从门外汉到歌剧通

主持：Joanna C. Lee 编译：辛时雨

今日世界的新视野

New Visions of our world today

小琼：

歌剧的世界在不断演化着。11月初在香港，我很幸运地赶上了生于上海的作曲家杜韵的新近作品。

小薇：

我听说过她，她因室内歌剧作品《天使之骨》而斩获2017年的普利策奖，现在生活在美国。

小琼：

香港的新视野艺术节实在是有先见之明，带来了《天使之骨》的亚洲首演。艺术节不单安排了两场演出，还在一周之内组织了两场与主创的对话（一场以普通话对话，另一场则使用英语），甚至开展了一次大规模的教育项目，为高中学生介绍观赏歌剧艺术的新体验。

小薇：

我确实有了解过这部歌剧。该作品揭示了人口贩卖和剥削的社会问题——不仅是关于性工作者，还更广泛、深入地探讨了自恋的权力游戏。导演富有创意，更用上了现场视频及投影技术。

Joan:

The world of opera is constantly evolving. Early in November in Hong Kong, I was so lucky to catch Shanghai-born Du Yun’s recent masterpiece.

Valery:

I remember hearing about her. She was the winner of the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for her chamber opera

Angel’s Bone

. She currently lives in the United States.

Joan

: Hong Kong’s New Vision Arts Festival had the bold foresight to present

Angels Bone

’s Asia premiere.Not only did the festival present two performances of the work, but they also organized talks with the creators in Chinese and English that week, even devising an extensive educational program to introduce high school students to a new artistic experience.

Valery:

I did read about the opera. It’s about human trafficking and exploitation—not just about sex workers, but radiating wider and deeper into narcissistic power-play. The presentation includes live video, projections and inventive direction.

Joan:

Basically, two angels fall from Heaven and end up in the garden of a middle-class couple, who take advantage of the situation, selling the angels’service to anyone willing to pay. This is a parable of our materialistic world where morals can easily be corrupted. To prepare high school students to understand this story (and its use of many musical styles), a Hong Kong music critic and conductor Leon Chu gave lectures to three different school groups,guiding more than 500 students as they attended the final dress rehearsal.

Valery:

This must have been a real treat for the students. And since they weren’t “classical music lovers” they probably didn’t have any preconceptions as to what “opera” should sound like.

Joan:

According to both Leon and Du Yun, the

上、左页：《天使之骨》剧照

小琼

：作品大致讲述了两个天使从天堂坠落到了一对中产阶级夫妇家的后院里，后者利用此窘境，出售天使的服务来牟利。这可谓是反映当今世界物质至上的一个寓言。在这样的世界里，太容易堕入道德败坏的局面。为了让高中生得以理解这个故事（及其对多种音乐风格的运用），香港乐评家及指挥家朱振威为三所中学开设了讲座，更带领500余名学生观看了该剧的带妆彩排。

小薇：

学生们从中必定受益良多。他们不是“古典音乐爱好者”，所以自然不会对“歌剧”的音乐形式有先入为主的偏见。

小琼

：朱振威和杜韵都说，这些学生很能接受多种多样的音乐风格（歌剧中包括一首富有节奏感的朋克摇滚歌曲），并积极地投入戏剧体验当中。我必须补充一句，我很乐见于这次九人编制的香港本土合唱团：他们富有感染力，并以最高的水平与来访的四位独唱家一同表演和演唱。

小薇：

乐团的表现又如何呢？

图片提供： 新视野艺术节 / 香港康乐及文化事务署

小琼：

演出的是香港创乐团，这是香港乐界的幸事，这群坚定的音乐家愿意积极应对这种具有难度的作品。香港有如此才华横溢且勇敢无畏的音乐家，艺术节没有理由不带来更多这样的作品。students were very open to the wide-ranging musical styles (there is a rhythmically driving punk-rock song in the middle) and engaged in the theatrical experience.And I must also add how delighted I was to see the 9-person chorus made up Hong Kong’s own singers：they were totally convincing, acting and singing at the highest level along with the four visiting soloists.

Valery

: What about the instrumental ensemble?

Joan:

Hong Kong is lucky to have the Hong Kong New Music Ensemble, a committed group of musicians willing and open to tackle a score this difficult. With musicians this talented and fearless living right in Hong Kong, the festival has no excuse for not presenting more shows like this in the future.