WHEN THE MAESTRO MET THE MONK: A TALE OF TWO SOULS After Tian Haojiang had his hair lopped off he knew he was right for a special role
Chat for any length of time with the bass singer Tian Haojiang, someone who spends much of his life honing his vocal chords, and you are likely to end up being utterly charmed by that powerful, alluring voice.
Indeed it is that voice that has helped turn someone who once used to work as a laborer in a factory in Beijing into a mainstay of the New York Metropolitan Opera and a Chinese star in an international opera firmament dominated by Western singers.
However, last year, more than two decades after Tian first performed at the Met, and after years of being in the thrall of Western operas, big and small, and in various tongues, it was to the east that he cast his eye as he prepared for a role in the Chinese opera Monk Jianzhen Sailing to the East. It tells the tale of the revered holy man’s intrepid, and mostly failed, attempts to reach Japan.
The role is perfectly suited to Tian, who in many respects seems to be a latter-day kindred spirit of Jianzhen.
The production by Jiangsu Performing Arts Group premiered in Tokyo on Dec 20 last year, commemorating Jianzhen’s ultimate arrival in present-day Kagoshima on that same date in 753AD after five failed attempts to get there.
The opera was later performed in the sacred cities of Nara and Kyoto before it returned home to the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing in February.
This year marks the 45th anniversary of restored diplomatic ties between China and Japan, and Monk Jianzhen Sailing to the East is again due to be staged soon, next month in Tokyo and then Osaka.
An emerging self
In playing the great master, Tian says he has been transformed.
“I have seen a new self emerging after playing it.”
Various aspects of Jianzhen’s character, including his tenacity and the power of his conviction, all shaped his performance, he says.
“For me this has been a unique and invaluable experience. … Every moment in your life counts, particularly those that are packed with so much meaning.”
And yet rehearsals for Monk Jianzhen Sailing to the East gave Tian little reason to be optimistic about how things would turn out. As the date for the premiere approached he was ill, and he became hamstrung on how exactly to portray the character. In fact, he even became disenchanted with the way he was singing and considered throwing in the towel.
Then one night something astonishing happened. He was wandering along a street in Nanjing. It was dark, it was cold and it was raining, Tian says.
Out of the shadows loomed a bar-
Every moment in your life counts, particularly those that are packed with so much meaning.” Tian Haojiang, bass singer
Onegin; Cid; ber’s shop and Tian pondered whether he should take the plunge: dispense with the hair and mustache that serve him so well in other operas and swap them for the bald head of a monk, something that would serve him well in the role as Jianzhen.
After wrestling with the decision for a short while he walked into the barbers and commanded that all his hair be lopped off.
“It was only when I lost that hair and my mustache that I finally felt right to play Jianzhen,” Tian says. “From then on, everything seemed to go so smoothly. I became well again, and everything clicked as I worked with the whole team.”
Eager to see more deeply into Jianzhen’s soul, he went to Daming Temple in Yangzhou, where the monk was born.
“There I talked to monks and watched the Buddhist morning ceremony. … I also visited the Toshodaiji Temple in Japan. When I sat in front of Jianzhen’s statue it was as though I was enveloped by this great man, and I could sense his every breath.”
The premiere was a great success, among those appreciating it being Professor Kuranaka Shinobu,
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MonkJianzhenSailingtotheEast; director of the department of Japanese and foreign languages at Daito Bunka University in Japan and an expert on Jianzhen studies. The opera was fabulous and moved her deeply, she says, and all members of the cast had demonstrated fine performing skills.
That success may partly be attributed to the fact that in at least one way Jianzhen and Tian are united souls, being pioneers who pursued their goals in far-off lands, the former planting the seeds of Buddhism in Japan and the latter taking up residence in the United States and becoming one of very few Chinese winning recognition in mainstream opera.
“In the early years life was very hard, but through years of endeavor everything has turned out happily,” Tian says.
Their having things in common has helped him better understand what made the Buddhist master tick, he says.
“The scene in which Jianzhen, after several failures, is alone onstage and is imploring Buddha is the one that moves me most.”
Jianzhen is not merely asking questions but rather calling out to destiny in despair demanding where the future lies, he says. It was at that moment of the play, Tian says, that he felt “an eruption of force”, and the audience was moved to tears.
“I felt pain and I felt a sense of happiness, joy, delight, excitement … a feeling that ultimately is inexpressible. At that moment Jianzhen had totally become part of me, and I felt liberated.”
Moment of honor
When Tian performed in the opera he was no stranger to Japan, having once worked with the conductor Seiji Ozawa.
“I admire him very much. He is a great man who has contributed a lot to cultural exchanges between China and Japan.
“I had the honor of being on hand when Ozawa conducted when he visited China with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1979. Seven or eight years ago, during an opera rehearsal break, Ozawa told me it was one of the most important performances of his life.
“Generally he does not use a music stand but that particular day he put up one in front of him, with his father’s photo on it, fulfilling a long cherished wish of his late father to see his son give a performance in China.”
Tian says he treasures Ozawa’s friendship, and that the key to understanding is good communication.
Though Tian has spent much of his life outside China, he retains strong affection for it, and says he divides his time between Beijing and New York in the company of his wife, a dog and a parrot.
Apart from opera singing, Tian is now dedicated to the iSing International Young Artists Festival, a month-long intensive opera training program created in 2011. Based in the city of Suzhou, the program brings together top talent, coaches and conductors worldwide to train young artists to take up opera, singing in Mandarin.
The festival is a great get-together for musicians from all around the world to meet and communicate, and is a great chance for those who want to pursue opera singing.
“Many people helped me and taught me selflessly,” Tian says. “I have been deeply touched, and I want to give something back.”