Peking Opera In route to Tallahassee

Tianjin Young Peking Opera Troupe will perform at Askew Student Life Cinema on Florida State University. The performance is apart of the international conference on France and Asia. It is free and open to the public this Friday.

The Tianjin Young Peking Opera Troupe is a Chinese Professional Opera Performance Organization. It has traveled to numerous countries to perform such as Japan, Singapore, and Mexico. The Chinese Ministry of Culture named the group “National Major Peking Opera Troupe,” in 2005.

William Cloonan, Ph.D, is the retired the Richard Chapple Professor and former Chair of Department Modern Languages and Linguistics at Florida State University. He thinks the Chinese community is extremely excited for troupes arrival.

“The performance is open to the public. But I am worried about the seat arrangements. The Chinese community is excited for their performance. Its going to be a beautiful event. The Peking Opera is nothing like the Western Opera,” Cloonan said.

With the Chinese community making up 26 percent of Tallahassee's population this will be a packed event.

Rachelle Saint Jean is an office assistant at the Winthrop-King Institute for Contemporary French & Francophone Studies. Saint Jean explained the performance will introduce the students and public to Chinese opera and culture.

“If you've never seen a performance from the Peking Opera, you are in for a real treat,” said Saint Jean.

Students from Florida A&M University are also looking forward to the troupe’s arrival. Kulton Jackson, a senior choral music-voice student at FAMU.

“As a vocalist, I see the importance of the other cultures. The Peking Opera will allow students to experience a variety in opera. Most people assume that people of european descent are the only pioneers of classical music such as opera,” Jackson said.

This performance was sponsored by the Winthrop-King Institute of the Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics will be at 7 p.m.