Commissioned Work:Opera Painted Skin by Hao Weiya

Commissioned Work:Opera Painted Skin by Hao Weiya

The opera Painted Skin is adapted from the story of the same name in Pu Songling’s Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio. Painted Skin, the title of the original story, has become synonymous with the coexistence of beautiful appearance and inner demon. While the opera tries to subvert this definition and explore  humanity and animality as well as human’s instinct and the dilemma faced by human beings. Three artists play roles in the opera Painted Skin among which the mezzo-soprano plays the male scholar, the soprano plays the wife of the scholar and the Nan Dan (males play female roles in Beijing Opera) plays the female ghost who disguises as a girl with a painted skin.