Wu Tong
Mastery, Signature Works & Repertoire
Male, Hui ethnicity, born in November 1937 in Jinzhou City, Liaoning Province. He holds the professional title of National First-Class Composer. In 1952 he was admitted to the Chahar Provincial Juvenile Jinju Troupe, which was renamed the Hebei Provincial Juvenile Jinju Troupe in 1953. In 1959 he became composer for the Zhangjiakou Youth Jinju Troupe, the predecessor of the Zhangjiakou Kou Bangzi Art Theatre. Since 2002 he has been re-employed by the Zhangjiakou Kou Bangzi Art Theatre. His compositions are characterised by refinement, beauty and lyricism, and both the vocal writing and the accompaniment are closely matched to the dramatic situation and to the temperament of the characters on stage. He advocates drawing other musical elements into Jinju music, including local folk songs, the music of ethnic minorities and other Bangzi genres, holding that this lends a sense of novelty while remaining harmonious, natural and seamless. He has composed and adapted more than one hundred works, among them the modern operas Ode to Longjiang, The Red Lantern, Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy and Raid on the White Tiger Regiment; the traditional operas Three Invitations to Fan Lihua, Yang Bajie Rescues Her Brother and The Injustice to Dou E; and the modern historical drama The Small Swords Society.
Honors & Recognition
National representative bearer of Jinju (Shanxi Opera), a third-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. He has received numerous honours, including the Excellence Award for Music and Vocal Design at the Hebei Provincial Theatre Festival and the Hebei Provincial Literature and Art Revitalisation Award.
References & Archival Sources
Representative Items of This Bearer
Profile
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