Beijing gets ready to host Lehar's "The Merry Widow"

(AGI) Beijing, Jan 3 - Giuseppe Cuccia, the artistic consultant for western opera of the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA), will deliver a lecture on Franz Lehar's famous opera "The Merry Widow," on January 9 at the Audutorium of the Italian Cultural Institute in Beijing. Mr Cuccia, who has made an outstanding career for himself as an artistic director, producer and manager of prestigious theatres and festivals both at home and abroad, will discuss the world-acclaimed operetta in three parts by the Austrian composer of Hungarian origin. Fame has blessed "The Merry Widow" continuously for over a century, ever since its debut at the Theater an der Wien, on December 30, 1905. Its success is due to an extraordinary and well-balanced blend of an operetta's classic themes (money, love and jealousy), a charming musical colour and famous dances. It is a masterly crafted original piece, where the story's main characters take part in a dizzying and amusing exchange of pairs, promises, suspicions and revelations. The opera will be performed at the National Grand Theatre from Jan 18 to Jan 22, 2017. (AGI). .