NCPA Opera La Fanciulla Del West by Puccini, From (2024/2024), Directed by Thaddeus Strassberger,, Conductor Carlo Rizzi, National Centre for the Performing Arts, Beijing, China

La Fanciulla del West, the seventh opera to be written by Puccini, ranks alongside La Bohème, Tosca and Madama Butterfly as the composer’s four most mature operatic works. It is so far the only grand opera themed the California Gold Rush. The story ends up with two lovers riding off into the afterglow. Based on the folk music and Indian ballads of that time, the musical theme endows the opera with purely American elements. The gold rush, which happened in the central and western United States in the middle 19th century, is depicted vividly, stringing the local customs and practices of East and West America together. With extremely dramatic short phrases and adequate orchestration, it is considered as an important step that Puccini took to replace the sweet, long melody with dramatism in his creation. In 2019, the NCPA grandly launched a new production of Puccini’s opera, La Fanciulla del West. To commemorate the 100th anniversary of Puccini’s death, the NCPA has once again launched this opera. Revived by Thaddeus Strassberger, an international rising director, the opera stars the world’s top singers Jennifer Rowley, Marco Berti and Claudio Sgura, NCPA Resident Singers and many young singers from China and abroad. Under the famous Italian opera conductor Carlo Rizzi’s baton, they will take the audience to the “Golden West”, where hope and despair coexist.