Program announced for 39th Shanghai Spring International Music Festival
Fifty-seven concerts and nine dance productions will be presented during the 39th Shanghai Spring International Music Festival, which runs from March 22 to April 14.
Original works by young artists and performers will continue to be the highlight of this year's festival, which also includes a Sino-France Music Showcase to mark the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and France.
A themed concert celebrating the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China will raise the curtain for the festival at Shanghai Symphony Hall on March 22.
Posters advertise the opening and closing performances.
Over 300 performers and musicians from the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra, Shanghai Opera House, and Shanghai Conservatory of Music will come together for the concert, making it an attention-grabbing large-scale collaboration between the four major music groups in Shanghai.
The closing performance of the festival will be Rossini's classic opera "The Barber of Seville," a joint effort by Italy's Teatro Sociale di Como and the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. The three-hour opera will be performed by the conservatory's orchestra and chorus under the baton of Italian conductor Carlo Goldstein at Shangyin Opera House on April 14.
The Sino-France Music Showcase features seven performances, as well as lectures and masterclasses.
The showcase starts with Shanghai Opera House orchestra and chorus performing Berlioz's symphonie dramatique "Romeo and Juliette" under the baton of conductor Xu Zhong at Shanghai Symphony Hall on March 31.
The Sino-France Music Showcase features seven performances, as well as lectures and masterclasses.
Other showcase performances include a jazz comedy concert by French modern jazz band Accordzeam at Wanping Theater on April 2; a concert by the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House of Versailles at the Shanghai Oriental Art Center on April 7; the Quartet Arod Chamber Concert at Helvting Concert Hall on April 8; and a concert by the St Mark Children's Chamber Choir at the Shanghai Oriental Art Center on April 12.
There will be a rare opportunity for Shanghai audiences to enjoy an organ recital by Olivier Latry on March 26. Quatuor MosaÏques and Dresdner Streichtrio's performances have been scheduled on March 28 and April 12, respectively.
Lin Daye will lead the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra for a concert "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Titan" on April 2. Liao Changyong and Hartmut Holl will perform Chinese and foreign art songs on April 12.
Posters advertise some of the other recommended performances.
As for dance, Russia's Tchaikovsky Ballet is performing the classic "The Nutcracker" at Shanghai Poly Grand Theater on March 29. The Guangzhou Song and Dance Theater's signature production, "Awakening Lion," will be staged at the Nine Trees Future Art Center on April 13 and 14.
Modern dance dramas "Double Murder" and "Dancing with Rite of Spring" will be performed at the Shanghai International Dance Center Theater in March and April.
The festival also has a "Young Star" session, inviting music students from the Central Conservatory of Music, Harbin Conservatory of Music, Xi'an Conservatory of Music, and Shanghai Conservatory of Music to stage special performances at the Shangyin Opera House.
