Episode 16 of the NüVoices Podcast is here! This week, Alice Xin Liu is joined by co-host Zhāng Líjīa 张丽佳. The two interviewed Zōu Shuǎng 邹爽, a director and playwright. As of 2018, she was made the artistic director of the Beijing Music Festival, following in the footsteps of legendary conductor Maestro Yú Lóng 余隆. She was recently nominated at the 2019 International Opera Awards in London in the Newcomer category for her work as a director. Coming from a musical household, Shuǎng had always been interested in performance art. The three dive into her past – first as a student in London, and her introduction to the world of opera as a director’s assistant. After returning to Beijing, she tried her hand at the formidable task of adapting European works of musical theater for Chinese audiences, the younger crowd in particular. Nowadays, she spends divides her time between the U.K. and China, working across different mediums, genres and cultures. In the self-care and recommendations section, Alice recommends the band “New Pants”, or xīn kùzi 新裤子 and their song I Love You, Wǒ Aì Nǐ 我爱你. Líjīa recommends City of Lies: Love, Sex, Death, and the Search for Truth in Tehran by Ramita Navai. To end this episode, Shuǎng recommends Miracles of Life by J.G. Ballard and the album Sleep by Max Richter.
This podcast was edited and produced by Jason MacRonald.