This paper introduces a group of "actors" on the stage of contemporary Peking Opera.

On the stage, she is atmospheric, delicate, affectionate and complete.

In life, she is simple, quiet, unassuming and unassuming. Someone once described her as "Cheng Men Leng Yan".

Some people describe "Chengpai" Peking Opera art as "a meticulous and colorful painting with many lines", especially when you are sad, sad or lost, listening to the brief introduction of "Chengpai" singing Yu Kuizhi has a special taste. In today's Liyuan, Zhang is called "the first person in Cheng Pai Tsing Yi". Zhang, who has made a career, is loved by audiences of different ages, genders and professions with his beautiful, pure, deep, dignified and distant personality and unique and elegant singing style. Her singing has the reputation of "Cheng Qiang Zhang Yun".

Yu Wei

Zhang archives

Zhang, whose ancestral home is Zhangqiu, Shandong Province, is a famous Peking Opera performer and has the reputation of "the first person in Tsing Yi". 1971/kloc-0 was born in Baicheng city, Jilin province, and/kloc-0 graduated from Peking Opera Department of Tianjin Opera School in June, 1989. He used to be the leading role of Peking Opera Troupe, comrade-in-arms of * *, and the leading role of Tsing Yi in China Peking Opera Theatre. Now he is a professor at China Opera Academy.

1 Cheng's road to success: from repeated defeats to becoming attached to Cheng School.

When Zhang Gang was born, she was always looking forward to having a daughter and father. Thinking that everyone should decorate their faces for happy events, she named her daughter Zhang (the combination of "fire" and "ding" means "people should be as tough as nails forged in fire").

Zhang Zu was born in Zhangqiu, Shandong, and Zhang Zu left his hometown to Baicheng, Jilin. Due to the family environment, Zhang began to learn to sing Pingju very early.

In the early 1980s, my father moved his family to Langfang, Hebei Province because of his job transfer. Zhang's brother, Zhang Huoqian, was a Peking Opera major at Jilin Theatre at that time. Every time he comes back from his home visit in winter and summer vacation, he always tells his sister the charm of Peking Opera intentionally or unintentionally. Over time, my brother's words and deeds had a subtle influence on Zhang's future engagement in Peking Opera. Since then, the persistent Zhang has fallen in love with Beijing opera without hesitation and is obsessed with it.

Zhang as a child

However, fate seems to be playing a trick on Zhang, and he failed to apply for drama school several times.

"From the age of 9 to 15, I went to the Theatre Academy every year. As long as I know where to enroll students, I will take the exam. My experience in taking the drama school exam is like Jin Fan's example. I failed the exam again and again, and I am quite old. At that time, I thought 15 years old didn't get this opportunity. Maybe I have no chance in my life, and my mood is very low. " The bitterness of seeking art at the beginning cultivated Zhang's melancholy personality elements, but her personality just conforms to the sad characteristics of Cheng School.

Once, Zhang said to his parents, "If I can't learn, I will miss what I like best in my life." My parents were very moved. Knowing that their daughters have admired the quintessence of Chinese culture for a long time, considerate parents took their daughters to Beijing to visit Wang Lanxiang, a retired teacher of Jilin Opera School, in order to realize their dreams and frankly explain their purpose. Wang Lanxiang readily agreed. From then on, Zhang lived and ate at home for half a year, and learned two operas, Selling Water and The Beggar. Zhang, who regarded Zhang as her own daughter, also found that Zhang was a good seedling to learn Peking Opera. Under the careful teaching of Zhang, Zhang's artistic potential was excavated bit by bit.

At the age of 0/5, Zhang/Kloc-was admitted to the Peking Opera Department of Tianjin Opera School with his two operas. As a result, she became the first and only self-funded student in the history of Tianjin Theatre Academy. This changed Zhang's fate and brought her dream back to reality from fantasy.

At that time, for an ordinary working-class family, the annual tuition in 650 yuan was definitely not a small sum, but Zhang's parents suffered all this. Zhang knows that her opportunity is hard-won, so she studies hard and practices hard. "In the three years of drama school, except for eating and sleeping, I basically spent it in the practice room. Others learn a play for half a year, and I have learned more than 30 in three years. "

"At that time, Tianjin Drama School, Hua Dan also learned, Wu Dan also learned, Mei School learned the most, and Zhang School also learned. It was not until the year of graduation that I came into contact with Cheng Pai. I felt that this voice and this melody particularly touched me. " Meng is the first Cheng school founded by Zhang himself. Her persistence touched Meng and taught her to give a discount to the Spring and Autumn Museum. With this discount, the Spring and Autumn Museum surprised Zhang in the subsequent school report performance, and also made Teacher Meng sit up and take notice of her. Since then, she has forged an indissoluble bond with Cheng Pai.

1993 recommended by the China Peking Opera School Research Association, Zhang formally studied under the proud disciple of Cheng, a master of Peking Opera performing arts, and became a closed disciple, thus obtaining a true biography and deeply understanding the essence of Cheng School art.

2 The secret of success: the pursuit from "likeness" to "likeness"

"Cheng Pai's art is not to clear Wan Li, but to cover the sun with light clouds; Not spare no effort, but with ease; It is not deafening, but it has infinite charm. It is like a huge iceberg, with few people exposed to the water and many people hidden under the water. It is implicit, deep and melancholy; It is solemn and elegant, with the color of philosophical dialectics. "

1995, Zhang was officially transferred to China Peking Opera Theatre, the highest hall of Chinese Peking Opera art, for his performance of Eight Women in the River. The art world here is bigger and broader, which is more conducive to her talent display. Zhang was like a duck to water, and honors followed: he won the performance award of "Five One Projects" when he went to China Peking Opera Theatre that year, 1996 was recommended as the second "Star of Chinese Peking Opera" by China Peking Opera Art Foundation, 1999 won the highest award of China Drama "Plum Blossom Award", and was awarded the title of outstanding young expert, outstanding youth and senior expert by the Ministry of Culture in 2000.

1In March, 998, Zhang was selected into the second China Excellent Young Peking Opera Actor Postgraduate Class and went to China Theatre Academy, the highest institution of opera education in China. After the youth research class of China Opera Academy officially started, Zhang decided to learn a Kunqu opera first, and the tutor was a professor.

The first Kunqu opera that Zhang Xiang studied was Jinshan Temple. Beijing opera is a "rap drama" from the art of rap. When it starts to sing, the whole stage will be silent. Kunqu Opera is a kind of classical opera in China, which dances while singing. The more enthusiastic the dance, the more intense the singing. Zhang quickly appreciated the different artistic features of Beijing Opera and Kunqu Opera and fully absorbed them.

There are many theoretical courses in youth research classes, including 10, such as music guidance, China opera history, director's introduction, beauty guidance, opera role-shaping, China cultural history theory, opera aesthetics guidance, opera music, general theory, reading of classical works, English and so on. Classes are full every day. After a period of study, Zhang saw the gap between himself and his predecessors: there were few operas, narrow operas, and unbalanced basic skills in singing, doing, reading, playing and turning. To make up for these defects, besides learning cultural theory courses well and improving artistic accomplishment, we should learn more drama and act more, and improve ourselves in all aspects in artistic practice.

The master of Cheng School, Xin and Cheng, are contemporaries and have a profound and thorough understanding of the essence of Cheng School art. Zhang personally went to Nanjing to learn Cheng School art from Xin. Over 80 years old, his new thinking is agile. Professor Zhang's first play is Tomb of Yuanyang. However, the new age is old and a little hard of hearing, so Zhang bought a pair of hearing AIDS specially for her.

New and insightful, this paper makes a comparative analysis of the different identities and personalities of Sister Wang Wu in Yuanyang Tomb and Xue Xiangling in Solin Niang, and says to Zhang: "The characters are mainly shaped by themselves. Xin knows that only by oral teaching can she learn solidly, so she takes pains to teach Zhang. When walking, Zhang had to help her walk because she was old and new. Zhang practiced repeatedly until Xin Yanqiu was satisfied.

From Xin's hand-in-hand teaching, Zhang realized that softness with rigidity and softness with rigidity have a unique charm of fragrance, elegance and affection. During the study period, the new performance of demonstration figures made Zhang feel everyone's demeanor, and also vaguely realized the old artist's love for Peking Opera. Although the trip to Jinling lasted only 10 days, it left an unforgettable page in Zhang's artistic career and gained a lot. 165438+June, 20061October, Zhang premiered the Peking Opera "Yuanyang Tomb" in Chang 'an Grand Theatre-in which she changed the appearance of wearing pleated dance sleeves and dressed up as a small jasper for the first time. The drama fully embodies the beauty of language, performance and stage performance, and has a great sense of fashion in story mining, theme mining and characterization, which is well received by people inside and outside the industry.

"On the issue of inheriting genre, we must first obtain the creative method of characters, and then understand the artistic personality of genre. Beijing school art is one of the many art schools bred in Beijing opera, and its' mother' is of course Beijing opera. ..... Chengpai art has both the artistic characteristics of Peking Opera and its own artistic personality. " After three and a half years of study in the youth research class, Zhang benefited a lot. At the graduation ceremony, she spoke on behalf of the whole class and summarized her learning experience in recent years. In her view, Cheng Fang's brief introduction to Yu Kuizhi is very similar to the poetry in literature in many aspects and artistic essence, which can be said to be "the poetry in Beijing Opera". She said: "The reason why Cheng School art is loved by people is mainly determined by its artistic personality. Cheng school art is not a clear sky in Wan Li, but a light cloud covering the sun; It is not spare no effort, but comfortable; It is not deafening, but it has infinite charm. It is like a huge iceberg in the Antarctic, with few people exposed to the water and many people hiding under the water. It is implicit, deep and melancholy; It is solemn and elegant, with the color of philosophical dialectics. " She realized the charm of Cheng School art. From then on, I began to move from a professional actor to an artist.

3 "success": true feelings and responsibility.

Some people say that Zhang sings like Faye Wong and has a unique rhyme. Just listen with your eyes closed. Zhang's dance is like dancing, light posture and subtle rhythm of life. However, Zhang is not only a singer, but also a dancer. She is a veritable artist, shouldering the responsibility of inheriting the play and abiding by professional ethics.

From June 5th to1October 5th, 2007, Zhang Peking Opera recital was held in the Great Hall of the People. This is the first solo concert held by Chinese Peking Opera actors in the Great Hall of the People, and it also makes Zhang the first person to hold a solo concert in Liyuan.

Some people say that Zhang sang Faye Wong, which has a unique charm. Just close your eyes and listen, just close your eyes; Zhang's dance is characterized by light posture and subtle rhythm of life. However, Zhang is not only a singer, but also a dancer. She is a veritable artist, shouldering the responsibility of inheriting the play and abiding by professional ethics. Peking Opera, the most characteristic art in China, runs through her, bearing the exquisite harmony and unity of singing, reading, doing and dancing. What is more difficult to copy is her artistic personality, which is beautiful, pure, deep, dignified and distant. She left other leisure far behind on the stage, and her calm and refined temperament like an ancient lady deeply touched the audience.

Zhang, known as "the first person of the Tsing Yi Cheng School", has his own unique understanding of the word "Tsing Yi". She used her singing skills, posture, catwalk, expression, and even the mouth shape when singing to provide an aesthetic model for this "Tsing Yi" era. Some people say: watching Zhang's performance, he looks cautious and swings his sleeves smoothly and steadily, just like a calligrapher with skillful brushwork; The arrangement and expression of its dance image makes the originally spacious stage become an artistic atmosphere space everywhere.

Beijing opera, once the quintessence of Chinese culture, seems to be far away from modern people, and appreciating it has almost become a "patent" for the elderly. However, Zhang is an exception. More precisely, Zhang Chuang made an exception, that is, not only many middle-aged and elderly people, but also many young people have become her opera fans. Those young opera fans like the beauty of her appearance, figure, sleeves and singing, and are fascinated by her coldness and seclusion under the stage. Someone once commented that Zhang may be the best performing artist who knows how to converge and control, and it is precisely because she knows how to grasp and control the "degree" that she can easily show the audience the subtleties of Cheng School's singing that the predecessors have not fully explored.

Zhang is very low-key, never hypes himself, and is very cautious in every performance. He controlled the number of performances in a controlled way, and every performance was serious. In today's depressed drama performance market, it is always hard to get a ticket for her performance, and there are always infatuated fans waiting for a refund outside the theater.

Aunt Sun is an old opera fan. As soon as Zhang came on stage, she fell in love with Zhang's performance. At that time, I heard that Zhang's life of studying opera was very hard.

Aunt Sun sewed a costume embroidered with 88 white chrysanthemums and gave it to Zhang. Talking about why she likes Zhang, Aunt Sun said with a smile, "First, the play is good, and second, the people are good. The play was good, and everyone watched it; Everyone I have come into contact with is very modest. Once she hitchhiked away after the performance. When she saw me, she got off the bus to say hello to me and asked me how the play was going. It was raining heavily at that time, so she ran without an umbrella. I am really touched. "

In fact, Zhang also had his own idol in his early years. "I especially envy those good actors. When I watched them perform on the stage, I was envious. " When I was studying in Tianjin Theatre School, "as long as an outside troupe came to Tianjin to perform, I never refused. Even if I bought the ticket myself, 4 yuan paid 1 ticket. At that time, the living expenses of 1 month were only 16 yuan. I've met Li, Mei Baojiu, Pei Yanling ... and related. Whoever watched their play will inspire me to continue my efforts. From then on, I woke up. I want to practice, no one can give you the play, and no one can give it to you. Do it yourself, and no one can grab it in the future. "

Zhang with type A blood has a strong sense of responsibility and takes every performance on the stage very seriously. She is very strict with herself, and any mistake will make her angry.

Once when performing the last scene of the new drama "Jiang Jie Embroidered Red Flag", Zhang on the stage coughed a few times because of the sudden cool wind in his throat, and the scene was suddenly silent. Zhang took advantage of the dim light and turned to cover his face with the red flag in his hand, but his cough didn't stop, and two lines of singing didn't finish. After the performance, the lights lit up and the actors took a curtain call in turn. Zhang, the last one to appear, bowed deeply to the audience. Tears welled up in her eyes when she looked up. Zhang motioned the sound engineer to turn on the microphone and choked and said, "I'm sorry everyone!" This is the first time I have seen such a situation since I became an artist. Please forgive me! " Later, she told the band ready to leave to return to their seats and insisted on singing the embroidered red flag again.

When Zhang "sang" this "Embroidered Red Flag" which lasted more than 8 minutes, the whole audience stood up and applauded for 5 minutes. At this point, Zhang declined the flowers presented by other actors in the crew, bowed deeply to the audience again and left with tears in his eyes.

"In the face of the audience, I am always under pressure, because I know that these audiences are not coming to see my face, they want to see my kung fu and singing skills. For so many years, I have devoted all my energy to Peking Opera, paid a lot and lost a lot. At the same time, I also got the most precious thing. " Facing the enthusiasm and applause of the opera fans, she felt extremely gratified.

4 "Success" Gate Leng Yan: From the pillar to the non-life "protagonist"

Zhang in life is a very cold person, and only those who are calm enough to stand loneliness can concentrate on studying drama. But on the stage, she is also a person who has devoted great enthusiasm to drama.

Although Zhang is very comfortable and radiant on the stage, in life, she rarely talks and walks lightly, as if she were afraid of scaring something. Perhaps it is this implicit and restrained character that has created her unique artistic style.

"I don't have many hobbies. I don't listen to pop music very much. Up to now, I don't have a computer, and I can't surf the Internet. In my spare time, I just read books and newspapers. Most of the books I read are biographies of the drama industry. I rarely go out when there are no performances or teaching tasks. " She said that her favorite sport is walking, her favorite food is mala Tang, and she usually dresses "not too ostentatious".

Song Guanlin, president of China National Peking Opera Theatre, once commented on Zhang, who can combine the two qualities of ice and fire. Indeed, Zhang in life is a very cold person. Only those who are calm enough to stand loneliness can concentrate on learning drama, but on the stage, she is the one who can devote herself to it with great enthusiasm.

Life is simple and quiet, and she puts all her energy and charm on the stage. She is so meticulous in the play that she can't be careless from head to toe. She can know exactly what clothes to wear and what flowers to wear. Off-stage, she doesn't know how to dress herself. She has almost no hobbies in her life and gives all her time and energy to Beijing Opera. She likes singing opera and is addicted to stage performance, but dealing with the media will make her very upset. Facing the camera, she is very stiff. She has repeatedly said that the most painful thing is that others take pictures of her casually. Zhang in front of the camera is so wooden, stiff, inarticulate, slightly nervous, concise answer, even she often feels a little cold.

In life, she doesn't want to be the leading role. She is like a theater goer, very quiet, as if she would stay out of it forever. She has long been recognized by opera fans as the leader of Cheng School, but she is not complacent about her achievements. She always said to the media: "I am not good at talking, please forgive me." "I am actually very simple and have nothing to say." ……

"I feel relaxed with my family, but I will be nervous outside, especially when I participate in some activities. For me, once a play is finished, I can slowly get into the role, but I am not used to singing at that kind of party and I will be very nervous. " To this end, she declined many TV evening performances.

"Go straight for life" is the motto of Zhang's life and career. She has been carefully shaping and interpreting every role, putting all her thoughts into the Peking Opera stage. She said: "Only in this way is the best reward for opera fans!"

Lao Dan Yuan Huiqin: Singing and Persistence.