Hello,
My name is Bertrand and I am a busy computer programmer working in Canada.
Years ago, I stopped listening to rock music at work to help me relax and focus more, and started listening to classical music. This eventually led me to discover western opera stars Renee Fleming, Juan Diego Florez and Angela Gheorghiu.
While listening one afternoon to a Metropolitan Opera broadcast of Puccini’s Turandot, the intermission program played “real” Chinese opera and I was hooked!
I have been collecting CDs, DVDs and downloaded videos of Beijing Operas for about four years now. Discovering Beijing Opera star Zhang Huoding has been pretty close to life-changing for me. This music is a passion for people like my friends Zach and Fern, as well as for myself. I would like to share this passion with you.
In what is left of my spare time, I play music in the rock duo Lunasam, check out our MP3 songs if you are adventurous!
Hi, Bertrand !
First, I want to gift you something : Greetings from here, JAKARTA !
Like you, I don’t speak Chinese. But I’m falling in love with Peking Opera, especially with Zhang Huoding. For me, she’s like an Angel from the East. But, I can’t speak Chinese. I just watch her from Youtube.
http://www.operabeijing.com share to me about all of Peking Opera. Congratulation for your beautiful website !
Thank you Fajar, please keep in touch!
Hi Bertrand.
I want to ask something : do you know about Shan Wen ?
For me, Shan Wen is the one of the greates actor for Kunqu Opera. You must listen when her singing aria from ” The Peony Pavilion.” Wow, its very beautiful song I never listen…
Notice:
http://www.hudong.com/wiki/%E5%8D%95%E9%9B%AF
kunqu Shan Wen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2kT7KPrjuc&feature=related
I am not a musical person, and even though I’m proud of our spendid culture, to tell you the truth, I hardly can appreciate our traditional opera. But I’m very interested in your description of the performances, you know, I always think about such things in Chinese, it’s wonderful to learn from native speakers how to express them in English. And of course, I can help you learn Chinese, figure our what performers sing on the stage or what is beyond the lyric.
Hey hey, finally we can see Bertrand! Wang Xilong should tremble.
You can tell from my expression this was taken in the hectic week right before X-Mas vacations.
I quickly shot half a dozen photos and this is the only one that wasn’t blurry and that I didn’t look like a cadaver.
I tell you frankly, my first thought was Terence Hill.
Really, Fern.
There’s no reason to be mean to Terence.
Terence Hill wrote in to complain about Fern’s comparison, so I changed the photo.
Definitely less Terence-like.