Spring music festival raises curtains today
FIFTY-SEVEN concerts and nine dance productions will be presented during the 39th Shanghai Spring International Music Festival, which runs from today to April 14.
Original works by young artists and performers will continue to be the highlight of the 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 launch the festival at the Shanghai Symphony Hall today.
Over 300 performers and musicians from the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra, Shanghai Opera House, and the Shanghai Conservatory of Music will join hands for the concert, making it an attention-grabbing large-scale collaboration between the four major music groups.
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.
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.
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.