The city of Xi’an in China marks the start of the ancient Silk Road. Music student Hui He hears Puccini's “La bohème” for the first time in the late 1990s. She doesn't understand a word but is deeply moved. She determines, sobbing, that one day she will perform this music. For Hui this is the start of a journey that will see her cross epochs and cultures to become one of the world's most acclaimed sopranos.
Today, suitcase in hand, Hui spends her life travelling, transient guest in cities across the world, singing in the grandest opera houses. However, it is for China that Hui holds her fondest memories and affections. Her powerful voice and strong stage presence increasingly contrast with the fragility of a woman alone and far from home, an artist sacrificing her own intimacy as she identifies viscerally with the characters of the works in which she performs, female figures pushed to the limit by events and usually doomed to suffering and tragedy.
A nagging doubt gradually begins to crack her monolithic determination to pursue her domination of the world stage. Hui decides to return to China. She needs to take a break, to reflect on her past, to reconnect with her family, her childhood friends and her fellow students from the conservatory, many now teachers.
A 2017 New Year’s Concert at NCPA in Beijing will be a perfect opportunity for Hui to come in China also for a Master Class to share the fruits of her extraordinary professional experience with students at the Xi'an Conservatory of Music. She relives the roots of her passion and confronts again the ghosts she had to battle against during difficult times at the conservatory. Hui, now ready to resume her own journey as an artist, will share the success with her family.