Final 综合新聞稿,請盡快发佈 中文媒體聯繫人:周瑋 [email protected] 908-962-1060 如需要照片和影像可提供

A Evening with Gallery Viewing, Lecture, Performance and Gala Reception on Nov 29

To Celebrate Tan Dun’s Peony Pavilion Starring Zhang Jun and the Shanghai Zhang Jun Kunqu Art Center Presented by The Metropolitan Museum of Art Co‐produced by the US Cultural Institute November 29 – December 2

From November 29 to December 2, 2012, in a major program devoted to Chinese Garden Culture, celebrated composer Tan Dun’s updated version of the 16th-Century Kunqu opera masterpiece “Peony Pavilion” starring Zhang Jun, UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) Artist for Peace, will be performed in The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Astor Court. Co-produced by The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the US China Cultural Institute (USCCI), it will be a highlight of the Metropolitan Museum’s eight- gallery exhibition “Chinese Gardens: Pavilions, Studios, Retreats” now on view. The exhibition is described by The New York Times as “Paradises lost and found; nature blooming and fading; cosmological events transpiring in backyard bamboo groves.” By staging the Peony Pavilion in the Astor Court, which is situated at the center of the exhibition galleries,

Page 1 the Museum is seeking to introduce new ways of integrating the fine arts with the performing arts as a way of further enriching the cultural experience of its audience.

This is the first time that an operatic performance has taken place in the Astor Court—the first authentic Ming-styled garden court constructed outside of China. Modeled on a courtyard in the Master of the Fishing Nets garden in , the Astor Courtwas built at the Metropolitan Museum thirty-two years ago by a team of twenty-six Chinese craftsmen. It represents one of the first cultural exchanges between the United States and the People’s Republic of China.

On November 29, a special VIP evening will be hosted by Shirley Young, USCCI Chair, Hans d’Orville, Assistant Director General for Strategic Planning, UNESCO, and Ambassador Li Baodong, Permanent Representative of the People’s Republic of China to the United Nations. The evening will include a private viewing of the eight-gallery exhibition, Chinese Garden: Pavilions, Studios, Retreats, a conversation with Tan Dun and Maxwell K. Hearn, Douglas Dillon Curator in Charge of the Department of Asian Art, a “Peony Pavilion” performance in the Astor Court, and a high-definition simulcast to Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium, followed by a Gala reception with Tan Dun, Zhang Jun and other artists at The in The Sackler Wing. Attendance will be by invitation. The public premiere of the Peony Pavilion performance in the Astor Court will take place on November 30 and will be followed by 4 additional performances on Dec 1 and 2 (sold out) plus a live high-definition simulcast of the performance to the Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium on November 30. The webcast of the Friday, November 30 performance at 7:00pm will be live-streamed on the Met’s website, www.metmuseum.org. The event will also be archived on line for later viewing.

Shanghai Media Group is filming a documentary about The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Peony Pavilion project to help Chinese audiences understand more about The Metropolitan Museum of Art as a world leader among museums.

This program is made possible by an anonymous donor. Additional support is provided by the China-United States Exchange Foundation, US-China Cultural Institute, China International Cultural Association, and the Tang Family Foundation (Bermuda).

“This program is an example of the best of Chinese culture being presented in the most important U.S cultural venues to the American cultural audiences.” said USCCI Chair Shirley Young, who has been working on many significant cultural exchange projects between China and U.S.

Peony Pavilion:

Peony Pavilion, one of the most important works of Kunqu opera, is a play written by Tang Xianzu in the Ming Dynasty and first performed in 1598. It is also written at the same time as Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet. From the Ming dynasty, Kunqu opera was often performed in gardens as part of Chinese garden culture. In 2001, Kunqu opera was designated by UNESCO as “A Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.”

Page 2 This 70-minute version of the opera has been developed and directed by Tan Dun, with a new score by Mr. Tan and choreography by Huang Doudou, one of China's most prominent dancers. It will be performed by Zhang Jun, one of China's most respected Kunqu performers, and the Shanghai Zhang Jun Art Center Company.

Peony Pavilion is one of the most important works of classical Chinese opera. A sweeping love story with subplots involving feudalism, the work in its original form consisted of fifty-five acts that take more than twenty hours to perform. This version, directed by Zhang Jun, remains faithful to the core plot focusing on the love story between the heroine and hero— Du Liniang and Liu Mengmei—and the Peony Pavilion where their love began.

Tan Dun’s new score, which recalls the style and themes of traditional Kunqu music, will be performed in traditional Kunqu style by Zhang Jun and seven artists with a traditional Kunqu ensemble of four musicians, including some taped elements.

Artist:

Tan Dun The conceptual and multifaceted composer/conductor Tan Dun has made an indelible mark on the world's music scene with a creative repertoire that spans the boundaries of classical, multimedia, Eastern and Western musical systems. Central to his body of work, Tan Dun has composed distinct series of works which reflect his individual compositional concepts and personal ideas—among them a series which brings his childhood memories of shamanistic ritual into symphonic performances; works which incorporate elements from the natural world; and multimedia concerti. Opera has a significant role in Tan Dun's creative output of the past decade, mostly recently with the premiere of The First Emperor by the Metropolitan Opera in December 2006 with a title role created for Plácido Domingo. In 2008, Tan composed Internet Symphony No. 1: "Eroica" commissioned by Google/YouTube as the focal point for the world’s first collaborative online orchestra. Recent works include Piano Concerto: The Fire for Lang Lang and the New York Philharmonic; Violin Concerto: The Love, for soloist Cho-Liang Lin, and Earth Concerto for Ceramic Percussion and Orchestra. Of his many works for film, Tan Dun’s score for Ang Lee's film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon received an Academy Award for best original score.

Huang Dou Dou, the artistic director of the Shanghai Song and Dance Ensemble, made his choreographic debut in 1998 with a work titled Spirit of Martial Arts, and in 2001 he choreographed Chinese Go—based on the ancient chess game—for the Vail International Dance Festival. In the past years, Huang has worked closely with composer Tan Dun in experimental works and installation art. Dubbed the “the Baryshnikov of China,” Huang's solo dance performance was broadcast worldwide during the closing ceremony of the 2004 Olympics in Athens.

Page 3 Zhang Jun is a UNESCO Artist for Peace. Born in Shanghai in 1974, Zhang started learning Kunqu at the age of 12. Since 1994, he has been one of China’s most acclaimed Kunqu actors, performing many leading roles in famous Kunqu plays such as Peony Pavilion, The Palace of Eternal Youth and The Jade Hairpin. Zhang has won the "Meihua (Plum Flower) Award," China's top performing award, as well as many acting prizes and honorable titles, including one of the "Shanghai Ten Outstanding Young Persons" in 2004, "China National Young Cultural Elites" in 2006, and one of China's Best Ten Kunqu Opera Performers in 2007. Zhang has also played the leading role in Tan Dun's opera Marco Polo, which was nominated for a 2010 Grammy Award. Founded in September 2009, the Shanghai Zhang Jun Kunqu Art Center is a non-profit organization which is also the first privately owned professional Kunqu opera company in China.

* * *

US‐China Cultural Institute: Founded in 2000 as the Committee of 100 Cultural Institute, the US-China Cultural Institute inaugurated its new status in 2007 as an independent nonprofit 501 (c) organization with its own officers and directors. The mission of the organization remains to create bridges of understanding through the arts and education, believing that these are important means to bring the necessary human understanding between China and the West for peaceful world relations.

Page 4