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What's on in Beijing (May 6-12)

[Photo/Beijing Concert Hall]

Music:

Jazz weekend

Beijing Concert Hall has launched its classical music season of the year that will run through December. French pianist Thomas Enhco’s Jazz show this weekend is one episode in it.

Born in Paris, Enhco started playing the violin and piano at an early age, and studied classical music and jazz in both instruments. At 12, he entered the Centre des Musiques Didier Lockwood, where he was spotted by the drummer Peter Erskine who offered to collaborate in Enhco’s first CD. In 2006, Enhco released his first album, Esquisse.

If you go:

7:30 pm, May 6. Beijing Concert Hall, 1 North Xinhua Street, Xicheng district. 010 6605 7006

Ticket: 80-599 yuan ($12 – 90)

What's on in Beijing (May 6-12)

[Photo provided To China Daily]

Chinese soprano sings French songs

More than a decade ago, soprano Zhang Liping became the first Chinese-born singer to play a lead role in Giacomo Puccini’s Madame Butterfly at the New York Metropolitan Opera. During her stay abroad, she also performed in operatic productions, such as La Traviata, Turandot, Faust and Carmen, in Europe and the United States.

She returned to China in 2006 and has since worked as the director of the department of vocal music and opera at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing.

On May 12, Zhang will hold a concert in the capital when she will highlight French composers Gabriel Faure, Henri Duparc and others from French operas.

Learn more here.

If you go:

7:30 pm, May 12. Concert Hall of the Zhongshan Park, West Chang’an Street, Xicheng district. 400 880 2880

Ticket: 80-380 yuan

What's on in Beijing (May 6-12)

[Photo/National Center for the Performing Arts]

Stage:

Drama Amber (Mandarin)

Amber is a multimedia musical play imbued with Chinese avant-garde director Meng Jinghui’s black humor and “post-modernist” sarcasm.

True love is like ageless amber formed eons ago. In a modern metropolis teeming with sheer haste and insolent hypocrisy, could love be clear and crystal?

If you go:

7:30 pm, May 9-11. Theater of the National Center for the Performing Arts, 2 West Chang’an Avenue, Xicheng district. 010 6655 0000

Ticket: 100-500 yuan

What's on in Beijing (May 6-12)

[Photo/amazon.com]

The play of Art

For the last 20 Years, French writer Yasmina Reza’s Tony award-winning comedy Art has been a worldwide hit. As one of the most successful theatrical productions of the 21st century, it has taken over $250 million at the global box office. Next week, Beijing stage lovers will have the chance to see the classic show (played in English) in all its pared-down glory in Gulou’s Penghao Theater.

The play follows the friendship of three middle-aged, middle class men, Serge, Marc, and Yvan, as their friendship deteriorates because Serge spends 100,000 euros ($760,000) on a painting. The problem: the painting is nothing more than a blank white canvas.

The painting prompts quarrels among them and challenges their friendship which turns out to be more fragile than they thought.

The play’s examination of the true meaning of art may resonate with people but it’s also a look into the complicated and ever-changing nature of long lasting friendships.

If you go:

7.30-9 pm, May 11-13 / 2.30-4pm, May 14. Penghao Theater, 35 East Mianhua Hutong, Xicheng district. 010 6400 6472

Ticket: 100 yuan / 70 yuan for students

What's on in Beijing (May 6-12)

Famous author San Mao by Xiao Quan. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Art:

Portraits of cultural celebrities

Chinese photographer Xiao Quan, 58, is known for his portrait series, Our Generation, a decade-long project completed in 1996. It comprises portraits of leading figures from Chinese art and literary circles in the 1980s and 1990s, including Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige, Tan Dun and Cui Jian.

Xiao’s ongoing solo show, Today’s Xiao Quan & Portraits, showcases 96 works from a career that has spanned more than three decades.

Learn more here.

If you go:

10 am – 6 pm, through June 13 (closed on Mondays). Building 4, Apple Community, 32 Baiziwan Road, Chaoyang district. 010-58760600

Ticket: 20 yuan

 

What's on in Beijing (May 6-12)

[Photo provided to China Daily]

 

Israeli artist displays cut-out sculptures

Israeli artist David Gerstein, 73, loves observing small animals, especially butterflies whose beautiful colors and dancing amaze him. He also likes watching crowds of people that make him feel the energies of city life. Although he is not good at sports, he is fascinated with the grace which athletes demonstrate.

He transforms his affection for these things into cut-out sculptures, with a series called Butterfly, Sports, Beach and Urban. The series is now on show in Beijing, as part of his China debut exhibition titled Layers, through May 16.

Learn more here.

If you go:

10 am – 6 pm, through May 16 (closed on Mondays). Building 4, Apple Community, 32 Baiziwan Road, Chaoyang district. 010-58760600

Ticket: 20 yuan

What's on in Beijing (May 6-12)

[Photo provided to China Daily]

The charm of Italian design

Design is one of the most important ways to understand Italy – its history, culture and industry.

Some 50 Italian institutions and collectors are showing a wide spectrum of products, from mass-produced items to haute couture and limited-edition art pieces in Beijing in the ongoing exhibition Series off Series.

On show are chairs, lamps, motorcycle and drones that aim to reflect their designers’ attention to saving energy through technology and the preservation of handmade traditions.

Learn more here.

If you go:

9 am -5 pm, through July 25 (closed on Mondays), National Museum of China, 16 East Chang’an Avenue, Dongcheng district. 010 6511 6188

Ticket: 30 yuan

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