Listings: Beijing

STAGE

Han Hong gained fame in 1997 for her songs Hometown, Beauty of Wind and Rain. The Tibetan is proud of her origins and says this is where she gets her inspiration.

7:30 pm, Jan 26

Workers' Gymnasium, Gongti Beilu, Chaoyang District

6501-6655

Danish master percussionist Gert Mortensen and his ensemble Percurama are from the Royal Danish Conservatory of Music. Among the works they perform are Sunrise on Pluto, Maze and Book of Changes. The third one transmits the ancient appeal of Eastern philosophy. Mortensen bases his creations on modern, choral muic and various other types of music.

7:30 pm, Jan 27

Beijing Concert Hall, 1 Beixinhuajie, Xicheng District

6605-7006

The Broadway musical Cats is on. In the Beijing show, Italian soprano Francesca Arena performs as the Glamour Cat.

7:30pm, until Jan 27

Beizhan Theater, Xizhimenwai Dajie, Haidian District

6835-4455

Beijing Music Radio will hold a special concert.

Popular, folk and bel canto singers will be accompanied by the symphony orchestra of the China National Chinese Opera and Dance Drama Company. Older and young stars - including Wang Kun, Wei Wei and Man Wenjun - will team up for a night of treats.

7:30 pm, Jan 29

Great Hall of the People, west of Tian'anmen Square

6417-7845, 6608-1188

Chinese Acrobatics Group, established in 1950, has toured more than 80 countries, won numerous international awards and has helped foster friendships between China and other nations. Its performance includes traditional acrobatics, a circus show, magic, old Beijing folk plays and more. The show blends music, dance, local opera and martial arts.

7:30 pm, daily

Tiandi Theater, Dongsi Shitiao, 100 m north of Poly Theater, Chaoyang District

6416-9893

CONCERTS

China Philharmonic Orchestra's seasonal concert includes Alexander Skriabin's Piano Concerto in F Sharp Minor and Igor Stravinsky's The Firebird Suite and Pulcinella Suite. The conductor is Yang Yang, the pianist Sheng Yuan.

7:30 pm, Jan 26

Beijing Concert Hall, 1 Beixinhuajie, Xicheng District

6605-7006

Zhang Haifeng wields the baton for the PLA Military Philharmonic Orchestra, for a Spring Festival concert of classical wind music. The program includes Olympic Horn, To Alice, Grassland's Night and others. The orchestra will stage a concert the next day of national anthems from such countries as China, France, the United States, Russian and Brazil.

7:30 pm, Jan 26, 27

China National Library Concert Hall, 33 Zhongguancun Nandajie, Haidian District

6848-5462

Johann Strauss' Radetzky March was the grand finale at the Vienna New Year Concert. Now the symphony orchestra of the China Broadcasting Performance Arts Troupe will peform this piece, under the baton of Fan Tao. Also expect to hear Swan Lake Suite, Hungary Dance Music and Emperor Waltz.

7:30 pm, Feb 10

Beijing Concert Hall, 1 Beixinhuajie, Xicheng District

6605-7006

Exhibitions

Regong art from Qinghai province is an influential school of Tibetan Buddhist culture. Originating in the Yuan dynasty (AD 1206-1368), it includes such forms as tangka, murals, embroidery and sculpture. Its themes are Buddhist sutras, historical events, legends and mythology. The ongoing exhibition displays more than 100 works.

9 am-5 pm, until Feb 13

Beijing World Art Museum, China Millennium Monument, A9 Fuxinglu, Haidian District

6851-3322

Lights of Dunhuang is an exhibition about the Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes and is also intended to celebrate the upcoming Beijing Olympics. There are 10 duplicate caves, covered with murals, 120 copies of the murals, created by generations of Chinese researchers/artists.

9 am-5pm, until March 21

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

6401-7076

Farmer-artists from Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan and Jilin provinces present their folk art works at the Art Gallery of the Maizidian Community Cultural Center in downtown Beijing. The exhibition features at least 1,000 paper cut and batik works, ink scrolls, oil paintings, and handicrafts.

10 am-5 pm, until Feb 20

Art Gallery of the Community Cultural Center, 26 Building, Zaoying Beili, Maizidian Street, Chaoyang District

6504-5898

Two solo exhibitions include Li Ji's Flower of Desire and Luan Xiaojie's Boy series. Against the blurred backgrounds of skyscrapers and modern buildings in Li's paintings, the main actors are pets. Luan's works show the loneliness of modern youth and how they entertain themselves.

10am-6pm, until Jan 25

Xin Dong Cheng Space ( I and III) for Contemporary Art, 4 Jiuxianqiao Lu, Chaoyang District

6433-4579

The joint show, Reality and Unreality, gathers five artists' works, including Jia Aili, Ma Yinxin and Qiu Hongfeng. The theme is inspiration from dreams. The artists are all of different ages and generally adopt vivid color schemes, while monotones convey coolness and indifference.

10 am-6:30 pm, until Jan 27

Highland Gallery, 2 Jiuxianqiao Lu, Chaoyang District

6437-7177

Taipei artist Chang Chih-cheng's solo exhibition Face presents his new works. The theme is figures, including well-known stars, artists and models in magazines. These people, who are imitated and admired by the public, are here interpreted differently. His works are not simple reproductions, but reflections in primitive colors, abstract geometric graphics and visual effects.

10 am-5 pm, until Jan 27

Chen Ling Hui Contemporary Space, 4 Jiuxianqiao Lu, Chaoyang District

6435-9665

Eight Taiwanese artists have been invited to Wu Diing-Wuu Walis's Invisible Project, which focuses on tribal people and their customs. Lin Chien-jung's installation uses lamps to produce human perspectives. Yuan Goang-ming's colorful photographs record nature and cityscapes.

10 am-5 pm, until Jan 27

Soka Art Center, B-103 Sky&Sea Business Plaza, 107 Dongsi Beidajie, Dongcheng District

8401-5810

Joint exhibition of artists Xue Jun, Zhao Weidong and Yang Shufeng includes oil paintings, synthetic material works and other easel creations.

10 am-6 pm, until Jan 30

Dr Gallery, Jiuchang Art Complex, Beihuqu Lu, Anwai Beiyuan, Chaoyang District

5202-3878

Yan Yu's Smoker series ignores the regulations. Song Haizeng's Edge of the City series expresses truth and nature by describing the life of a potato. Yinda's Car Reflector series tries to capture thought by painting reflective figures and cars on the street.

9 am-midnight, until Jan 30

Artist Village Gallery, 1 North of Rencun, Songzhuang, Tongzhou District

6959-8343

Group exhibition, Non-Present, features oil paintings, ink and wash works and more by artists Francois Bossiere from France, Peter Kveseth from Norway, and local artists. Using figurative and abstract representations, the participants investigate notions of landscape, texture, line and color in the context of both contemporary and traditional art. A blossom flowering, the spiraling of the nucleus into a waveform, and the poetry of ink and brushwork on cliffs and crags produce unexpected and moving results.

10:30 am-5:30 pm, until Jan 31

Imagine Gallery, Feijiacun Donglu, Cuigezhuang, Laiguangying Donglu, Chaoyang District

6438-5747

Tang Kaizhi finds similarities between calligraphy and taichi. He first composes the structure of his work by calligraphy and then blurs its edges with color.

11 am- 7 pm, until Jan 31

Onemoon, Inside Ditan Park, Dongcheng District

6427-7748

With respect to Chinese traditional philosophy, Wu Zuguang's works reflect a deep understanding and this is shown in his way of dealing with the language of sculptural art. The exhibits hark back to the Han dynasty, simultaneously absorbing the line techniques of the carved tiles from that time, as well as its decorative techniques. In stone and wood, Wu sculpts simple and vigorous images that are rich in meaning.

9:30 am-6 pm, until Jan 31

Qin Gallery, 1-1E Huawei Li, north of Beijing Curio City, Chaoyang District

8779-0461

(China Daily 01/25/2008 page20)