Hnatiuk D. The Operatic Works of Guo Wenjing: Tradition and Innovation

The dissertation is devoted to the study of the operatic creativity of Guo Wenjing — one of the leading contemporary composers.¹ In the era of global cultural interactions, particular significance is attached to the comprehension of the ways in which national tradition is integrated with innovative artistic practices. China, with its centuries-old musical and theatrical heritage, following the period of the “Reform and Opening-up” policy initiated in 1978, has become an important center for the synthesis of Eastern and Western art. In the creative output of Guo Wenjing, a profound rethinking of the artistic and expressive means of traditional Chinese art takes place through the prism of contemporary compositional techniques. He integrates national intonational structures, the timbral specificity of traditional instruments, conventional vocal performance practices, and the philosophical symbolism of the East with the principles of the European musical and theatrical tradition of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. His operas are distinguished by their experimental character, aesthetic integrity, and a high level of synthesis of diverse cultural strata. Guo Wenjing has developed an individual creative method that shapes current trends in the development of the operatic genre and contributes to the expansion of the aesthetic boundaries of world musical art. The object of the study is the operatic creativity of Guo Wenjing. The subject of the study comprises the traditional and innovative features of the composer’s operatic works. The aim of the study is to identify the forms of integration of the artistic principles of traditional Chinese opera with the achievements of contemporary Western music in the operatic works of Guo Wenjing. Scientific novelty of the research. For the first time in Ukrainian musicology: the operatic creativity of the outstanding Chinese composer Guo Wenjing is highlighted; the cultural-historical and socio-political context of the formation and flourishing of Guo Wenjing’s artistic individuality is examined, and the defining features of his style associated with the reinterpretation and renewal of national tradition are identified; five operatic works by the composer — Feng Yi Ting, Si Fan, Wolf Village, Night Banquet, and Poet Li Bai — are analyzed and the aspects of tradition and innovation in his operatic creativity are foregrounded; the synthesis of Sichuan and Beijing traditional opera practices with a European instrumental ensemble in Guo Wenjing’s chamber opera Feng Yi Ting is traced; the specific features of the composer’s interpretation of traditional opera in Si Fan are identified; the influence of the artistic principles of Chinese traditional art in the chamber operas Wolf Village and Night Banquet is determined; the imagery of Guo Wenjing’s opera Poet Li Bai is examined; particular attention is focused on the alienation effect of Chinese traditional opera and its communicative function within the Western-origin genre of opera. It is concluded that the operatic creativity of Guo Wenjing embodies a unique synthesis of national tradition and contemporary artistic exploration, distinguished by profound philosophical content, symbolic depth, and innovative solutions. The composer’s oeuvre is shown not only to reproduce the spiritual foundations of Chinese culture but also to establish new reference points for the development of contemporary opera, thereby constituting a significant contribution to the field of world theatrical art.