Di Fang Xi

T H E A T R E

	Di Fang Xi Program Sichuan Opera 2001 Exhibition 1000 years theatre in China
	The theatre series DIFANGXI introduces the German public for the first time to important and interesting music theatre traditions which have established themselves over centuries alongside the Peking Opera.
		For the past 12 years, Meta Theater of Munich has focussed its efforts on researching and publicizing the art of Chinese acting in the West. Beginning with the best-known and most widely disseminated form of the Peking Opera from northern China, we developed a concept that offers performances, seminars, workshops and discussions through which theater audiences, stageworkers, musicians, amateurs, specialists, people interested in East Asia, and students are given valuable
	opportunities to acquire in-depth insights into an art form which has thus far seldom been seen in Europe. Within the framework of this concept, seven members of the renowned Foo Hsing Theater Academy for Peking Opera of Taipei were invited to Munich in 1988. After a lengthy preparatory period, the focal point was occupied by the highly differentiated classical Kun Opera from southern China as represented by top-ranking stars from the stage and by instrumentalists from Shanghai. The overwhelming success of the performances, introductory events and demonstrations proved that it is indeed possible to render accessible to Western audiences this centuries-old and unique performing art form. In May 2001, the troupe of the Sichuan State Opera School of Chengdu will travel to Europe for the first time. The troupe's members will be guests in Munich for several weeks, during which time they will present various aspects of the Sichuan Opera. The six-person ensemble will be accompanied by Tian Mansha, a singer-performer who is famous throughout China and whose virtuosic voice and breathtaking acrobatics will surely meet with an enthusiastic reception here in Europe too. The group also includes eight instrumentalists who play various percussion, string and wind instruments. Other sites of the group's tour are Landsberg (Civic Theater), Ebersberg District (Meta Theater), Vaterstetten (City Hall), Nuremberg (Tafelhalle), Bonn (Civic Stages), Rotterdam (Rotterdamse Schouburg and Cultural Capital of Europe 2001), Leiden (Leidse Schouburg, Leiden University and Chime Foundation), Hamburg and Berlin. Guest performances by the Shandong Opera are planned for 2002 within the framework of DiFangXi. More information about this can be found here starting in November 2001. You can find information about the successful Shanghai-Munich project (1998) on our pages about the Kun Opera . Press releases can be accessed at www.meta-theater.com/presse. Information about the concept, the organization and supporting organizations can be found in the colophon . Meta Theatre 5/2001