What's on

Beijing

Concert

Greek symphony: Tan Lihua will conduct the Beijing Symphony Orchestra in a concert for the Cultural Year of Greece in China (2007-08). Dimitris Sgouros will sing.

The program includes Greek Dances by Nikos Skalkotas, Six T.S. Eliot Songs by Giannis Christou and Jonchaies by Iannis Xenakis, as well as works of Giorgos Koumentakis and Sergei Rachmaninoff. The concert is an important step to promote Greek contemporary music in China.

Time: 7:30 pm, November 16

Place: Concert Hall of the Central Conservatory of Music, Baojiajie Street

Tel: 6642-5702

Exhibitions

Top calligraphers: Sponsored by the National Art Museum of China, the biannual Nomination Exhibition of Fine Works by Top Calligraphers is being held at the museum of China in downtown Beijing.

Covering eight halls, the exhibition displays 144 selected calligraphic scrolls created by 36 artists considered by a panel of judges to be the best young and middle-aged calligraphers in the country.

The exhibition is part of the museum's ambitious plan to acquire quality artworks to enrich its collection. Over the years, the 44-year-old museum has accumulated 100,000 pieces ranging from ink paintings, oil works, prints, and sculptures. In recent years, modern calligraphic works have been put on collectors' must-have lists, according to Yang Bingyan, vice-director of the museum.

Time: 9 am-5 pm, until November 30

Place: National Art Museum of China, 1 Wusi Dajie, Dongcheng District

Tel: 8403-3500

Frontier pioneers: The opening exhibition of the Ullens Center features the "85 New Trend". The three exhibition blocks show 137 works by 30 artists. The year 1985 witnessed the blossoming of contemporary art in China. Artists of that period pioneered innovations in theme, form and technique.

Time: 10 am-5 pm, until February 17

Place: Ullens Center, 5 Wanhong Lu, Chaoyang District

Tel: 6438-6675 ext 220

Shanghai

Exhibitions

Desert artists: A collection of paintings on silk by mainly female artists from the remote Australian desert town of Utopia will be on show at the Shanghai Hong Miao Gallery, supported by the Australian consulate-General in Shanghai. The artworks provide a unique insight into ancient Australian indigenous culture, which will be juxtaposed with the 400-year-old former Taoist temple that is now home to the Hong Miao Gallery.

Time: 9 am-5 pm, until November 22

Place: Shanghai Hong Miao Gallery

Tel: 021-5292-5500, ext 221

Video stars: Two video performance pieces by Arahmaiani from Indonesia and Hu Xiangqian from Guangzhou will be shown in an exhibition titled Your Body is My Battlefield.

Time: 10 am-10 pm, until November 18

Place: Building 3, 120 Laohumin Lu

Tel: 021-5497-1967

Good as gold: Shanghai Museum, in collaboration with Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, is presenting the exhibition Rembrandt and the Golden Age: Masterpieces from the Rijksmuseum. Rijksmuseum Amsterdam is the most important museum in the Netherlands and among the top 10 museums in the world.

Time: 9 am-5 pm, until February 13, 2008

Place: Shanghai Museum, 201 Renmin Dadao

Tel: 021-6372-3500 ext 555

(China Daily 11/15/2007 page20)