Listings: Beijing

STAGE

Accompanied by the symphony orchestra of the Opera House of General Political Department, mezzo-soprano Yan Junru's solo concert includes Chinese and Western classics.

7:30 pm, today

Beijing Concert Hall, 1 Beixinhuajie, Xicheng District

6605-7006

Ningchun Theater stages Night Just Before the Forest by French playwright Bernard Marie Koltes. Chinese and French actors Sun Deyuan and Florian Laforge present the bilingual play. The monologue narrates the inner thoughts and experiences of society.

7:30 pm, until June 8

Nine Theater, Chaoyang Culture Center, Xiaozhuang, Chaoyang District

8599-6011

Tenor Jiang Jiaqiang and guqin player Yu Qingxin will jointly present a concert of classical poems. The program will include a guqin solo and poem recital accompanied by guqin music.

7 pm, June 13

Peking University Concert Hall, Peking University, Haidian District

6275-2279

The Chinese Acrobatics Group, established in 1950, has toured more than 80 countries, won numerous international awards and 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

To celebrate its 129th birthday, the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra will present a feast of traditional Chinese and symphony music. Known earlier as the Shanghai Public Band, it was established in 1879. Since the founding of New China, it has staged more than 6,000 concerts around the world.

7:30 pm, June 7

National Center for the Performing Arts, west of Tian'anmen Square

5883-6800

The French Piano Festival will feature three concerts. David Krasumer's piano solo will include Mozart's Sonata in B Flat Major and Sonata in C Minor and Prokofiev's piano music adapted from the opera, Romeo and Juliet. Philippe Bianco will cover Beethoven's Sonata in G Minor and Concerto No 13, Schumann's Fantasy - Piano Work No 17 and Chopin's Boat Song. Franck Avida will play impromptu.

7:30 pm, June 6-8

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

6559-8285

To usher in the 2008 Olympics, the Beijing Symphony Orchestra is presenting a concert with Olympic-themed music. Among the programs are John Williams' Olympic Fanfare And Theme, The Olympic Spirit, Summon The Heroes; Khachaturian's Sabre Dance and Suppe's Light Cavalry Overture. Conductor: Tan Lihua.

7:30 pm, June 14

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

6559-8285

World of Chinese magazine and Lao She Teahouse will hold a special concert for expatriates in Beijing on the day of the Dragon Boat Festival which falls on Sunday. Well-known names include guqin (3,000-year-old seven-string zither) master Yu Bosun and qin'ge (songs sung to the accompaniment of the guqin) master Huang Mingkang. Scholar of classic poetry Yu Xiaopeng will recite poems by Qu Yuan. Chinese tea, snacks, and zongzi (glutinous rice dumplings made especially for the Dragon Boat Festival) will be available during the show.

3:30-4:30 pm, June 8

Third floor, Laoshe Teahouse, Building No.3, Zhengyang Market, Qianmen Xidajie, Xuanwu District

6303-7562

Exhibitions

Ceramics from the Nanhai No 1, a Song Dynasty (AD 960-1279) merchant vessel, are now on display at the Duanmen Rostrum, the temporary exhibition hall of the China National Museum. The 36 exhibits are representative of the overall style of the trove discovered in 1987 off the coast of Guangdong province and raised at the end of December 2007. An exhibition of high quality replicas Ming and Qing dynasty ceramic masterpieces will be held in the hall over the same period.

8:30 am-5 pm, until Aug 31

Duan Gate of the Forbidden City, north of Tian'anmen Rostrum, Dongcheng District

8447-4943

Oil paintings by DPRK artists have features similar to those by Chinese artists. With Russian realism as their main influence, and displaying elements of early impressionism, the works are of solid compositions with flamboyant tones. Exhibits cover the post-war mainstream to contemporary art periods. Subjects include natural landscapes, epic events and everyday life.

9 am-5 pm, until June 12

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

6851-3322

French artist Thoma Ryse's acrylic paintings on canvas have been likened to songs in pigment. Entitled Color Party, his works feature clean, brilliant colors, rich surface textures and dramatic, lyrical lines. The patterns of circles, squares, dots and splashes of color of which the works are composed give the overall impression of spontaneity that evoke simple pleasures and joyful emotions.

French artist Maria Das Dores' one-day video performance, Falta, opens the same day. Its subject is the game known as Chistera, which is basketball played by one-player teams. Video cameras film the game from seven different vantage points that are simultaneously re-screened through four video projections. The sound and visual mix give viewers the impression of traveling through each visual aspect of this thrilling game.

6 am-9 pm, today

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

6438-5747

Woman artist Suzi borrows from free-hand pen and ink painting techniques in her oils on canvas. She depicts characters from traditional opera with distorted facial expressions, and intersperses traditional approaches with contemporary light effects. Some of her works are just an outpouring of color with no discernible detail or brushwork.

10 am-5 pm, today

Hongzilan Gallery, 70 Guangyintang, A2 Wangsiying, Chaoyang District

6720-0251

Xiao Bo's early works feature elements of old photos and truncated movie shots. In his more recent oil paintings, Xiao attempts to capture the exact moment of an action, thereby conveying the sense of lapse of time and change in the world. He uses abstract forms and impasto techniques for a bas-relief impression.

10 am-6 pm, weekend

Platform China, 319-1 East End Art, Zone A, Caochangdi Village, Chaoyang District

6432-0196

Exaggerated grimaces, minute detail and contrasting colors give Han Jianyu's portraits their signature vitality and humor. Most of the models Han paints are eminent political figures. His works also amplify the 1960s Pop Art genre.

10am - 6pm, until June 10

3+3 Gallery, 4 Jiuxianqiao Lu, Chaoyang District

6437-9942

Internationally renowned photographer Marc Riboud has been traveling across China for the past 40 years. His works showcase sights and scenery that have left the deepest impression on him.

10 am-6 pm, until June 10

Paris-Beijing Photo Gallery, 4 Jiuxianqiao Lu

8459-9263

Post-70s generation imagery looms large in this exhibition of contemporary cartoons by 20 or so artists from China, Indonesia, Japan and South Korea. Liu Ye's works focus on opera scenery and backdrops. Li Jikai's boy series and Chen Ke's girl series complement one another and Indonesian Eddie Hara raises the more serious topics of politics, racial discrimination and the environment.

11 am-6 pm, until June 10

Beyond Art Space, 2 Jiuxianqiao Lu, Chaoyang District

6433-2515

A big exhibition of news photos on the Wenchuan earthquake is running at the Beijing World Art Museum. It features 170 selected photos by Chinese and overseas journalists that capture vividly the efforts made to overcome the disaster and how people from all over the world rallied to help the victims, say the organizers, China International Publishing Group and China Pictorial. A sale of books will run alongside the exhibitions, the proceeds of which will go toward quake relief.

9 am-5 pm, until June 11

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

6851-3322

Liu Zhong, a veteran ink artist known for his vivid and innovative portrayal of wildlife, will hold his retrospective solo exhibition. On display will be over 60 works, mostly ink paintings of animals, birds, flowers, and insects the Beijing artist has created over the past 35 years. The exhibition is part of the Meet in Beijing cultural event and Olympics Culture Festival.

10 am - 5pm, July 16-21

Art Museum of China National Academy of Painting, 54 Xisanhuan Beilu, Haidian District

6841-1369, 6841-6405

The international new media art show, Synthetic Times - Media Art China 2008, occupies nine exhibition halls at the National Art Museum of China. It brings together some 40 established and emerging new media artists from 30 countries and regions.

Media art installation works, mostly interactive, will be on view alongside live performances, workshops, presentations, and panel discussions.

9 am-5 pm, June 10-July 3

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

6401-7076

(China Daily 06/06/2008 page20)