The Beijing Symphony Orchestra and Jingju Theater Company of Beijing staged a concert together at the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing on Thursday.

Four Peking Opera performers sang the arias from the contemporary Peking Opera production, Du Juan Shan, or Azalea Mountain, to the music by the symphonic orchestra under the baton of conductor Yuan Peng.

Featuring eight chapters, the Peking Opera production is adapted from the classic Peking Opera production of the same title, which premiered in 1972. It is set against the backdrop of 1927 when Chairman Mao Zedong led the farmers living in the Hunan-Jiangxi border area to launch the Autumn Harvest Uprising. The story follows Ke Xiang, a member of the Communist Party of China, leading the farmers to become a revolutionary troop.

In 1963, Peking Opera master Qiu Shengrong initiated the idea of creating the Peking Opera production, Azalea Mountain, after he watched a Chinese play of the same title. Qiu played the leading role, a poor farmer, named Wu Dou, who joined the farmers' troop, in the Peking Opera production in 1972, which was conducted by Hu Bingxu and performed by the Jingju Theater Company of Beijing.

Hu and huqin (a traditional Chinese stringed musical instrument mostly used in Peking Opera performances) player Yan Shouping, both in their 80s, joined in the concert on Thursday at the NCPA.

Yan, like Hu, also performed in Azalea Mountain when the Peking Opera production premiered in 1972.

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