]}

The opera is unrelated to the soundtrack to Chen Kaige's Farewell My Concubine, which was composed by Zhao Jiping.^[4]

Notes and References

1. UCLA China National Opera House Performance: Farewell My Concubine
2. Washington Post A Chinese Makeover For European Opera "a Chinese story that was transformed into a Western-style opera sung in Mandarin, a task that took former top conductor Xiao Bai more than 18 years to complete"
3. To Westernize the opera, Xiao Bai worked with famed librettist Wang Jian. Together, the two artists developed a new "Western-style" production distinct from traditional "Beijing-style" opera (incorporating instrumental music, vocal performance, pantomime, dance and acrobatics). This version of "Farewell My Concubine" captures the framework of a classic Italian opera, but is sung entirely in Mandarin with English subtitles.
4. Encyclopedia of Contemporary Chinese Culture - Page 1012 Edward L. Davis - 2012 Among his most famous film scores are those for Raise the Red Lantern (1991), To Live (1993) and Farewell My Concubine (1993). He is also a noted composer for the concert stage. Son of the painter Zhao Wangyun, Zhao Jiping was trained