SHOAC to feature bevy of big names for new season
The Shanghai Oriental Art Center will be bringing together internationally acclaimed artists and groups in a new performance season, including the Vienna Philharmonic, Mariinksy Orchestra, soprano Angela Gheorghiu, pianist Li Yundi, the St. Petersburg Eifman Ballet and the Chinese Cloud Gate Dance Theater.
The theater’s 2019-20 performance program will feature 109 productions taking place from September to July 2020.
“The Shanghai Oriental Art Center has played a leading role in the cultural development of Pudong, having presented many world premieres of Chinese artworks as well as Chinese debuts of overseas productions,” says Tang Jinsong, head of the publicity department of Pudong New Area of Shanghai.
Lei Wen, general manager of the theater, points out that Shanghai has hosted more internationally acclaimed symphonies in the past decade alone than it did in the entire century prior, with many of these performances taking place at the SHOAC.
The Vienna Philharmonic will be making its third visit to the SHOAC since signing a strategic partnership with the theater in 2016. On Oct 27, the orchestra will play Russian compositions by Rachmaninov and Stravinsky under the baton of Andres Orozco-Estrada with Chinese pianist Yuja Wang. The next day, Christian Thielemann will take over the conductor’s podium and present a concert of Viennese works featuring the music of Richard Strauss, Johann Strauss II and Josef Strauss.
On Nov 21, maestro Valery Gergiev will lead the Mariinsky Orchestra, the oldest symphony in Russia, to play Tchaikovsky’s symphonies No 5 and No 6.
Also from Russia is the St. Petersburg Eifman Ballet, which will put up two performances of Anna Karenina on Sept 12 and 13 and two performances of Beyond Sin, a dance theater production adapted from Dostoevsky’s epic novel Karamazov Brothers on Sept 14 and 15.
The Eifman Ballet is best known for its innovation and creativity, representing the new development of Russian ballet, says Liu Aihua, the programming director of the SHOAC. Founding choreographer of the ballet, Boris Eifman, is good at working with Russian literary classics, presenting the human condition through dance, which has led his creation to be dubbed “psychological ballet”, Liu says. The company presented Anna Karenina at the SHOAC for the first time in 2015, and has since been performing at the theater every year.
Among the most anticipated projects of the new season is the Maria Callas in Concert Hologram which will take place on New Year’s Eve. One of the most renowned and influential opera singers of the 20th century, the Greek-American soprano “is more than just a singer, but rather a legend”, notes Lei.
The production will feature the use of new digital technology that has enabled the audio recording and visual performance to be reproduced as a hologram, creating a striking effect that Lei says will dazzle the audience. This production will be presented at the theater on Dec 31 and Jan 1.
The SHOAC has also always prioritized the presentation of traditional Chinese opera, having presented an annual festival of Chinese opera over the past 11 years. The upcoming 12th installment, which comprises 18 performances of 15 productions, will kick off in March.