Day at the opera

The Central Opera House will perform White-haired Girl at the Great Hall of the People on May 23. The five-act opera portrays the life of the rural young woman Xi'er, whose family is beaten to death by local despotic landlord because they're unable to pay their debts. She's taken by force to work in the landlord's home and finally escapes into the mountain's forests. Her fiance joins the Eighth Route Army and returns three years later to liberate the village and rescue the girl. By then, she has endured such suffering that her long black hair has turned white. Her fiance finds her in a cave.

It was the first Western-style opera produced in China and is celebrated for its descriptive music, which integrates folk melodies into the basic Western operatic formula.

The new production is directed by the opera house's music director Yu Feng. Soprano You Hongfei plays Xi'er.

May 23 is the Central Opera's opening day to public. Audience members can go to the opera house on May 21 to apply for free tickets. Every person can get three.

For more information, please visit www.chinaopera.com.cn.