Opera The Rake's Progress Photo: Courtesy of Beijing Music Festival

The English-language opera The Rake's Progress debuted at the 24th Beijing Music Festival (BMF) on Monday.

The opera co-produced by the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra and BMF was performed by eight young Chinese singers.

The classic opera written by Russian composer Igor Stravinsky tells the story of the decline and fall of one Tom Rakewell, who deserts Anne Trulove for the delights of London in the company of Nick Shadow, who turns out to be the Devil. After several misadventures, all initiated by the devious Shadow, Tom ends up in Bedlam, a hospital for the insane in the City of London.

The Rake's Progress can be called the culmination of Stravinsky's neo-classical period as it took all the composers' efforts.

The theme of 2021's BMF is Masters and Celebrations. For the 50th anniversary of Stravinsky's death, how to put this opera on the Chinese stage for the first time was a challenge for director Zou Shuang. 

"I wished to cooperate with contemporary artists to bring to the stage an abstract expression through a certain type of contemporary art language. The separation of reality and illusion throughout the entire opera, as well as the philosophical metaphor of irony, will be delivered to the audience through three visual scenes," Zou said.