Listings: Beijing

STAGE

Classic Russian songs have been performed by Chinese singers since the 1950s. Now veteran singers Liu Bingyi, Luo Tianchan and Wu Tianqiu bring these familiar melodies to Beijing audiences, including The Red River Valley, A Night in the Suburb of Moscow and Red Berry Blossom. It will be an acoustic set, no microphones will be used by the singers, to emphasize the natural beauty of the their voices.

7:30 pm, Feb 9

The Great Theater of China Nationalities, 49 Fuxingmennei Dajie, Xicheng District

6602-2530

English National Ballet stages the classic Swan Lake. The company's leading dancers, Agnes Oaks and Thomas Edur, will perform the roles of Odette/Odile and the Prince.

7:30 pm, until Feb 3

Century Theater, Liangmaqiao Lu, Chaoyang District

9609-6260

Former Bolshoi Ballet dancer Andrey Petrov is artistic director of the Kremlin Ballet Theater (pictured) and will lead the company on a tour of Beijing with Swan Lake and the Hunchback of Notre-Dame at Poly Theater. Based on Victor Hugo's famous novel, Hunchback features fantastic scenery and Petrov's choreography, which blends tradition and innovation.

Under Petrov the company has performed 20 different productions by various choreographers, since its establishment in 1990.

7:30 pm, Feb 8-14

14 Dongzhimen Nandajie, Dongcheng District

8008108798

China Eight-Eyes, a male quartet founded in 1990, greets audiences with popular love songs from overseas and here, for a Valentine's Day show. Tunes will include Nights on Grassland, Snow Lotus on Icy Mountain, A Night in Moscow's Suburb and Oh Susanna.

7:30 pm, Feb 13

Beijing Concert Hall, 1 Beixinhuajie, Xicheng District

6605-7006

Burning Floor presents a dance show in Beijing, a special commemorative edition. Putting together 300 years of dance, the troupe improves its performance every time it tours, adding new dance, musical and costume elements. The troupe made its debut performance in China in 2005.

7:30 pm, until Feb 4

Beizhan Theater, Xizhimenwai Dajie, Haidian District

6835-4455

The annual performance for the Spring Festival of the China National Peking Opera Company is ready to be staged. More than 30 senior and young performers will appear in traditional opera, newly-composed plays and modern arias. Two promising nandan (female roles played by male performers), Liu Zheng and Yang Lei, are expected to the highlights of the first performance. The second performance will see performances from such Peking opera stars as Ye Shaolan, Deng Muwei and Chen Shufang.

7:30 pm, Feb 7,8

Forbidden City Concert Hall in Zhongshan Park, Northwest of Tian'anmen Square

6559-8285

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

On Chinese New Year's Day, the traditional instruments of the China National Chinese Opera and Dance Drama Company will be heard, including the flute, lute, koto, suona, sheng and erhu. The program includes Moon Rising in the Rosy Clouds, the Fishing-boat Man Singing at Dusk, Moon-Lit Night of Spring River.

7:30 pm, Feb 4,7

Beijing Concert Hall, 1 Beixinhuajie, Xicheng District

6605-7006

Under the baton of Hong Xia, the symphony orchestra of the China National Chinese Opera and Dance Drama Company presents a Spring Festival concert, including Yellow River Cantata and The Butterfly Lovers. Violinist Yu Lina and pianist Wu Ying.

7:30 pm, Feb 9,10

Forbidden City Concert Hall in Zhongshan Park, Northwest of Tian'anmen Square

6559-8285

Themed film music is on offer, including animated shows like Beauty and the Beast, MickeyMouse and Donald Duck, Tom and Jerry, Popeye's Voyage, Aladdin, Snow White and the Nutcracker and Sugar Plum. The symphony orchestra of the China National Chinese Opera and Dance Drama Company is in charge of the program.

7:30 pm, Feb 11

Forbidden City Concert Hall in Zhongshan Park, Northwest of Tian'anmen Square

6559-8285

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

To greet the Spring Festival, the National Art Museum of China has prepared a feast of Chinese folk art. On show are about 270 sets of New Year pictures and kites selected from over 4,000 pieces collected by the museum over the past decades, from masters of folk art in over 10 provinces and regions. Also on display are about 60 festive paintings by master painters such as Li Keran, Jin Meisheng, Li Qun, Gu Yuan and Zhang Ding.

9 am-5pm, until Feb 29

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

6401-7076

Bao Pao has extended his art into the worlds of architecture and environmental design. The latest show comprises 10 works he created during the past three years.

The various materials and styles express the artist's concern for the embarrassing situation we find ourselves in, regarding the development of a global civilization and the conflicts this produces.

9 am-4 pm, until Feb 3

Today Art Museum, 32 Baiziwan Lu, Chaoyang District

5876-9690

The Beijing Botanical Garden begins its wintersweet season this weekend and it will last throughout the Spring Festival. Over 200 wintersweets, plums and flower arrangements are on show. Among the 110 wintersweets, one work is on a 1,000-year-old trellis. Winterweet is commonly mistranslated as plum tree and flowers in the winter, sometimes in the snow.

9 am-5 pm, until Feb 13

Beijing Botanic Garden, Wofo Temple, Fragrant Hill, Haidian District

8259-5547

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

China Millennium Monument is putting on a Spring Festival Cultural Temple Fair at its North Square premises. Photographic subjects include the Olympic Games, gymnasiums and stadiums. Beijing folk art unfolds through a series of performances, including dancing and acrobatics. There will also be 1,000 red lanterns. Traditional snacks and toys are available during the fair. A series of cultural shows is also being prepared.

9 am-5 pm, Feb 6-13

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

6851-3322

A seasonal gallery show of oil paintings from Mo Junfeng, Yang Wenping and Mao Yiyun. Mo taps the harmonious relationship between humans and animals, while Yang and Mao try to present philosophical content with abstract compositions.

10:30 am-6:30 pm, until Feb 1

Rain Gallery, 4 Jiuxianqiao Lu, Chaoyang District

6432-3274

Graffiti from Austria and photography from China are some of the works on show at this gallery.

10am-6pm, until Feb 2

Red T Space, 4 Jiuxianqiao Lu, Chaoyang District

8911-5762

Weng Yunpeng's works are recorded from the TV. Concentrating on political topics, he composes his works by using TV lighting effects. Thus, events happening around the world are exposed, but in Weng's eyes the lighting effects and the stories have the same characteristics.

10am-6pm, until Feb 3

Beijing Art Season, 4 Jiuxianqiao Lu, Chaoyang District

6431-1900

Several artists show their works in a joint show called Righted-Lefted. Zhang Donghong's Drama Actor series uses flamboyant colors; Xiao Se's Ideal in the Other Shore portrays the faces of naughty boys to illustrate the confusion of adults; He Hongzhi's Round Button series of elegant line drawings complement women and their costumes; while Gao Fang's Shadow and Ribbons - Auspicious Cloud lauds the vitality of humans and nature.

11 am-6 pm, until Feb 9

The Fifth Element Gallery, 4 Jiuxianqiao Lu, Chaoyang District

6432-1338

Abiao's oil paintings focus on scenes from Peking Opera performances. Typical is the work Yang Silang Visits His Mother, where Yang is center frame, in a classical opera pose. The colors of the portraits are also lively.

9 am-8 pm, until Feb 9

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

6959-8343

Ku Art Center is hosting a group show of contemporary art titled Authentic. On display are over 30 works of sculpture, installations, oil paintings, paperwork, photography and videos, by nine young Chinese artists including Gu Ying, Meng Botong and Liu Ren. The highly individualistic works resist categorization and the artists are different to the movement of artists born in the 1980s, Italian curator Manuela Lietti says. "These works, paradoxically, make use of absurdity, incongruity, contradiction, the need to flee into introspection, both to testify the crisis of art as an overall cognitive issue, and the failure of mankind in approaching reality as a whole," she says.

10 am 5 pm, until Feb 29

Ku Art Center, B-006 Kufang Guojiyishucheng Huantie Lu, Jiangtaixiang, Chaoyang District

8456-0850

(China Daily 02/01/2008 page20)