Chinese musicians from the Beijing Symphony Orchestra are to stage a concert with Yao Lan, a woman musician and teacher at the China Central Conservatory of Music, as the soloist performer, and Tan Lihua, the artistic director of the troupe, will conduct.

Yao began to play piano at five years of age. At 10, she was recruited in the primary school affiliated to the Central Conservatory of Music in China. After graduating from the conservatory, she moved to Britain to further her study of music. She obtained both bachelor and postgraduate degrees in music at the Royal Academy of Music in London, and also earned her Teaching Diploma (LRAM) there. She has also won many prizes in international competitions.

Programme: 'Concerto for Piano No 23 in A major, K 488' by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, 'Symphony No 9 in d minor' by Anton Bruckner, with other works.

Time/date: 7:30 pm, December 12

Location: The Forbidden City Concert Hall, in Zhongshan Park

Tel: 6559-8285

Canadian conductor

Canadian Kerry Stratton will conduct the Beijing Symphony Orchestra.

Programme: 'La Foiza del Dertino Overture' by Giuseppe Verdi, 'The Firebird Suite' by Igor Stravinsky, 'Symphony No.7 in A major, Op 92' by Ludwig van Beethoven.

Time/date: 7:30 pm, December 3

Location: The Forbidden City Concert Hall, in Zhongshan ParkTel: 6559-8285

German chamber orchestra

The Bremen Chamber Orchestra from Germany will visit Beijing again to present a concert.

Founded in 1980, the troupe has toured all over the world, and won the acclaim of audiences and critics wherever and whenever they perform.

Their last and only other visit was in 2002. Besides playing German and foreign works, the troupe will also feature two Chinese works in a German flavour.

Programme: 'Four Seasons' by Vivaldi, 'Nocturne' by Mozart, works by Grieg and two pieces by Chinese musicians.

Time/date: 7:45 pm, November 26

Location: China National Library Concert Hall, Zhongguancun Nandajie

Tel: 8854-5520

Crosstalk

One of the best ways to perfect ones Mandarin would be to listen to the humorous and traditional crosstalk shows being staged every weekend in southern Beijing.

Among the programmes, there are many classical episodes depicting Chinese people from all walks of life through witty conversations.

Tickets: 20 yuan (US$2)

Time/date: 7:30 pm, November 26

Location: Hongguan Entertainment Centre, Xiluoyuan, Fengtai District

Tel: 6727-3332

Chinese 'Friends'

The comedy drama 'Cui Hua's Happiness' will be staged once again, this time arranged in the genre of the American sitcom 'Friends.'

This third version drama depicts, young people living together, in which their life attitudes and ways of dealing with people are portrayed. Centred around their happy and fun lives, they bring to light hot topics that affect youth in society, not to mention the frequent advertisements and 'product placements.'

Tickets: 80-680 yuan (US$10-82)

Time/date: 7:30 pm, December 9

Location: Grand Chang'an Theatre, Jianguomenwai Street

Tel: 6510-1307

Dancing star

Twenty-four year old Jolin Cai, a shooting pop singer from Taiwan with her soft voice and pretty face, will launch her first solo concert in Beijing.

Cai will also lead over 15 dances, incorporating ballet, yoga, salsa, belly dancing, and other modern steps.

Tickets: 380-1,000 yuan (US$46-120)

Time/date: 7:30 pm, December 4

Location: Workers' Gymnasium

Tel: 6501-6655

Love of violins

Xue Wei and Lu Siqing, China's top two violin players who have won awards in many international competitions, will return to Beijing displaying their superb skills.

Programme: Chinese and Western works including 'Polonaise Dance' by Wieniawski, 'Chaconne' by Vitali and works by Chausson, Sarasate and Saint-Saens.

Time/date: 7:30 pm, December 11

Location: Forbidden City Concert Hall, in Zhongshan Park

Tel: 6559-8285

Silvery-haired artists

There is to be held a commemorative concert hailing the 40th anniversary of the debut of China's song and dance spectacular 'The East is Red,' a journey over the turbulent, revolutionary years of Chinese modern history in the 20th century, culminating in the birth of new China.

Adding still more significance, the concert invites the authentic singers who performed the show four decades ago when it was first performed, including Wang Kun, Liu Bingyi and Li Guangxi.

This concert focuses on the music of the performance rather than the dance, which will be presented on a screen highlighting segments of the film version of the show.

Some 200 artists of Zongzheng Song and Dance Ensemble and its affiliated choruses and symphony orchestras will share the stage with those senior vocal artists.

Tickets: 180-1,280 yuan (US$22-154)

Time/date: 7:30 pm, December 17-19

Location: Century Theatre, Liangmaqiao Lu

Tel: 6465-6904

American band

The Hanson brothers, Isaac (guitar), Taylor (keyboard/singer) and Zac (drum), will sweep the stages of Beijing with pop songs including 'Middle of Nowhere' which won three Grammy awards since being released in 1997.

Time/date: 7:30 pm, December 5

Location: Beizhan Theatre, Xizhimenwai

Tel: 6835-1383

Two friends

Renowned Taiwanese composer Jonathan Lee and singer Emil Chau will join hands to stage a concert.

Lee has been a prolific song writer whose songs have won the hearts of many Chinese fans with their lyrics and melodies. Chau is well known for his silly but sunny smile and astounding voice, winning a vital place in the music industry with his vocal strength.

Time/date: 7:30 pm, December 31

Location: Workers' Gymnasium

Tel: 6501-6655

Blind Shaft

(Mang Jing) (2003)

Director: Li Yang

Starring: Li Yixiang, Wang Xiangbao, Wang Baoqiang

Song and Tang wander the casual labour markets in large towns and persuade individuals to accompany them to find work in unregulated coal mines. Then, in the darkness of the pit, they kill their man, make it look like an accident, and pose as outraged relatives to collect the 'hushed-up' compensation payout.

Their latest target is Yuan, a frightened 16-year-old runaway who accepts all too easily the two men's head-spinning promises of easy money in the mines. Part of the movie's pleasure lies in finding an exciting drama clothed within a dour, documentary. The final image is a delicious dark flourish.

It won the Silver Bear Award at the 2003 Berlin Film Festival among many others.

Tickets: 50 yuan (US$6)

Time/date: 8 pm, November 26, 27

Location: Cherry Lane Movies, Gate 29, Anjialou Jie, near the 21st Century Theatre

Exxxorcismo (2002)

Director: Jaime Humberto Hermosillo

To eradicate his homosexual inclination and exorcise the ghosts of his past, Marco Antonio returns to the place where tragedy changed his life.

Tickets: Free

Time/date: 7:30 pm, December 1

Location: Mexican Embassy, 5 Dongwujie, Sanlitun

Tel: 6532-2244

My Name is Tanino (2003)

Director: Paolo Virzi

Starring: Corrado Fortuna, Frank Crudele, Jessica De Marco

"I was on the point of, one: being killed by an American bullet, two: being run over by an American truck and three: getting married and becoming a successful young man, in the American sense of the term. And the list could go on".

Twenty-year-old Sicilian, Tanino, a mediocre student studying film who ends up in the United States after an adventurous trip, captures the events in a letter to his friend and fellow countryman Giuseppe about the things that happened to him there.

The movie contains a mix of both Italian and English languages that accurately portrays both the difficulties of American people in Italy and Italian people in America. This leads to many comic situations.

In Italian and English with Italian subtitles.

Tickets: Free

Time/date: 7 pm, December 2

Location: Italian Embassy, 2 Dong'erjie, Sanlitun

Social tolerance

The Italian opera 'Pagliacci', by Ruggero Leoncavallo (1858-1919), will be performed by Chinese opera singers from China's Central Opera House.

A violent opera exploring the limits of social tolerance, the opera first premiered in 1892 and gained popularity throughout Europe and America. Within two years, it had been translated into all major European languages including Swedish, Serbian-Croatian, and Hebrew.

Leoncavallo was a prolific writer, yet none of his other works ever matched the popularity of this opera.

Chinese vocal artists include Huang Yuefeng (centre), Wang Feng, Sun Xiuwei (left), Gao Lei and Shen Na (right). Li Wei will wield the baton.

Time/date: 7:30 pm, November 27

Location: Peking University Concert Hall, Peking University

Tel: 6275-1278, 6551-4787

Online auction

China's specialized online auction portal, www.guaweb.com, is staging its 30th popular online auction for general art lovers and collectors.

The auction highlights over 1,000 contemporary art works, with a special auction of pieces by Zhang Yinsun. Fan paintings, calligraphy works and miniature paintings by noted artists in history are available just a click away.

The oil painting auction will present nearly 20 paintings including two pieces by veteran painter Dai Ze, as well as many other young and middle-aged contemporary Chinese artists, which are becoming ever more popular in the eyes of art collectors and investors.

In addition to the paintings and calligraphy works, the auction will also present chinaware, jade carvings, coins and stamps. Artefacts can be previewed on the website.

Time/date: 9 am-5 pm until November 27

Location: Dakang Building, 44 Chongwenmenwai Dajie

Tel: 6710-2935

She

A photography exhibition dedicated to Chinese women is on at the China Art Museum.

The photos were taken over the past 15 years and filed into different categories to reveal the changes in women's lives, career and family since 1989 as a retrospective towards the future of women in China.

Time/date: 9 am-5 pm until November 28

Location: 1 Wusi Dajie

Tel: 6403-4952

Charity show

The 2004 HSBC/CCF Art Exhibition for Disadvantaged Children is under way at the Beijing China World Trade Centre.

The exhibition, hosted by the China Charity Federation (CCF), and sponsored by the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited (HSBC), displays a total of 227 artworks of paintings, carvings, ceramics and knitting from 23 special schools for disadvantaged children and children welfare homes within nine provinces and municipalities nationwide.

Time/date: 9 am-6 pm until November 27

Location: Zone F, B1, China World Shopping Mall

Tel: 6505-2288

Poetry and romance

Modern oil paintings by artist Ji Xiaofeng will be displayed at Qin Gallery from December 1.

The main subject in Ji's paintings are portraits of woman's figures depicted in refined, smooth lines and images. Ji takes a different approach to depicting figures in her own way to blur the facial features to impress on people the inner world of the figures, through dynamic movements of body language, which leaves viewers space for their imagination.

Ji draws her inspiration from modern social life to paint people around her, and even herself, to reveal the confusion and pressure people experience in real life. Her paintings are characterized with a clear modern ambience and the aesthetic tastes of modern people.

Time/date: 9:30 am-7 pm, December 1-15

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

Tel: 8779-0461

Reappearing inspiration

Artist Zhang Jianbo's solo exhibition of abstract paintings, entitled 'Towards the Fading Aura,' will be held at the Creation Gallery from December 4.

Continuing with the characteristics of his art works, such as exceedingly complicated brushwork and abstract visual language, Zhang expresses his personal exploration into the essence of contemporary paintings as well as his pursuit of Walter Benjamin's reappearance of inspiration.

Time/date: 10 am-7 pm, December 4-12

Location: north end of Ritan Lu

Tel: 8561-7570

Peace from the heart

A personal print exhibition by artist Sun Huili will be staged at the New Millennium Gallery from December 4.

Sun obtained a post-graduate degree after spending seven years receiving academic training at the Central Academy of Fine Art. She has made a successful transition from a simple style at the beginning of her career to a maturity that enables her to maintain the nature of print. Her unique personal style and unusual print making technique fill her works with a distinguished woman's thought, leading people into a peaceful inner world all her own.

Time/date: 9 am-6 pm, December 4-16

Location: Diyang Building, 2 Dongsanhuan Beilu

Tel: 8453-6193

Made in India

An industrial exhibition demonstrating the manufacturing capability of India will be held at the China National Agriculture Exhibition Hall from December 1.

The event will present the commercial products of India, including software, petroleum, industrial chemicals, agricultural and health-care products as well as commercial machinery.

Time/date: 9 am-4:30 pm, December 1-4

Location: 16 Dongsanhuan Beilu

Tel: 6509-6114

(China Daily 11/24/2004 page8)