WHEN GIUSEPPE VERDI first set out to adapt Shakespeare's Macbeth to opera in 1846, he wrote to his librettist, Francesco Maria Piave: 'This tragedy is one of the greatest creations of man. If we cannot make something great out of it, let us at least try to make something out of the ordinary.'
It is a comment that applies particularly well to Lo King-man, who leads the upcoming opera production opening at the Cultural Centre later this month. The director of the Academy for Performing Arts will find this year's show particularly challenging. For a start he had just six months to put it all together.
Last winter Lo was making plans for a double bill this year with Cavalleria Rusticana and Il Pagliacci to be performed as a collaboration between the 'artistic forces' of Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai, and performed in each of the three cities. The outbreak of Sars killed that idea.
'When Sars subsided I was asked by the cultural presentation office of the government to quickly stage something, so we would not be without an opera this year,' explains Lo, from his ground-floor, garden-fronted office. 'I chose a work which is very concentrated, can be rehearsed over a long time by locals, but required only short rehearsal for overseas stars.'
He also chose an opera that would give Hong Kong a chance to show off. Verdi's Macbeth is a departure from the usual lavish, operatic spectacles. A translation of Shakespeare's great 'Scottish play', it is as much an intense psychological drama. When first staged in Florence in 1847, it was considered highly experimental.
'The attention to detail, the experiments in orchestration and the attempt to stay away from convention are key aspects of the composition,' explains conductor David Stern from his home in Paris. The renowned son of violinist Isaac Stern is one of the major stars to have been recruited for the Hong Kong production.
