German professors and students of music from Hamburg perform at the conservatory.

Teachers and students from the University of Music and Theater Hamburg in Germany presented a chamber opera, “The truth of Love”, at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music in six shows in December 2016.

They came as a return for the visit made by SHCM professors and students to their school in November 2016.

The chamber opera was written for performance with a chamber ensemble. It mixed baroque music, Monteverdi style of opera and Mozart style of aria singing in a modern work. Only two pianos and a portative organ were used in the performance.

The conservatory’s concert hall was packed on December 7 and 8 when the chamber opera was staged. Philipp Himmelmann, director of the Opera Department of the University of Music and Theater Hamburg, interacted with the audience and said the opera attempts to express love, the ultimate proposition of humans, in the simplest form. All the performers are students and graduates from his department.

The German guests also enjoyed the rehearsal of Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tutte by Shanghai Opera House artists as they visited the company.

During their stay in Shanghai, the visitors also performed the chamber opera in Pudong for music students, piano teachers, and ordinary people.