The National Opera de Lyon will stage Tan Dun's opera Tea in this French city from tomorrow night till Saturday (June 1 to 5). Tan himself is taking the baton and Stanislas Nordey is the director.

Commissioned by Japan's Suntory Hall and the Netherlands National Opera, Tea had its premiere at Suntory Hall in Tokyo under Tan's baton in October 2002, directed by Pierre Audi, artistic director of the Netherlands National Opera. Tan himself sees "Tea" as a 21st-century opera, a challenge to Western ideas of classical music-theatre.

The culture of tea started in China and later was taken up in Japan. This opera tells the tragic love story of a Chinese princess and a Japanese prince in the ninth century. Tan uses his score and libretto to explore philosophy and spirituality as set out in the ancient Book of Tea (Cha Jing).

Written by Lu Yu of the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907), the Book of Tea is ostensibly a complete guide to the traditional methods of growing, harvesting, preparing and drinking tea. At the same time, the scripture uses tea as a metaphor for the right way to live.

In preparing to write this opera, Tan traveled to numerous ancient cities and temples in both China and Japan to learn about tea and the ceremonies and ideas surrounding it. With this knowledge, he co-wrote the Chinese-language libretto with playwright Xu Ying. And Tan himself has prepared the English libretto. Both the score and the libretto are full of references to tea and the ceremonies connected with it.

Three percussionists use a variety of things as instruments, including vessels containing water, tea utensils and huge paper screens.

Tan uses several unusual methods to produce sounds in the opera, such as blowing air across a large sheet of paper and letting water drip through cupped hands. The sounds are amplified so they can be heard by the audience.

With the orchestra accompanied by music played on ceramic, stone and paper instruments, the score is typical of Tan's style, with loud, dramatic moments alternating with soft and often beautiful melodies.

The story does not attempt to duplicate Chinese or Japanese performing traditions. Instead, the European production team -- French director Stanislas Nordey, French set and lighting designer Jean Kalman; and Italian designer Angelo Figus with his Chinese silk costumes -- creates its own metaphorical world.

In contrast to its European crew, the Lyon production of Tea features an all-Chinese cast including, soprano Li Xiuying as the Chinese princess Lan, tenor Warren Mok as the Japanese prince, bass Tian Haojiang as the Chinese emperor and mezzo-soprano Yang Guang as Lu. They are all established Chinese vocalists active in opera houses around the world.

(China Daily May 31, 2004)