Singing In Mandarin

I have sung a couple standard popular love songs in Mandarin, but in June I will sing my first operatic role in Chinese. 

I will sing the role of the American Ambassador to CHIANG Kai-shek's Guomintang in the new opera, Soong Ching-ling (Madame SOON Yat-sen).  

This is work.

I have been looking at the music for several weeks, and although I speak some Chinese now, it is hard to memorize the words. 

The music is no problem; it is not tonally difficult. This will take time.
 

I relish the challenge as I believe I will be one of the first (or definitely few) Westerners to sing in a Mandarin opera in China.  It is at Beijing's National Center for Performing Arts, to boot!

One good thing is I am singing the role of the American Ambassador, so if my Chinese isn't perfect, it can fit nicely into the role...............