Tan Dun and Zhang Yimou between Film and Opera

摘要

Tan Dun's opera, The First Emperor—premiered in 2006 at the Metropolitan Opera and staged by the Chinese film director Zhang Yimou—was based on a preexistent film and was intended as a sequel to their 2002 film Hero. This cluster of films and performances, the intricate connections between Chinese opera and film, and Tan's and Zhang's prior work in both media offer an excellent opportunity for comparative study of the “operatic” and “cinematic” in musical and visual terms. The prominence of these figures and the charged context in which these works were created prompt investigation of their cultural and political implications as well.