Highlights of Shanghai Int’l Arts Festival: Nov. 5-11

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The month-long Shanghai International Arts Festival is currently halfway through. As one of China’s largest international arts festivals, worldwide artists have been invited to interact with Chinese audiences.

In the past week, Tang Muhai, the only Chinese Grammy-winning conductor, led the Tokyo Opera Singers in“Ode to Joy,” celebrating the 40th anniversary of the signature of the Sino-Japanese Treaty of Peace and Friendship Agreement; Japanese top butoh dance troupe explored the meaning of life and death in their China's premier show “Tobari”; the Swedish Romeo and Juliet Choir, based on Ingmar Bergman's work "Wood Painting", presented music drama of the same name to commemorate the master's centennial birth.

The fabulous performances continue in the second half of the festival.

Music

Poster of the concert “Our Common Land”. /Photo via official Weibo account of Shanghai International Arts Festival

With the theme of protecting the environment, the concert “Our Common Land” integrates Shanghai regional folk music with representative music from five continents. On November 5 and 6, the audience will hear how Chinese folk music instruments resonate with South Asian drum set Tabla, Irish Tin Whistle, Spanish Guitar, Russian Balalaika and African drum in a sincere wish for world peace and harmony.

On November 6 to 7, Chinese folk soprano Lei Jia will sing 15 old but familiar folk songs that were newly adapted from the album “Roots-Seeking Journey” released 14 years ago; based on the famous Chinese story of “Butterfly Lovers”, symphony “The Legend of Butterfly Lovers” will deliver an emotional melody on November 11, by applying the concept and technique of modern composition to the tone of traditional Yue Opera.

Poster of Shanghai Rainbow Chamber Singers concert. /Photo via official WeChat account of Shanghai International Arts Festival

Internet celebrity Shanghai Rainbow Chamber Singers will hold their first concert at the festival on November 8. Founded in 2010, the group, composed of chorus enthusiasts and led by composer and conductor Jin Chengzhi, will bring the latest original works, such as “Can I Apply Sunscreen Lotion for You?”, “A Cat's Summer” and “Glowworm”, and its first chorus drama “A Trip to the White Horse Village” for ears seeking for the fad.

Dance

The image of Chinese warrior heroin Mulan, best known to Western audiences via the Disney movie will be recreated in the dance drama “Mulan” on November 6 and 7. Except for her loyalty to the country and filial piety to her father usually eulogized in literary works, the dance drama emphasizes the process of her “self-discovery” and “self-identification” through her experience of joining the army in place of her father, accomplishing the mission, pursuing love and returning to peace and freedom.

Regarded as one of the leading European dance companies, the Norwegian National Ballet will take its highly-praised “Ghosts” for a debut in China on November 7 and 8. Adapted from the story of the same name written by Norway's most famous playwright, Henrik Ibsen, the production criticizes moral hypocrisy and corruption with the language of dance. The drama won its director Marit Moum Aune the nomination of the best libretto in the prestigious Benois de la Danse, and its choreographer Cina Espejord the Critics' Award in Norway.

Poster of dances “Noetic” and “Untitled Black” by the Gothenburg opera's dance company (Göteborgs Operans Danskompani). /Photo via official WeChat account of Shanghai International Arts Festival

If you haven't seen a performance from the Gothenburg opera's dance company (Göteborgs Operans Danskompani), your appreciation about modern dance is not complete. As a representative of modern dance, it is the largest dance company in Northern Europe and one of the most avant-garde dance companies in Europe. On November 10 and 11, it will perform two modern dances, “Noetic” and “Untitled Black”.

Drama

This week a bunch of original dramas will be displayed by Chinese artists. On November 6 and 7, “Taihang Mother” will tell a moving story of a mother, surnamed Zhao, and her daughter-in-law, named Lihua, who save and raise an Eighth Route Army soldier's child, showing the close bond between the people and people's army in the revolutionary era.

Another story of the time, “Deep in the Memory” revives the Nanjing Massacre, the brutality carried out by Japanese invading troops, by tracing the experiences of real historical figures. The play, narrated from the perspective of Chinese-American writer Iris Chang, will be presented on November 9 and 10.

Poster of the drama "Treasure the Treasures". /Photo via official Weibo account of Shanghai International Arts Festival

In the past 100 years, China has suffered many mishaps, so do its people and treasures. A drama that portrays the family of Pan protecting and donating a national treasure from 1923 to 2007 will be on the stage on November 9; besides the heroic family, there are a group of people who have been devoted to protecting national treasures. Scheduled to show on November 10 to 12, the drama "Treasure the Treasures" retells a real story that antiques of the Palace Museum were transferred to different places in China from 1933 to 1949 during the wartime.

Poster of the drama "Love under the Stars". /Photo via official Weibo account of Shanghai International Arts Festival

On November 8 to 10, the drama "Love under the Stars" shows how an old-fashioned district called Starlight Lane in Shanghai is transformed into a modern and fashionable living compound; and from November 11 to 18, Chinese literary works and classic poems of the Tang Dynasty and Song Dynasty will be sung out in a unique way of storytelling and ballad singing in the Suzhou dialect.