On the evening of January 29th, the immersive small-theater Yue Opera "Portrait of Three Beauties," a selected production of the 520 Urban Culture Salon and a recipient of the Nanjing Arts Fund's 2025 Communication and Exchange Grant for "Private Troupes Project," was performed at the Nanjing Cultural Center Concert Hall. This performance was not only a successful showcase for the Nanjing Little Plum Blossom Youth Yue Opera Art Troupe (hereinafter referred to as "Nanjing Youth Yue Opera Troupe") but also presented the graduation work of Zhou Tian, a student cultivated by the troupe who is now a Master's degree candidate in Chinese Opera Directing at the Shanghai Theatre Academy, vividly demonstrating the troupe's fruitful achievements in nurturing young opera talents and artistic inheritance. Leaders and experts from the provincial, municipal, and district opera and literary circles, along with the live audience, collectively witnessed this artistic event that bridges tradition and the future, combining heritage with innovation.
Zhou Tian's graduation work performed on this occasion is a meticulously crafted piece developed during her advanced studies and research at the Shanghai Theatre Academy. While respecting the traditional aesthetics of Yue Opera, the work incorporates contemporary theatrical concepts and personal artistic reflections, fully demonstrating her solid foundation in Chinese opera and considerable artistic creativity. Particularly noteworthy is that Zhou Tian's artistic roots stem from years of careful cultivation by the Nanjing Youth Yue Opera Troupe. As an outstanding young talent who grew up in the troupe's "Little Blossoms Class," Zhou Tian's artistic comprehension profoundly reflects the troupe's exceptional effectiveness in nurturing Yue Opera seedlings.
Since its establishment in 2008, under the leadership of its Honorary Head, the renowned Yue Opera performing artist Zhu Xiaozhao, and its Head, Tao Liyan, a disciple of the Zhu school, the Nanjing Youth Yue Opera Troupe has consistently taken the promotion of opera culture and artistic inheritance as its mission,坚守 on the front lines of Yue Opera popularization, education, and传承. Over seventeen years, the troupe has not only successfully rehearsed numerous classic major productions, with its created works winning important municipal awards, but has also devoted great effort to talent cultivation, establishing a systematic training mechanism ranging from children's initiation to advanced youth studies. Its "Little Blossoms Class" has cultivated over ten students who have received the China Little Plum Blossom Award for Children's Opera, and supplying professional后备 talents like Zhou Tian to higher art institutions is a crucial path for the troupe's practice of deep-level传承.
On the night of the performance, the actors' performances were emotionally sincere and technically proficient, depicting the characters' inner worlds with细腻 and moving detail, earning warm applause from the attending experts and audience. This performance was not only a summary presentation of Zhou Tian's learning outcomes at the Shanghai Theatre Academy but also a high-standard display of the teaching results of the Nanjing Youth Yue Opera Troupe, highlighting the completeness of the troupe's chain from popular education to articulation with professional higher education.
During a post-performance seminar, attending leaders and experts highly praised the persistence and contributions of the Nanjing Youth Yue Opera Troupe over the past seventeen years, specifically affirming its role as a bridge connecting amateur cultivation with professional education. Zhou Tian's growth trajectory serves as a successful model of the organic integration of training by a folk opera troupe and a professional academy, providing a valuable reference for the youth-led inheritance of traditional opera.
Tao Liyan, Head of the Nanjing Youth Yue Opera Troupe, stated, "Seeing children like Zhou Tian, who started with our troupe, shine on a higher artistic platform fills us with great comfort and pride. This strengthens our determination to excel in opera popularization and youth cultivation. In the future, the Nanjing Youth Yue Opera Troupe will continue to deepen the construction of its 'base,' improve the talent cultivation system, actively cooperate with professional institutions, build broader platforms for growth, strive to discover and cultivate more promising new forces in opera, and commit to making the Nanjing Youth Yue Opera Troupe a bright名片 for youth opera art education and inheritance, continuously injecting youthful vitality into the prosperity and development of Yue Opera and even Chinese opera as a whole."
This performance serves as a vivid window into the crucial role local opera troupes play within the artistic education and inheritance system. From a seedling in the Nanjing Youth Yue Opera Troupe to a rising star researching art at the Shanghai Theatre Academy, Zhou Tian's stage is a moving microcosm of the intergenerational transmission and youthful continuation of Yue Opera art.
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