25 March 2019
Recently, the reporting performance of the qualification program (senior high school to bachelor) of traditional Chinese opera performance of the Shanghai Theatre Academy (STA) was held at the Yilin Experimental Theatre of the Shantou Culture and Art School. The leaders of the CPC Shantou Municipal Committee, Shantou Municipal Government and Shantou Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television, Tourism and Sports, leaders of the Shantou Culture and Art School and leaders of the STA’s Continuing Education and College of Traditional Chinese Opera, as well as famous Kun Opera artists and senior Kun Opera teachers of STA, attended the reporting performance and presented awards to outstanding students.
Approved by the Publicity Department of the CPC Shantou Municipal Committee, the Shantou Culture and Art School entrusted the Shanghai Theatre Academy to jointly organize the qualification program (senior high school to bachelor) of traditional Chinese opera performance which officially commenced in March 2018. As the first undergraduate program of continuing education in the history of Chao Opera, the 20 young students came from the Shantou Culture and Art School and Guangdong Chao Opera Theatre etc. During their studies with STA, they will receive five-year systematic professional training in traditional Chinese opera performance carefully designed and scientifically arranged for them by the STA College of Continuing Education and STA College of Traditional Chinese Opera. This reporting performance was based on their learning results achieved through their hard work in Shanghai in the past year. The reporting performance was brilliant, and the students not only demonstrated many basic performance skills of the traditional Chinese opera, but also performed a number of selected classic plays of Kun Opera, Peking Opera and Chao Opera, which received unanimous praise from the leaders and the audience. The famous Kun Opera performing artists, who acted as the instructor of the students for the reporting performance, came on the stage to provide comments to the students, giving them recognition and appreciation for the reporting performance.
Before the performance, the leaders of the CPC Shantou Municipal Committee and Shantou Municipal Government held a discussion with the leaders, experts and teachers of the STA College of Continuing Education and STA College of Traditional Chinese Opera. Together, they reviewed the original aspiration and future expectations of holding this cooperative program. They also talked about taking this program as the starting point to explore and develop more future opportunities for cooperation between Shantou and STA. At the end of the discussion, the participants also took part in the flash event "My Motherland and I" created by the Shantou Culture and Art School especially for this reporting performance. In addition, the Shantou Culture and Art School also invited the leaders, experts and teachers of STA coming to the reporting performance to attend a seminar on higher education and teaching in traditional Chinese opera together with the experts and scholars for Chao Opera research and famous Chao Opera actors.
