Beijing and Beijing Opera

In 1984, at the University of Hawaii at Manoa in Honolulu, I began studying the music of Beijing Opera fiddles jing hu and er hu, with Beijing master musician Wan Ruixing. In 1985, I played these instruments in the University of Hawaii's production of Feng Wanchao (The Phoenix Returns To Its Nest). Subsequently, we received a high-level government invitation to tour China, and in the summer of 1986 we made an historic month-long concert tour of Beijing, Xi'an and Shanghai. In addition to The Phoenix, we also performed an evening of American musical theater in those cities, for which I played jazz violin and co-wrote some music.

I continued to study jing hu with Honolulu resident and Shanghai ex-pat Yan Ren'an (George Yan), and occasionally to perform Beijing Opera music in Honolulu.

In 1989, the University of Hawaii Beijing Opera Company began mounting a new production, Yu Tangchun (The Jade Hall of Spring), which I now learned from Nanjing-based jing hu master Shen Fuqing, and which we performed in Honolulu in 1990. Shen "Laoshi" is the person who honored me by bestowing my Chinese name, Gao Yuefeng. Once again, a tour invitation to China resulted, though in the aftermath of the 1989 Tian'anmen Square government crackdown, we elected to accept private sponsorship only. We made a triumphant tour of Shanghai, Wuxi and Nanjing in the summer of 1991.

The University of Hawaii's renown for presenting Beijing Opera is largely attributable to the vision and direction of Elizabeth Wichmann-Walczak (Wei Lixia), the first foreigner to study Beijing Opera with an established diva in the People's Republic of China, in the 1970s. Her expertise at libretto and at every nuance of the theatrical and musical aspects of this classic art form, along with her indefatigable enthusiasm, have earned her and the U.H. a considerable reputation for excellence in the area of Asian theatre. I'm grateful for her inspiration, support and friendship over many years in Honolulu.

Finally, in the fall of 2004, I returned to China to teach English in and around Beijing. There were some memorable experiences in those classrooms, arguing about communism and Taiwan, laughing about the US Presidential election, answering questions about Jesus, and mostly singing songs with ukulele. Lots of songs: I wish you could have heard my 8th grade Bayi Middle School students belt out "I Left My Heart In San Francisco"! Another highlight of this sojourn in China was a reunion with Wan "Laoshi," my first jing hu teacher from nearly 20 years earlier.

I'd like to read anything from my Chinese friends, the students and teachers from Bayi Middle School in Beijing, from Langfang College City and from Nankou Beijing Business School.

--eg

Eric is quoted in a recent article about Beijing Opera:
http://priceless.com/articles/a159.html