Best bets

NCPA Drama Jane Eyre (Chinese Version)

Date: April 13-19 - 7:30 pm

Venue: National Center for the Performing Arts

Price: 200-880 yuan

In June 2009, Jane Eyre pioneered by NCPA was staged for the first time, and this was also the first interpretation of Charlotte Bronte's classical novel of the same name on the stage of drama in China. Wang Xiaoying and Yu Rongjun served as the stage director and the playwright respectively. Ever since its debut in 2009, this drama version of Jane Eyre has been performed many times at NCPA and other theaters and has toured in such cities as Shanghai, Chongqing, Ningbo, Hangzhou and Fuzhou province. Three actresses - Yuan Quan, Chen Shu and Zhu Jie - have dedicated themselves to the performance, presenting this elegant and independent English woman for the audience.

Gabriela Montero Piano Recital

Date: April 22 - 7:30 pm

Venue: National Center for the Performing Arts

Price: 100-200 yuan

Gabriela Montero's visionary interpretations and unique improvisational gifts have won her a devoted following around the world. Anthony Tommasini remarked in The New York Times, "Montero's playing has everything: crackling rhythmic brio, subtle shadings, steely power in climactic moments, soulful lyricism in the ruminative passages and, best of all, unsentimental expressivity."

Selected Peking Opera Arias of Mei School by Wei Haimin

Date: April 7-8 - 7:30 pm

Venue: National Center for the Performing Arts

Price: 120-580 yuan

As an inheritor of Mei School of Peking Opera, Mei Baojiu used to serve as President of Mei Lanfang Peking Opera Troupe. Wei Haimin is a famous Peking Opera actress playing female lead roles. Since childhood, she has accepted related performance training in Taiwan. In June 1991, Haimin went to Beijing and became Mei Baojiu's first disciple. This officially kicked off Mei School inheritance in the contemporary era. In April 2016, Mei Baojiu suddenly passed away. So Haimin decided to open this opera concert with the theme of "Beside the Plum: Nine Odes" to commemorate her teacher.

Haydn Chamber Ensemble

Date: April 9 - 7:30 pm

Venue: National Center for the Performing Arts

Price: 50-200 yuan

The Haydn Chamber Ensemble was founded in 2013 as a classic piano trio by Cornelia Loscher, Luca Monti and Hannes Gradwohl and is based in Eisenstadt and Vienna. The three combines many years of experience as chamber musicians and soloists. Committed to its name, the Haydn Chamber Ensemble focuses on the oeuvre of Joseph Haydn and his contemporaries. In order to exploit the full spectrum of chamber music, the Ensemble invites musician friends to complete the ensemble. Another emphasis of the Ensemble lies in commissioning and performing contemporary music.

Yang Liping Ballet - Peacock of Winter

Date: April 13-15 - 7:30 pm

Venue: Hangzhou Theater

Price: 280-1,680 yuan

The dance drama Peacock is created and directed by Chinese famous choreographer and dancer Yang Liping. Since the debut of the drama in 2012, Peacock has been staged for hundreds of times at home and abroad. The peacock in the drama is not only a bird, but also a person and a member of sentient beings. The Peacock is in four parts titled Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter respectively to symbolize life's journey reflecting a story about growth, human nature and love. The characters in the drama embody the different levels of human nature, brightness & awareness, love & devotion, obsession & being lost, and fear & vanity. The story is about peacock as well as human nature, and it also a parable about life.

Harp Recital by Xavier de Maistre 2017 in Shenzhen

Date: April 8 - 8 pm

Venue: Shenzhen Concert Hall

Price: 80-880 yuan

Xavier de Maistre was born in Toulon and began to study harp at 9. He finished his studies with Catherine Michel and Jacqueline Borot in Paris. In 1998 he was awarded the first prize at the prestigious International Harp Competition in Bloomington, Indiana. He immediately became the first French musician to join the ranks of the prestigious Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra - a position which he left in summer 2010. Ma Vlast with breathtaking precision, presenting masterful arrangements of works that are usually played by an entire orchestra. The interpretation of these works, that few harpists before him have even considered playing, has contributed to his reputation as one of the most creative and extraordinary musicians of his generation.

(China Daily 04/01/2017 page20)