NCPA marks Verdi's bicentennial by staging the extravagant masquerade of Un Ballo in Maschera. Photo: Courtesy of NCPA

The year 2013 is like one long festival for opera lovers. It marks the 200th anniversaries of two great composers of the 19th century: Richard Wagner and Giuseppe Verdi.

While the world is commemorating and celebrating both these musical geniuses, the summer holiday season in China leaves a bit more space for the romantic Italian Verdi.

After the fabulous evenings of August 22 and 23, when the Viva Verdi: Giuseppe Verdi Bicentennial Celebration Gala staged performances of 24 excerpts selected from 10 Verdi classics, the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) delivered another round of Verdi nights, offering their production of Un Ballo in Maschera from Thursday to Sunday.

Along with the upcoming Verdi exhibition at the National Museum of China and the ongoing NCPA exhibition Verdi - Born for Opera, which introduces the composer's life and music with the support of the local government of Busseto, Verdi's hometown in Italy, various Verdi-related events in Beijing will continue to provide opera fans with a chance to learn about the influential composer and enjoy his masterpieces.

The choice composer of China

For many Chinese audiences, their knowledge about opera almost equals how much they know about Verdi since a large portion of the operas performed in China during the past few years, such as Macbeth, La Traviata and Aida, were all composed by him.

An operagoer surnamed Gao told the Global Times that Verdi's famous operas are more suitable for audiences here than Wagner's.

He finds that the length of Verdi's operas (generally about two hours long) is acceptable for audiences that don't have much opera-viewing experience. The dramatic conflicts and tension in each scene also make the whole show easy to watch.

"His style is very classical, inheriting all the traditions of Italian opera and containing a lot of beautiful singing portions," Gao said. "Just a joy to watch."

Included in the August gala were excerpts from Macbeth, Aida and other operas commonly performed in China.

All the pieces were performed by A-list names in opera including Italian bass singer Roberto Scandiuzzi and the "Three Chinese Tenors" Wei Song, Dai Yuqiang and Warren Mok, as well as famous female singers like Yang Guang, Yao Hong and soprano Sun Xiuwei.

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