"Cultural Harmony" Cantonese Opera Matinee 粵劇午間欣賞會

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About

Vancouver Cantonese Opera, in collaboration with the Richmond Public Library, is hosting four Cantonese Opera workshops showcasing the most famous works of Tong Dik Sang.

Dates and Titles:

• July 21 (Sunday) – The Flower Princess

• August 11 (Sunday) – Legend of the Purple Hairpin

• September 22 (Sunday) – The Peony Pavilion

• October 6 (Sunday) – The Reincarnation of Lady Plum Blossom

Time: 2:00 PM to 3:30 PM

Venue: Richmond Public Library, 100-7700 Minoru Gate, Richmond, B.C.

Workshop Highlights:

• Exploring the origins and comparisons of Tong’s plays with ancient scripts

• In-depth character analysis of the different roles in each play

• Interactive sessions with guest participants

• Discussions on theatrical tidbits and interesting anecdotes

About the Playwright, Tong Dik Sang:

Tong Dik Sang (1917-1959) was a distinguished Cantonese opera playwright, scriptwriter, and film director. His contributions played a crucial role in the reform and development of Cantonese opera in Hong Kong from the late 1930s onwards. During his twenty-year career, Tong wrote over 400 operas, gaining immense popularity in the Cantonese opera community. He also adapted many of his operas into film scripts, directed these films, and occasionally acted in them.

Links

• website vancanopera.com
• Canadahelps canadahelps.org

Organizer

Vancouver Cantonese Opera

Vancouver Cantonese Opera (VCO) is a unique Canadian arts organization deeply rooted in its local community while maintaining strong global ties to the opera scenes in China, Hong Kong, and North America. In 2009, UNESCO recognized Cantonese Opera as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Our mission is to preserve and promote Cantonese opera in Canada. We strive to present this tradition at the highest level of artistic excellence to both Chinese and non-Chinese audiences. Unlike other Chinese opera troupes in North America, we aim to reach diverse viewers, including families, seniors, and youth, through bilingual performances with live translations and English/Chinese subtitles. We perform in various venues, including libraries, community centers, parks, city squares, and festivals. Our offerings include regular performance and singing classes in English, and we host “behind the scenes” workshops and demos on the art of costuming. Our core values are artistic integrity and innovation, intercultural and intergenerational dialogue, accessibility, and community engagement. These values are essential for the survival of Cantonese Opera in Canada’s evolving society and for fostering a healthy and resilient creative community. Situated on the unceded territories of the Coast Salish peoples, we embrace compassion, friendship, inclusivity, diversity, and reconciliation, reflecting these values in our songs, stories, and community relationships.

Since our incorporation as a non-profit society in 2000, VCO has played a leading role in developing and disseminating Cantonese Opera in British Columbia. We built a network of performers, musicians, and technicians to produce high-quality performances for Chinese Canadian opera fans, hosted visiting artists from Hong Kong, and offered professional singing classes and workshops. In response to the aging out of our core audiences and slower ticket sales since 2010, VCO has focused on reaching diverse and younger audiences through innovative programming, targeted outreach, and participation in high-profile festivals.

Our extensive outreach programs include popular “Behind The Scenes” workshops at public libraries and the Opera-in-Care program for adult care homes. We also offer summer “Opera Flash Mob Camps” for youth to learn our signature water-sleeves dancing techniques and host flash mob dances in public squares. Recently, we’ve collaborated with younger artists from other disciplines, such as our 2018 production of the "Tale of the Eastside Lantern" with indie rock band Son of James, exploring the history of Vancouver’s Chinatown.

In November 2022, VCO produced its first experimental Cantonese fusion opera, "The Prop Master’s Dream," which premiered at the Annex Theatre, selling out two shows and attracting a mainstream audience. This fusion opera involved musical composition, scriptwriting, community consultation, and project planning, bringing together diverse performers and musicians to share the life story of Wah-Kwan Gwan, a legendary prop master in Vancouver’s Chinatown. The opera explores themes of displacement, resilience, and intercultural memories, featuring a bilingual Chinese-English production with a score that weaves together mid-century Cantonese opera tunes, soundscapes of transpacific steamship lines, and diverse blues, folk, and vaudeville melodies.