Shandong University of Arts Sandalwood Death

Date: Dec 4-5 - 7:30 pm

Venue: National Centre for the Performing Arts

Opera Sandalwood Death, adapted from award winner of Nobel Prize Literature Mo Yan's full-length novel of the same title, tells a story of national enmity and family hatred that takes place in the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), when locals at Shandong Peninsula fight against the German troops. The libretto is written by Chinese writers Mo Yan and Li Yuntao, a professor at Shandong University of Arts who has also composed music for the opera. It is Mo's first literary work adapted into an opera and the adaptation took six years. The opera was performed at the Third China Opera Festival on January 2-3rd, 2018. In the opera, there is a folk artisan Sun Bing, who leads the anti-colonial struggle and is sentenced to "sandalwood death". With the "execution" as the main line, the story develops centering the life and death of the heroine Sun Meiniang as well as her father, godfather and father-in-law, revealing Chinese people's national character and patriotism that makes them defy brute force and spare no effort to stand against it.