Beijing

Farewell, Westlife

The Irish boy band Westlife will begin its Greatest Hits Farewell China Tour in the capital before moving on to six other cities in China. Westlife is one of the most popular English-language bands among Chinese fans. The Beijing concert will include all of their classic singles as the band kicks off its worldwide farewell tour. The 14-year-old group will disband this summer after its last tour in Britain.

8 pm, Feb 22. MasterCard Center, 69 Fuxinglu, Haidian district. 400-880-2880

Concertgebouw

South Korean conductor Chung Myung-whun will lead the Dutch Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in concert. The 59-year-old conductor won a great reputation in Europe in the 1980s and has cooperated with many top European orchestras since then. The Amsterdam-based Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra was founded in 1888. It is ranked by the critics as one of the top symphony orchestras in the world. Its chief conductor Mariss Jansons led this year's Vienna New Year's Concert.

7:30 pm, Feb 18, 19. National Center for the Performing Arts, west of Tian'anmen Square. 010-6655-0000

Durer & Rembrandt

Peking University is holding a special exhibition of Western prints called Landscape and Cityscape. The pieces include the works of Albrecht Durer and Rembrandt. All of the works in the exhibition are on loan by Professor Donald Stone from the English Department at the university.

9 am-5 pm, until March 3. ArM. Sackler Museum of Art and Archeology at Peking University, Haidian district. 010-6275-1667

Shanghai

Out of the closet

Taipei Li-yuan Peking Opera Theater and Shanghai Peking Opera Troupe give a joint performance, presenting excerpts from two plays: Love in the Wardrobe and The Gold Bar Hit. The Wardrobe tells of a young man who flees from a persecuting official and finds shelter in the wardrobe of a girl, while Gold is about the first emperor of the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220) repenting that he persecuted and executed some of his most faithful followers.

7:15 pm, Feb 19. Shanghai Grand Theater, 300 Renmin Avenue. 021-6386-8686

Winter thoughts

OV Gallery is presenting an exhibition about winter thoughts. Entitled Cold Comfort, the exhibition features 10 artists from home and abroad. Winter implies a certain kind of "ending" - a marker which signifies that another year has passed. With no crops to tend, people spend time inside mending clothes or doing small repairs around the farm. The series of works chosen for the exhibition pay homage to these themes.

10 am-5 pm, until March 18. OV Gallery, Room 207, Building 4A, 50 Moganshan Lu. 139-1637-3474

Dance in the gallery

Caster, the latest event of the Taking the Stage Over serial art project, is an art talk and dance performance by Annie Vigier and Franck Apertet that examines how choreography "places a set of objective and subjective values on the body of the dancer." Taking the Stage Over is a yearlong serial exhibition presented at multiple sites throughout Shanghai. Caster has been featured in cities around the world at various art events.

7 pm, Feb 17. Space 18, Bund 18, 3F, 18 Zhongshan E1 Road. www.takingthestage.org

Hong Kong

Playing dumb

Hong Kong based artist Sonya Fu finds inspiration from her dreams, listening to music and everyday encounters. Her second solo exhibition at Above Second Gallery, entitled Obfuscating Stupidity, presents medium to large-scale digital paintings in surreal situations. Playful, sarcastic and childlike, her heroines are fantasies juxtaposed against realistic social issues. The paradox of these figures playing dumb is what leaves viewers provoked, fascinated and a little disturbed.

12 pm-7 pm, Mon-Fri until March 14. Above Second, 31 Eastern Street, Sai Ying Pun. 852-3483-7950

Lion dances

The traditional lion dance is one of the strongest rituals in Chinese culture. It is performed at the opening of businesses to bring luck and prosperity as well as at many celebrations such as Lunar New Year's parades. For those keen to learn the dance, Live It Hong Kong offers an introductory two-hour session to help you get over your two left feet. The class includes learning basic lion-dance movements and drumming taught by instructors who have danced at various events throughout Hong Kong. All the paraphernalia including lion-head costume, drums and cymbals will be provided.

9 am-11 am, every Sunday. Cost HK$500 for two. Outdoor venue in Yaumatei, Kowloon. 852-2522-9993. www.liveit.hk

Macao

Energy and vitality

Originally from Macao, Carol Kwok has lived in Los Angeles, Hong Kong and England, and is a fine-arts photographer who also works commercially for leading ad agencies. Her first solo exhibition with Creative Macao, Jingmai, alludes to traditional Chinese medicine, referring to the passages where vital energy circulates in order to keep the human body functioning. A balance of yin and yang with the five elements carefully taken into account, her luminous works seems to glow with their own inner core of energy.

2 pm-7 pm, Mon-Sat until Feb 27. Creative Macao, G/F Macao Cultural Center Building, Xian Xing Hai Avenue, Macao. 853-2875-3282

China Daily

(China Daily 02/12/2012 page15)