NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ—At 7pm on Saturday February 14, a special Valentine’s Day opera will be hosted on the Rutgers campus.

“The Splendor of Chinese Kunqu Opera” will be performed at the Nicholas Music Hall, located at 85 George Street on the Douglass campus of Rutgers.  The event is free and open to the public.

Performers were invited to travel from Beijing, China for this event, making for an authentic Chinese opera performance.

The Northern Kunqu Opera Theatre was founded in 1957 in Beijing and specializes in the northern style of Kunqu opera which preserves and researches traditional repertoire.

The Northern Kunqu Opera Theatre has toured the world, performing in Japan, Finland, Russia, Sweden, and many others.

The renowned Chinese Opera group will be performing “Dream of the Red Chamber,” “Wang Zhaojun at the Border,” and “Injustice to Dou E,” which are all Chinese opera classics.

The director of the Northern Kunqu Opera Theatre is Yang Fengyi, a National Class One Performer and the winner of the 12th Plum Blossom Award for Chinese Theatre, Vice President of the Dramatists’ Association of Beijing.

Yang graduated from the National Academy of Chinese Theatre Arts where she specialized in lead female roles.
Prior to the performance there will be a special introduction done by Kunqu opera specialist, Ben Wang.

Since no tickets will be sold for this special performance, seating will be available on a first-come, first-serve basis.  No children under the age of eight will be admitted.

The opera is sponsored by the Confucius Institute of Rutgers University, the school’s connection to all things Chinese, located at 24 College Avenue.