You are about to experience an enchanted musical evening that will take you to both the East and the West. This very special evening features colorful, innovative arrangements of twelve of the most well-known and beloved melodies ever written for the stage - spanning masterworks from 18th to the 20th century, highlighting eleven operas by eight different composers.

While selecting the piece for this program, it was inevitable that many masterworks would not be included and many outstanding composers would not be represented. In the final analysis, the choices represent our own very personal judgments as what would provide a joyous journey through some of the most beautiful melodies from the opera.

On your enchanted journey you will encounter representative works of the two giants of Italian opera - Giuseppe Verdi, famous for his musical romanticism and Giacomo Puccini, whose “Verismo” (“Realistic”) style influenced generations of opera composers. And while different stylistically, their works contain some of the most beautiful melodies in all of opera. You will also meet “Carmen” – arguably the most popular of all French operas and much admired by the philosopher Nietzsche. The immortal Mozart is also here; whose sparkling Classical Era opera “Le Nozze di Figaro” still embodies the spirit of the Enlightenment with humanity and humor. Joining “Figaro” in the comic opera category is the sentimental, Viennese operetta “The Merry Widow” by Franz Lehar. The great operatic traditions of Russia and Central Europe are represented with excerpts from Borodin’s Nationalistic epic, “Prince Igor” and Dvorak’s Czech folk song-inspired fairy tale, “Rusalka” and we will even visit George Gershwin’s “Catfish Row” for an excerpt from his Jazz-inspired contemporary opera, “Porgy and Bess.”      

During the preparation for the present recording, a friend who deeply loved opera commented that while there are many musical treasures to be discovered in opera, most people never take the time to listen and discover them for themselves. Possibly because of the foreign languages used or perhaps because of the great cultural differences encountered in works from another time and place but for too many listeners, opera provides an almost impossible challenge to appreciation and comprehension. It is our sincere hope, that our arrangements will come as a surprise, and these beautiful melodies can be appreciated even when they are performed on familiar musical instruments.

In transcribing opera for instruments, great care was taken to allow the soloists to truly “get inside the heads” of the characters whose music they were performing, while our chamber music arrangements provided an intimate environment where Chinese and Western aesthetics could meet in true musical harmony. The result is a truly NEW international language of color and sound based upon the great operas of Europe and America.

This CD was produced in the largest recording studio in Asia – located in the “China Central Committee Television” - housing more than 480 square meters of studios and recording equipment. It is an honor to be recorded in these studios and musicians compete vigorously for available times. Featured on this recording is the famous recording technician Li Xiaopei – one of the most in-demand engineers in all of Asia. The master recordings were then sent thousands of miles for final mastering and production at Stockfisch Studios in Germany, located near the home of the great opera composer, Richard Wagner

At every stage of making this recording, from the selection of the repertoire, to the creation of the transcriptions, to the recording and mastering through to final production, the artists and engineers were committed to achieve for the highest quality available. It is the hope of everyone involved with the creation of “An Enchanted Night at the Opera in Silk and Bamboo” that this high quality edition will transport the listener to a special, imaginary place of sonic perfection.

Please enjoy your “enchanted night” and join us in a journey crossing the borders of East and West in a celebration of humanity’s common language – music. It is in this spirit of communication that transcends spoken words that perhaps approaches the true essence of the art of opera at its most joyous.