News from our newspaper (Reporter Gao Qian) The harp and string music are intertwined and flow, and the sparkling light projected by the images on the stage sets off each other.

The lyrical prelude full of Chinese charm sends a heart-warming story that happened on the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal.

Last night, the NCPA's original national opera "The Ballad of the Canal" took the stage in the sixth round. Lv Jia, the artistic director of the NCPA, led the NCPA orchestra and chorus, together with singers such as Lei Jia, Wang Hongwei, Wang Li, and Sun Li. The National Centre for the Performing Arts Opera Festival 2022 opened.

During the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, Jiangnan scholar Qin Xiaosheng was arrested by the yamen for exposing corrupt officials. Singer Shui Honglian fled along the canal because he refused to be a concubine for the powerful. This is where the story of the rumor begins.

Shui Honglian and Qin Xiaosheng, played by Lei Jia and Wang Hongwei, have very different personalities and distinctive features. Shui Honglian is pungent and intelligent, while Qin Xiaosheng is upright and weak. In the duet "Bright Stars' Eyes", the two confess their love to each other for the first time.

The cargo ship went all the way north, and the characters of the bully ship, Sun Li, Wang Li and other singers played the water Harrier, the blind woman Guan Yanyan and other characters came on stage in turn, unfolding a picture of all beings in the canal, tea picking, Suzhou-Hangzhou folk songs, boatmen's chants, Shandong folk songs, The folk elements along the way, such as the Beijing rhyme drum, are like a music map. Together with the poetic scenes such as Hangzhou’s landscapes and canal sunsets, which are simply outlined on the stage, they lead the audience to visit the great rivers and mountains…

　　It is worth mentioning that it has been 10 years since the premiere of "The Ballad of the Canal" in this round of performances, and the cast of that year has reunited again.

The singers also went deeper into their interpretation of the characters.

It is reported that this round of performances will continue until April 17.