A feast of music to welcome the new year
Shanghai Oriental Art Center is to stage a series of concerts featuring both young and veteran musicians to welcome the new year with the city’s music lovers.
Tenor Shi Yijie, along with friends Li Wenbao, Zhao Yue and Liao Jialin, will perform on Thursday.
The program will feature Chinese songs such as “Three Wishes from a Rose” and “Crying Ospreys” as well as selections from classic Western operas “Carmen,” “Rinaldo” and “The Barber of Seville.”
Shi Yijie
Shi began his vocal studies in Shanghai and graduated with top marks from the Toho College of Music in Tokyo. After a scholarship from the Toho Postgraduate School of Music, he moved to Europe to continue his studies in Graz, Austria.
Concerts on January 1 and 2 will be conducted by 91-year-old Zheng Xiaoying.
Zheng was China’s first female conductor and the first Chinese conductor to perform overseas after the founding of New China in 1949. She will join Shanghai Opera House soprano Song Qian and the Symphony Orchestra of Xiamen Song and Dance Theater for the performances.
Zheng Xiaoying
World-famous pianist Lang Lang will make a return to the center on January 7 for a recital of Bach’s “The Goldberg Variations.”
Tickets for his previous performance on December 9 sold out within a minute. His second concert is one of the most anticipated by the city’s music lovers.
On January 22, Zhang Haotian will present a piano recital entitled “Romance Express,” taking audiences on an outlandish musical journey.
The program will include Piazzolla’s “The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires,” “Libertango,” Alberto Ginastera’s “Danzas Argentinas,” Liszt’s “Réminiscences de Don Juan,” Chu Wanghua’s “Jasmine Flower” and Zhang’s own “Spiritual Origin.”
Zhang Haotian
