Tango Opera by Astor Piazzolla María de Buenos Aires

City Contemporary Dance Company

14, 15/10
20:00
The Parisian Theatre


Duration: Approximately 1 hour and 50 minutes, including one interval
Performed in Spanish, with surtitles in Chinese and English

Please switch off all sound and light-emitting devices. Unauthorised photography or recording of any kind is strictly prohibited. Thank you for cooperating.

 

Music: Astor Piazzolla
Text and Libretto: Horacio Ferrer
Direction and Choreography: Helen Lai
Conductor: Vivian Ip
Co-production: City Contemporary Dance Company and Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (Weiwuying)
Set Design: Chen Wei-Kuang
Lighting Design: Kuo Chien-Hao
Executive Lighting Design: Lawmanray
Costume Design: Fan Huai-Chih
Sound Design: Anthony Yeung
Video Design: Hung Wei-Chen

Singers: Carol Lin and David Quah
Narrator: Ricardo Canzio

Dancers: Suyi Hon, Felix Ke, Natalie Ko, Eric Kwong, Shirley Lok, Qiao Yang, Brian Yam and Simpson Yau
Guest Dancers: Lai Tak-Wai, Pansy Lo, Natalie Mak and Jacko Ng

Accordion: Nazar Tabachyshyn
First Violin: Nina Wong
Second Violin: Winnie Law
Viola: Joelion Keung
Cello: Daniel Leong
Double Bass: Evette Chiu
Piano: Linda Yim
Guitar: Chris Collins
Flute: Marco Leung
Percussion: Raymond Vong and Lily Hoi

Synopsis

The piece starts with a revelation that quickly jumps into a flashback. Maria is dead, awaiting rebirth. Summoned by the Duende, her protecting spirit, and a payador (a gaucho minstrel) begins to narrate her story. María was born under a curse, as God happened to be drunk on the day of her birth. Loved by some and resented by others, she became a goddess and a tramp, wandering the streets, a woman no one hears or asks about. Years later, the grown María escapes the outskirts, heading to the capital of Argentina. There, she becomes María of Buenos Aires, a woman of tango in the slums, the night and fatal passions. She dances like nobody ever danced before, dreaming a dream nobody ever dreamt before.

We are transported back to a time when María is a child. Meanwhile, the vagabond poet, Sleepy Buenos Aires Sparrow, falls in love with her. Predicting her fate in the city, he sees mostly blood and darkness. Dismissing him, María claims she belongs to no one, and that no man can catch a thorny rose. Soon enough, she leaves the neighbourhood at night and, as if possessed, roams silently through the city, becoming a prostitute. However, after numerous wandering nights through the alleys, the premonition comes true, and María’s corpse is found lying in the street. We go back in time again, to a brothel where all kinds of people mingle. The thieves and the keepers of the house of ill repute tell María’s legend, prophesying her resurrection, following the crow of a rooster, just like Jesus.

María’s body is buried, and her shadow, forever a virgin, begins traversing the long Via Crucis as she wanders once again, lost, through Buenos Aires. On behalf of the Duende, three marionettes relay the message of the miracle of fertility to the shadow of María. The virgin María is reborn and immaculately conceives a girl who may very well be her true self.

Programme

Scene I: Alevare
Duende｜Ricardo Canzio
Dancers｜Jacko Ng, Pansy Lo, Lai Tak-Wai

Scene II: Theme of María
María｜Carol Lin
Dancers｜Qiao Yang, Natalie Mak, Suyi Hon, Natalie Ko, Pansy Lo, Shirley Lok

Scene III: Lame Ballad for a Crazy Hurdy-gurdy
Payador｜David Quah
Duende｜Ricardo Canzio
Dancers｜Natalie Mak, Felix Ke, Lai Tak-Wai, Eric Kwong, Brian Yam, Simpson Yau

Scene IV: I am María
María｜Carol Lin

Scene V: Milonga Carrieguera for the Child María
Sleepy Buenos Aires Sparrow｜David Quah
María｜Carol Lin
Dancers｜Suyi Hon, Felix Ke

Scene VI: Fugue and Mystery
María｜Carol Lin
Dancers｜Pansy Lo, Felix Ke, Eric Kwong, Suyi Hon, Lai Tak-Wai, Natalie Ko, Shirley Lok, Natalie Mak, Brian Yam, Simpson Yau

Scene VII: Waltzed-poem
María｜Carol Lin
Dancer｜Shirley Lok

Scene VIII: Accusation Toccata
Duende｜Ricardo Canzio
Dancers｜Qiao Yang, Jacko Ng

Scene IX: Canyengue Miserere of the Old Gutter Thieves
Chief Old Thief｜David Quah
Dancers｜Brian Yam, Natalie Ko, Pansy Lo, Felix Ke, Eric Kwong, Suyi Hon, Lai Tak-Wai, Shirley Lok, Natalie Mak, Simpson Yau

Interval

Scene X: Funeral Countermilonga for the First Death of María
Duende｜Ricardo Canzio
The Shadow of María｜Carol Lin

Scene XI: Tangata at Dawn
Dancers｜Qiao Yang, Pansy Lo, Natalie Ko, Suyi Hon, Shirley Lok

Scene XII: A Letter to the Trees and the Chimneys
The Shadow of María｜Carol Lin

Scene XIII: Aria of the Psychoanalysts
First Psychoanalyst｜David Quah
The Shadow of María｜Carol Lin
Dancers｜Pansy Lo, Felix Ke, Eric Kwong, Suyi Hon, Lai Tak-Wai, Natalie Ko, Natalie Mak, Brian Yam, Simpson Yau, Shirley Lok, Qiao Yang, Jacko Ng

Scene XIV: Romance of the Drunken Poet Duende
Duende｜Ricardo Canzio
Dancers｜Brian Yam, Simpson Yau, Eric Kwong

Scene XV: Allegro Tangabile
Dancers｜Pansy Lo, Felix Ke, Eric Kwong, Suyi Hon, Lai Tak-Wai, Natalie Ko, Shirley Lok, Natalie Mak, Brian Yam, Simpson Yau

Scene XVI: Milonga of the Annunciation
The Shadow of María｜Carol Lin
Dancers｜Pansy Lo, Felix Ke, Eric Kwong, Suyi Hon, Lai Tak-Wai, Natalie Ko, Shirley Lok, Jacko Ng, Natalie Mak, Brian Yam, Simpson Yau

Scene XVII: Tangus Dei
Voice of That Sunday｜David Quah
Duende｜Ricardo Canzio
The Shadow of María｜Carol Lin
Dancers｜Jacko Ng, Qiao Yang, Natalie Mak, Pansy Lo, Felix Ke, Eric Kwong, Suyi Hon, Lai Tak-Wai, Natalie Ko, Shirley Lok, Brian Yam, Simpson Yau

Programme Notes

Astor Piazzolla’s tango-opera María de Buenos Aires was premiered in 1968, a rather active social movement period, when the world was immersed in student and counterculture movements. Piazzolla was a sought-after composer in Argentina at the time. Yet, he wouldn’t earn his international reputation until his world tour, a decade later. As an Argentine, although deeply influenced by European and American literature, Piazzolla’s cultural roots had always been in Buenos Aires. He studied classical music and jazz, furthering his studies in Paris, where the revered Nadia Boulanger taught and inspired him. “This is Astor Piazzolla”, she once commented, after listening him playing the Bandoneon. In fact, instead of considering that tango was the music genre Piazzolla belonged to, one would be rather more accurate to affirm that tango and its birthplace, Buenos Aires, were the musician’s lifelong motifs in his creations. In this creative context, María de Buenos Aires enjoys a unique and irreplaceable status.

The piece starts with the protagonist telling her personal story post-mortem as a spirit. María is no longer the mother of Jesus; she leads a unique existence: God was drunk when she was born and thus she was cursed for life. She was born on the streets, travelling from the suburbs to Buenos Aires. A punk poet fell in love with her, but she rejected him flatly, claiming that she doesn’t belong to anyone. In the end, she became a prostitute whom no one cared for. Eventually, her body was exposed on the dark streets of the capital of tango. When the story reaches this point, María seems to be a collective projection of a woman of early tango: in this 19th century South American immigrant port, this musical genre was born out of poverty, betrayal, decadence and death, whereas women were reduced to targets to trifle with. In the 1960s, when Piazzolla conceived this tango-opera, the audience was intoxicated by tango’s splendid passion in its heyday, nearly forgetting its desolate and gloomy façade.

This is not the end of María’s story, however. In the second half of the tango-opera, her ghost roams around. The procuresses and thieves who know her are telling her stories and even prophesying that María will be resurrected, like Jesus. Here is where Piazzolla’s ingenuity comes in: traditionally, male tango dancers take the lead, whereas female dancers just accompany their partners’ movements. However, in Piazzolla’s play the female protagonist becomes the tango’s spiritual embodiment. Not only does she symbolise the suffering consciousness of early tango, but she also brings in the themes of rebirth and redemption from Christianity into its contemporary imagery. In the tango-opera, María remains a virgin even when her body was buried. Her spirit is still wandering the streets of Buenos Aires and yet passing the Way of the Cross of Christ. Towards the end, three puppets (symbolizing the Three Magi) come to María and tell her about the miracle of her conception. The story follows the divine nativity, although with a twist, with María delivering a baby girl, who is María herself.

If María is the metaphor of tango, she takes on the mission of Christ’s resurrection, while embodying the imagery of St Mary giving birth to the Saviour in a holy immaculate body – this is probably Piazzolla’s original idea of tango art. It is said that the idea behind the story came from Piazzolla’s lover, Egle Martin, who later left him and married someone else. According to Egle, Piazzolla once said to her husband, “She is music, she can’t belong to anybody, no, she is music, and that’s me.” María can be the projection of Piazzolla’s muse (i.e. Egle), as well as the evidence of his devotion to tango. Tango is his salvation, his object of worship, and his domain of self-realisation. One could even say that María is Piazzolla’s anima, his female self.

Piazzolla has always been known as an innovator, the representative of nuevo tango. Since the 1950s, inspired by his teacher Nadia Boulanger, he devoted himself to reforming tango. His pieces integrate jazz, classical music and even the twelve-tone equal temperament, elevating his works above the free-spirited passion of traditional tango with a plaintive depth. Every dancer would agree that Piazzolla’s works are in general more suitable for aural appreciation than functioning as dance music. During Piazzolla’s active creation period, tango culture in Argentina was dying away. On one hand, the military government imposed cultural control, while on the other hand, with the invasion of American popular culture, young people started going to discos, rather than milongas. Piazzolla’s reform of tango music made it more refined and presentable for grand occasions. No longer limited to the grassroot culture along streets and alleys, tango became elegant music that could be played in concert halls.


Excerpt from “María’s Tango: Rebirth, Redemption and the Eternity in Art” by Tang Ching Kin, published on the house programme of María de Buenos Aires in Hong Kong in 2022.

Biographical Notes

Helen Lai, Direction and Choreography

One of Hong Kong’s foremost choreographers, Lai joined the City Contemporary Dance Company in 1979, holding the post of artistic director from 1985 to 1989. She has choreographed for many of the city’s performing arts companies with stage, film and television productions, and collaborated with companies from different regions, including Cloud Gate Dance Theatre and Crossover Dance Company in Taiwan, Guangdong Modern Dance Company and Singapore Dance Theatre. Lai’s major works include The Rite of Spring, Nine Songs, Testimony, HerStory, The Comedy of K and In the Beginning.

Lai has been the recipient of numerous awards. In 2000, the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region awarded her the Medal of Honour. Other awards include four times recognition for her choreographic works at the Hong Kong Dance Awards and three times Outstanding Choreographer. She received an Outstanding Contribution in Arts Award from the Hong Kong Arts Development Council in 2015, and an Honorary Fellowship and an honoris causa Doctorate of the Academy from The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts in 2004 and 2021 respectively.

Vivian Ip, Conductor

One of the rising young conductors in Hong Kong, Ip was praised by the Grammy Award winner John Nelson: “Conducting is like breathing for you. Bright talent you have!”. She is currently the associate conductor of the Hong Kong Sinfonietta, and has guest conducted at the Hong Kong Philharmonic, Musica Viva Hong Kong and symphony orchestra of the Hong Kong Grand Opera. In 2023, she co-founded the ANIMA Ensemble and took on the role of Music Director. Ip has performed in concert halls around the world, worked with multiple European orchestras and was appointed Assistant Conductor of the Hong Kong Philharmonic. As an opera conductor, she has conducted operas such as Carmen, Die Zauberflöte, Der Fliegende Holländer, Norma and L’elisir d’amore, etc. She currently teaches Conducting and Practical Studies in Musicianship at The Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Chen Wei-Kuang, Set Design

Chen graduated from the Taiwan University – Drama Department and obtained an MFA at the Taipei University of the Arts. Nominee of the Taishin Arts Award he won a bronze title at a stage design competition in South Korea. In 2017, he was nominated for the World Stage Design of the World Theatre Competition with the stage design of Persistence of Memory. Chen has served as a stage specialist at Weiwuying since 2018 and has participated in the design and technical planning of Weiwuying’s productions and outdoor performances.

Kuo Chien-Hao, Lighting Design

Kuo devised his first lighting design at the Taiwan University of Arts where he graduated in drama, and later received an MFA degree. He holds over 20 years’ experience as a professional lighting technician and designer. His lighting works include Summer Jazz, Opera-Studio series for Taiwan’s Theatre and Concert Hall in Taipei, TEDx Taipei – The Future is Now, Weiwuying opening season – Bernstein’s Candide, María de Buenos Aires (Taiwan Premiere) and Kaohsiung Local Hi The Apocalypse of Fudingjin. Kuo’s work La Traviata and dance production Identity were elected for the 2017 and 2022 World Stage Design, Professional designers – Lighting design category. He is now the head of the lighting team in Weiwuying.

Lawmanray, Executive Lighting Design

Lawmanray (Raymond Law) graduated from The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (HKAPA) in Lighting Design. He is currently studying for a master’s degree on Theatre Direction at HKAPA. Lawmanray has worked as a freelance lighting designer for different theatre companies, including the Hong Kong Repertory Theatre, Windmill Grass Theatre and others. He joined the City Contemporary Dance Company as Resident Lighting Designer in 2017, and has worked on many productions such as Requiem HK and Winterreise．The Rite of Spring, among others. He received the “Outstanding Lighting Design” prize at the 22nd Hong Kong Dance Awards in 2020 for Winterreise.

In 2009, Lawmanray launched Inspire Workshop, a theatre company focused on creating multimedia stage works. His recent works include The HELP and Offending the Audience – The Impossibility of Theatre. He was nominated for Best Director at the 8th Hong Kong Theatre Libre 2015-2016 for Love is Colder than Capital Deconstructed.

Fan Huai-Chih, Costume Design

Fan studied at the University of the Arts London and received a master’s degree from Istituto Marangoni in Milan. She has frequently collaborated with Swarovski and Harry Winston, designing and integrating their ceremonial gowns, accessories and gift boxes, and continues to undertake various brand consulting, creative design in Milan, Taipei and Shanghai.

In 2018, she worked as a styling tutor and supervised several costume designs and album stylings for famous pop singers and actresses. For the past few years, Fan collaborated with several performing companies designing costumes for Sydney Dance Company’s Full Moon, Cloud Gate 2’s Dream Catcher, Cloud Gate Dance x Beijing Tao Theatre’s Multiplication, the latter being praised by the Daily Telegraph as “a visual feast”.

Anthony Yeung, Sound Design

Graduated from The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (HKAPA), in 2003 Yeung received the prize for “Best Sound Design” at the 12th Hong Kong Drama Awards. He started teaching sound related subjects at the University of Hong Kong, HKAPA and other institutions from 2003. Yeung has been an advisor at Soundpocket, a sound art organization, since April 2008. In 2010, his company was appointed as Sound Consultant for Dolby Laboratories.

Recent participations in theatre productions include Meeting In Between Time by the City Contemporary Dance Company; Symphony Under the Stars by the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra as live sound mixing engineer; Live．Earth．Space by Choi Sai Ho and King Lear by Tang Shu Wing Theatre Studio. In 2017, Yeung received the “Outstanding Sound Design” prize at the 19th Hong Kong Dance Awards.

Hung Wei-Chen, Video Design

Hung is the person in charge of SouthLink Film, and started collaborating with Weiwuying from 2018. He produced various documentary films, factual videos, and promotional clips for different programmes. In 2020, he led SouthLink Film and Cloud Gate in jointly creating the series Behind the Scenes: Creation of 13 Tongues, which received widespread acclaim.

He believes that images are a direct source of information that is easily absorbed by audiences. He will repeatedly and continuously review the finished imagery and adjust the playback and quality of each scene’s footage so as to achieve a type of harmony and balance. His expectation is that the work can flow naturally, which he likens to being able to perceive the scent of rain just before a majestic downpour. Much of his creation is based on the people he observes in his everyday life, whom he tries to capture using a simple, every day, and realistic style.

Cast

Carol Lin (as María)

Lin is one of the leading mezzo-sopranos in Hong Kong. Since 2006, Lin has taken principal roles in opera productions by Hong Kong and international companies including the title role of Carmen and María de Buenos Aires, Maddalena (Rigoletto), etc. In 2023, Lin joined the world-class soprano Anna Netrebko to perform at the 51st Hong Kong Arts Festival. She has also won First and Grand Prix in the 5th Yokohama International Music Competition in Japan and in May 2023, she won Second Prize at the lyric song category of the 8th Stanze dell’Arte International Music Competition.

David Quah (as Cantor)

Winner of the IFAC Handa Australian Singing Competition, Malaysian-born David Quah made his professional debut singing Don Ottavio in Mozart’s Don Giovanni with Opera Queensland. He moved to Hong Kong in 2000 and started teaching singing at The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts.

Quah has premiered many operatic roles both in the neighbouring city and overseas. He has also launched several shows online, including Winterreise on Ice, musicals The Happy Prince, The Other Wiseman and Esther, all rather well-received.

Quah is an experienced and popular lecturer and is the Founder and Artistic Director of Bel Canto Singers Foundation. His signature Classical Moments Series has staged many acclaimed concerts, bringing beautiful moments to Hong Kong audiences with works running the gamut from baroque to the contemporary, classical to jazz, and Chinese to western.

Ricardo Canzio (as Duende)

Ph.D. in Tibetan studies (musicology) from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. Earlier on had studied Indian music, Hindi and Indian philosophy at Benares Hindu University, India. Former Professor of Musicology at Taiwan University, has previously taught at University of Basel, Switzerland, Paris 8 University, etc.

Born in Buenos Aires he had his early training in piano and composition at the University of Rosario and worked as a jazz player and arranger. Published numerous articles on ethnomusicology and also produced a number of CDs with researched notes on Brazilian popular music and Tibetan opera. His most recent publication is a commented translation from the Tibetan of Sakya Pandita’s Treatise on Music.

Disclaimer
The Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Macao Special Administrative Region Government provides liaison and technical support to the project only. Any views/opinions expressed by the project team are those of the project only and do not reflect the views of the Cultural Affairs Bureau.