PAINTED SKIN: a Ghost Story Chamber Opera at Rose Theater of Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall

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2. PAINTED SKIN: a Ghost Story Chamber Opera

The second concert program of China Now Music Festival, Painted Skin, will take place on October 13 at Hudson Hall, the historical opera house in Hudson, New York, and October 15 at Rose Theater, Jazz at Lincoln Center. It features the US premiere of "Painted Skin" by Hao Weiya, a chamber opera based on a ghost story by the early 18th century Qing Dynasty author Pu Songling, which was originally published in "Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio." Pus story is about a demon who presents herself as a beautiful woman; if she can capture the heart of a young (and happily married) scholar, she will be able to permanently assume human form. In this performance of Haos opera, co-produced by the USChina Music Institute and the Central Conservatory of Music and conceived by Michael Hofmann, the story is transported to a contemporary American college setting. All three rolesthe demon, the professor, and his wife are performed by women. Mezzo-soprano Kristin Gornstein, who plays the professor, and coloratura soprano Holly Flack, who plays the professors wife, will both sing entirely in Chinese. The Kunqu opera singer Qian Yiwho first came to the attention of American audiences with her star performance in Lincoln Centers 1999 staging of the 19-hour opera Kunqu opera "Peony Pavilion"plays the demon. The China Now Music Festival is dedicated to promoting an understanding and appreciation of music from contemporary China through an annual series of concerts and academic activities. This years festival, from October 7 to 22, will celebrate its fifth anniversary with an unprecedented program featuring three uniquely curated concerts that will trace how generations of artists from China and the West have influenced and inspired each other through musical expression.Our theme, East of West, seeks to reveal differences in culture and tradition that have historically divided East from Westonly to break them down and, through our artistic experience, create something new that belongs to both East and West, says China Now Music Festival Artistic Director Jindong Cai.https://www.barduschinamusic.org/east-of-west