STAGE

Keep it in the air: The Chaoyang Theatre is one of the few Beijing theatres to present acrobatics all year round.

Top acrobatic artists invited from all over the country perform for Chinese and foreign tourists. The programme features trick cycling, leaping through hoops and Chinese magic tricks. Some of the artists have won prizes in international competitions.

Time: 7:15 pm, daily

Place: 36, Dongsanhuan Beilu, Chaoyang District

Tel: 6507-2421, 6507-1818

Joyful jugglers: The China Acrobatic Troupe is staging a nightly variety show at the Tiandi Theatre, where the seemingly impossible is made real.

Performers will spin plates and juggle umbrellas.

Contortionists will show incredible feats of flexibility and acrobats fill the air.

Integrating superlative juggling, unicycling, balancing and jumping through hoops with finest ancient Chinese dancing, the star-studded cast will amaze.

Time: 7:15 pm, daily

Place: 10 Dongzhimen Nandajie, Chaoyang District

Tel: 6502-3984

Variety show: Singers and dancers from the China Broadcasting Art Troupe will feature a song and dance variety show to celebrate China's National Day.

Chinese ballad singers Yin Xiumei, Wang Jieshi, Xie Lisi, and pop song singers Yi Yang, Tu Honggang and others will perform.

Programme: Chinese songs "Jasmine Flower," "A Half Moon Climbing Up," "Chinese Kungfu," "Farewell To My Concubine," and western opera excerpts like "Nessun dorma" from "Turandot," "Spanish Maiden" and others.

Time: 7:30 pm, September 13

Place: Poly Theatre, Dongsi Shitiao

Tel: 6506-5345

Acrobatics: The China National Acrobatics Troupe is to stage an acrobatic show.

Founded in 1950, the troupe has won numerous awards in many competitions held worldwide.

Programmes include much more than balancing bowls on the head, rolling cups, and jumping through rings.

Time: 7 pm, September 17, 18

Place: Peking University Concert Hall, in Peking University, Haidian District

Tel: 6275-9637

Romantic ballet: Dancers of the China National Ballet and Paris National Opera Theatre in France will co-stage "Sylvia," making its debut in Beijing.

Composed by Leo Delibes, the ballet's chief producer and artistic director is Zhao Ruheng. It is choreographed by Lycette Darsonval after Louis Merante. Dancers include Dalphine Moussin, Karl Paquette, Zhu Yan, and Zhang Jian.

Time: 7 pm, September 30, October 1-3

Place: Peking University Concert Hall, in Peking University, Haidian District

Tel: 6275-9637

Rising of China: To celebrate the 55th anniversary of the establishment of the People's Republic of China on National Day, October 1, a historic song and dance epic "The East is Red" will be performed.

The song and dance extravaganza made its debut at the Great Hall of the People in 1964. It was performed by 3,000 performers and was watched by a full audience led by the late premier Zhou Enlai.

This time, over 200 artists of the chorus and symphony orchestra affiliated to the Song and Dance Ensemble of General Department of Politics of the People's Republic of China will perform the spectacle.

Time: 7:30 pm, September 29, 30, October 1, 2

Place: Century Theatre, Liangmaqiao Lu

Time: 7:30 pm, October 3, 4

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

Tel: 6465-6904, 8589-5049

CONCERTS

Mexican flavour: Mono Blanco, a music group from Mexico, will perform at the Culture Palace of Chaoyang District on September 13.

Founded in 1977, the quintet Mono Blanco will play the folk music called Son Jarocho and other Mexican music with their ancient instruments.

A highly contrapuntal, tightly woven and rhythmically undulating sound, the quintet's performance was described by New York Times as a "high powered music box."

Time: 7:30 pm, September 13

Place: No 17 Jintaili, Chaoyang District

Tel: 8599-4224

Pianist becomes conductor: Shi Shucheng, pianist and conductor, is to lead the China Philharmonic Orchestra in a concert for college students at the Peking University Concert Hall.

Shi, one of China's top pianists, was recruited in the Middle School affiliated to the Central Conservatory of Music in 1958. In 1969 he became a piano soloist in China Central Symphony Orchestra, now called as China National Symphony Orchestra.

He has been conducting the orchestra since 1981. Trumpet and trombone soloists will be Andre Henry and Gilles Millere respectively.

Programme: "Trombone Concerto" by Henry Tomasi, "Trumpet Concerto No 2" by Ivan Jevic, "Carmen Suite (after Bizet)" by Robin Schedrin.

Time: 7 pm, September 12

Place: Peking University Concert Hall, in Peking University, Haidian District

Tel: 6275-9637

German conductor: Under the baton of German conductor Georg Hoertnagel, Beijing Symphony Orchestra will present a concert sponsored by Samsung Co Ltd.

Programme: "Symphony No 9 in C Major (Great), D 944" by Franz Peter Schubert, "Accelertionen-Walzer, Op 234," "Annen Polka, Op 117," "Kaiser Walzer," "Feuerfest Polka," "Fledermaus Overture," all by Johann Strauss.

Time: 7:30 pm, September 17

Place: Forbidden City Concert Hall, in Zhongshan Park, northwest of Tian'anmen Square

Tel: 6559-8285

Remembering Li Delun: A concert is to be held by the Beijing Symphony Orchestra in commemoration of conductor Li Delun, who passed away in 2001.

Li has been a senior conductor playing a vital role in the growth of the symphonic music in China. He had been the conductor for Beijing Symphony Orchestra and China National Symphony Orchestra, formerly known as China Central Symphony Orchestra.

Four conductors will take turns to conduct the orchestra: Huang Feili, Han Zhongjie, Xu Xin and Tan Lihua. Zhang Hongyan will play the piano solo.

Programme: "First Movement of Symphony No 5 in C Minor, Op 67" by Ludwig van Beethoven, "The Pipa Concerto of the Heroic Little Sisters on the Grassland" by Wu Zuqiang/Liu Dehai/Wang Yanqiao, and "Symphony No 3" by Huang Anlun.

Time: 7:30 pm, September 19

Place: Forbidden City Concert Hall, in Zhongshan Park, northwest of Tian'anmen Square

Tel: 6559-8285

Jazz from Germany: The Florian Ross Jazz Trio from Koln, Germany, will tour Beijing. Florian Ross, born in 1972 in Pforzheim in Germany, is an incredibly talented piano player and composer of modern music.

Ross has been composing while studying in Koln, London, and New York.

The band has won many awards including a first award in the Thad Jones Wettbewerbs competition organized by Danish Radio Big Band in 2000.

Time: 7:30 pm, October 12

Place: Small Concert Hall of Central Conservatory of Music, 43 Baojiajie, Xicheng District

Tel: 8251-2909

EXHIBITIONS

Festive auction: Rongbao Auction Co will stage its 47th elite auction on September 18-19, just prior to the National Day holiday in October, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the company.

The auction will be the largest one since the company's reorganization in 2003. After screening more than 5,000 pieces submitted form across the country, nearly 1,500 items will be put under the hammer with the categories of painting and calligraphy, antiques and rare artefacts, Western handicrafts, and chinaware.

An ancient guqin, made by Yang Jisheng during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), is expected to be another highlight of the auction, a reminder of the company's selling record, particularly in its auctioning of another guqin previously in May. The pre-auction show will be held on September 16 and 17 at the Asian Hotel.

Time: 9 am-6 pm, September 16-19

Place: 8 Xinzhong Dongjie, Gongti Beilu

Tel: 6500-7788

Architectural festival: The first China International Architecture Biennale will be held at the National Art Museum of China from September 16.

The theme of the biennale is "unlimited," a symbol of the natural power that drives people to probe into the unfamiliar. The construction and management of space has provided people with a private rooms to ponder and enliven. The biennale will present design works of architects from home and abroad to display the latest trend and design ideas within the architecture industry.

Time: 9 am-5 pm, September 16-October 2

Place: 1 Wusi Dajie

Tel: 6513-2255

Feng's oil: Modern oil paintings by artist Feng Feng will be shown at the Qin Gallery from September 16.

Feng's works are based on his quintessential research of Chinese traditional culture. Using modern painting concepts and techniques, Feng uses the imperial colours of red, yellow and purple to produce a noble and imperially hued ambience in his pieces. Other works combine traditional culture and modern art through the use of ancient Chinese seals.

Time: 9:30 am-7 pm, September 16-30

Place: 1-1E Huaweili, north of Beijing Curio City

Tel: 8779-0461

One plus one: A two person art exhibition of sculptures and installations is underway at the Imagine Gallery, where the minimal works of Evelyne Noviant and the poetic conceptual works by French American artist Christian Xatrec are on display.

Time: 10:30 am-6:30 pm, until October 5

Place: Feijiacun Donglu, Laiguangying Donglu

Tel: 6438-5747

(China Daily 09/11/2004 page8)