“All rise. Please be seated! Call Rinuccio and the other seven defendants to court.” The opera in play was the Hangzhou version of Gianni Schicchi, a classic one-act comic opera by Giacomo Puccini. With that, the first Hangzhou New Classical Opera Festival lifted its curtain in a fully packed Fengma IN Theater on the night of February 2, 2021. It is the first Sino-Italian joint opera project after the Festival Puccini-authorized Sino-Italian Master Class was opened in Hangzhou.

Apart from Gianni Schicchi, the New Classical Opera Festival also featured another classic Romeo and Juliet and an exhibition titled “Operas on Canvas” based on the two operas.

A brainchild of Li Wei, opera director and professor at Opera Research Institute, Beijing University, the Master Class was formally launched during a Puccini-commemoration event in Hangzhou in November 2020. With the help of opera masters such as Fulvia Bertoli and Claodio Ottino, it aims to provide the best instructors, practices and online training courses to Chinese students, and guide young opera singers onto the international stage.

“We hope that opera students and aficionados can really grow after taking our online courses,” said Franco Moretti, general director of the Festival Puccini. As well as taking online courses, students can watch professional opera singers do rehearsals and take part in live performances, according to one participant of the Master Class.

Indeed, the Master Class is far more than courses and training. Performing abroad, international cultural exchanges, a certificate issued by the Italian government are all part of the package. “By cultivating young and aspiring opera singers, our goal is ultimately to present more and more of them to the world,” said Li Wei.

“Zhejiang, Hangzhou in particularly, has now become the focal point of Sino-Italian cooperation in opera, which is benefiting both sides,” Li spoke of the connections of the Master Class and Zhejiang, “Zhou Wanyi, my partner for this project, was from Wenzhou city, Zhejiang province, and has given me a lot of support from Italy. The Italian venue for the Master Class was also provided by an Italian Chinese originally from Zhejiang.”

“Staging new classical operas in Hangzhou will attract more young people for sure,” agreed Chinese opera singer Liao Tianyu, who performed at the Puccini-commemoration event in Hangzhou back in November 2020. “for Hangzhou is a big city with much international appeal.” For Liao, Li’s adaptation of classical operas to a much more modern context is the best way for them to flourish in China.

For others, the Master Class, and the cooperation between China and Italy, is also a channel through which Chinese culture can be introduced to a wider international audience. “We will incorporate elements of tea culture, silk culture and other traditional cultures of Hangzhou [Zhejiang and China] in Western operas, and let more foreign friends know and understand them,” said Qian Hong, soprano and head of Mephisto Opera Co., which co-organized the Hangzhou festival.

As this year marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, Professor Li Wei has invited members of the Festival Puccini to jointly produce and perform two operas, 20 Moments in 100 Years and The Red Boy at 100.

With China’s rapid development, “I hope more and more good operas from China could also shine in Italy,” said Huang Haohao, a bariton and Ningbo native.