Chen Shi-Zheng - Concept, Libretto, Direction - Share This..

Chen Shi-Zheng is a China-born, New York-based director, choreographer, singer, and actor. As a child in Changsha, Hunan during the Cultural Revolution, he was taken under the wing of traditional funeral singers, who were among some of the great masters of Chinese opera. He became a leading young opera actor, performing until his mid-20s in many productions throughout China, and simultaneously recorded albumns of folksongs and contemporary pop music. He emigrated to the United States in 1987, and has since established a crossover career in which he explores his own artistic expression that transcends an East/West divide and erases the boundaries between music, theatre, dance and film. In 2000, Mr. Chen was awarded the title Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture.

In 1999, his landmark 19-hour production of The Peony Pavilion was hailed as one of the most important theatrical events of the 20th century. The Peony Pavilion premiered as the centerpiece of Lincoln Center Festival in New York and at Festival d’Automne in Paris, and toured to Piccolo Teatro in Milan, Perth International Arts Festival, Aarhus Festival in Denmark, Berlin Festival, Vienna Festival and at the Esplanade Centre in Singapore before concluding at Spoleto Festival USA in 2004. It has been filmed for home video distribution by RM Associates.

A selection of Mr. Chen’s other directing credits includes Mercury Light World (Berlin Festival); My life as a fairy tale (Lincoln Center Festival, New York, and Aarhus Festival, Denmark); a trilogy of contemporary theater works based on Chinese classics –  Orphan of Zhao in two versions (Lincoln Center Theater & Lincoln Center Festival), Snow in June (American Repertory Theatre), and Peach Blossom Fan (RedCat); Dido and Aeneas in two versions(Handel & Hayden Society, Spoleto Festival USA); The Flying Dutchman (Spoleto Festival USA); Night Banquet (co-commissioned by Festival d’Automne à Paris, Kunstenfestival des Arts in Brussels, Hebbel-Theater in Berlin, and the Ensemble Modern in Frankfurt, and Lincoln Center Festival); the documentary film Cultural Warriors of The Revolution (TV France 3); Cosi fan tutte (Aix-en Provence Festival and Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Paris); and Alley (New Zealand Festival of the Arts). He made his directorial debut in 1996 with The Bacchae (China National Beijing Opera Company, Hong Kong International Arts Festival and Athens Festival).

In addition to conceiving and directing Monkey: Journey to the West for its 2007 premiere at Manchester International Festival and Theatre du Chatelet in Paris and its Spring 2008 presentation at Spoleto USA, Mr. Chen directed The Coronation of Poppea for English National Opera as part of a complete Monteverdi cycle that he began with Vespers of 1610 and continued with Orfeo (nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Opera Production, 2006). Mr. Chen recently directed The Bonesetter’s Daughter, composedby Stewart Wallace with libretto by Amy Tan, for San Francisco Opera, for its world premiere in September 2008. His first feature film, Dark Matter was an official entry at the Sundance 2007 Film Festival where it won an Alfred P. Sloan Prize and opened to critical acclaim in theatres this past spring. Upcoming projects include Home with Kronos Quartet, Madame Butterfly for Opera Roma, and Vivaldi’s Il Teuzzone with Jordi Savall.