Kasper Holten, director of Chinese opera Marco Polo. [Photo provided to China Daily]

The story of the young Venetian merchant and explorer Marco Polo is to be retold as the Carlo Felice Theater has signed a memorandum of understanding on original opera Marco Polo with its Chinese producer to have the opera open the theater's 2019-2020 season.

The opera produced by the China Arts and Entertainment Group, which made its debut at the Guangzhou Opera House in 2018, has a German composer, a Danish stage director and is performed in Chinese by international singers.

CFT's art director Giuseppe Acquaviva, who says the opera is "important in many ways", also calls it the fruit of the cultural exchanges between Europe and China, two ends of the ancient Silk Road.

Explorer 'returns' to Italy

Nearly 700 years ago, Marco Polo, the first European who left a detailed chronicle of his 24 years in Asia, amazed Europe with his travel notes. And ever since, his name has become a symbolic link between the East and the West.

According to the MoU signed between CFT and CAEG, the opera is scheduled to be staged at the Italian theater in Genoa in September. And it will be the opera's first foray into the overseas market, according to the executive producer Chen Rui.

To bring the audience back to the ancient Chinese city of Lin'an (now the capital of Zhejiang province in East China) where Marco Polo met his beloved girl, British video designer Luke Halls will use advanced holographic projection technology.

Speaking about the show, Chen, who is also the assistant general manager of the Guangzhou Opera House, says: "This time we will present Marco Polo's legend with an original Chinese-written opera. And this is an unprecedented attempt."

As for the CFT view, Acquaviva, who decided to introduce the opera to the Italian audience after watching it in China last year, says: "Marco Polo is the pioneer of China-Italy cultural communication. He made the Europeans start yearning for China."

Separately, CFT superintendent Maurizio Roi says the opera is an exemplar of cooperation between the East and the West, adding: "When the new production premieres in Genoa, it will be a true joint project between Italy and China."

According to Roi, the CFT will provide the orchestra, the chorus, and the set for the Italy premiere in September, but the opera itself, the costumes, and the cast, excluding the personage of Marco Polo, will fall to the Chinese side.

Focusing on the important takeaways from the project, Acquaviva says: "This will be important in many ways. First, because it's important to produce new operas, and also because of the value of strengthening ties between Europe and Asia. That's what Marco Polo did, and with this production we'll do our part as well."