Festival bridges cultures with concerts, stage performances and exhibitions, showing dedication to high-quality domestic and international productions, Zhang Kun reports.
From the Wiener Philharmoniker, the Mariinsky Ballet and Schaubuhne Berlin, to performers of folk art listed as China’s intangible cultural heritage, the 24th China Shanghai International Arts Festival offers a cultural feast for all.
Held from Oct 17 to Nov 27, the annual festival brings together some of the most esteemed performers and groups from around the world, and presents the China premiere or exclusive performances in Shanghai of high-quality productions, such as Romeo and Juliet by the Stuttgart Ballet and Richard III by Schaubuhne Berlin of Germany, as well as Kontakthof — Echoes of ’78, a revival of the Pina Bausch work commissioned and coproduced by the arts festival.
The opening production this year was a performance of Kunqu Opera classics from the Imperial Palace at the Shanghai Grand Theatre on Oct 17.
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The closing show, taking place at Shanghai Symphony Hall on Nov 27, will be a concert by the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, the first orchestra in Italy devoted exclusively to the symphonic repertoire. It will be conducted by the new music director of the company, British musician Daniel Harding, who also conducted the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra’s 2024 New Year’s Concert.
“It has become tradition that, if we had a Chinese production for the opening, the closing production would be from overseas,” according to Li Ming, president of the CSIAF Center. This practice reflects the festival’s dedication to introducing quality art productions from abroad, as well as promoting the outstanding Chinese culture, Li says.
The festival features a wide variety of programs consisting of performances, exhibitions and activities spanning eight main sections, with the main performance section comprising 55 stage productions.
The Mariinsky Orchestra from Russia performed under the baton of its artistic director, Valery Gergiev, and presented a “symphonic marathon” of nine complete symphonies in five consecutive days.
“It is extremely rare for a composer’s complete symphonies to be performed in a single country, city or theater within a short period,” says Gergiev. He praised the courage and boldness of the festival, adding: “Choosing such a massive and challenging project is by no means easy; it requires tremendous effort and challenge, reflecting the festival’s vision and responsibility.”
Last year, Beijing People’s Art Theatre participated in the Shanghai festival as the company in residence and presented five productions alongside a series of public educational events.
Encouraged by the positive public response, this year the Shaanxi People’s Art Theatre has taken residence at the festival. It will present five plays, four of which are adapted from recipient novels of the Mao Dun Literature Award, arguably the most prominent literary prize in China. All four plays — White Deer Plain, Protagonist, The Book of Life, and The Ordinary World — feature realistic social themes and highlight Shaanxi’s distinctive aesthetics, according to Li Xuan, president of the company.
The fifth production, Starry Sky and Half a Tree, is the company’s latest creation, which premiered at the Shangyin Opera House on Tuesday. Adapted from the novel of the same title by Chen Yan, a renowned writer from the province, it shares the life and conflicts of a village in the Qinling Mountains.
With the opening of the largest exhibition of artworks from Guangdong province at the Shanghai Art Museum on Oct 18, the festival kicked off a new initiative this year — the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Culture Week.
Showcasing more than 800 works created by 350 artists over the span of a century, Reform Mission: Guangdong Art Centennial Exhibition, taking place from Oct 18 to Jan 18, systematically presents a journey of continuous innovation, highlighting the exchanges between Guangdong and Shanghai.
The event also features 14 performances by seven theater productions, including dance, folk opera, ballet, and acrobatic shows, most of which are new original creations.
An integral part of the arts festival, the 23rd CSIAF Performing Arts Fair, was held from Oct 18 to Monday at the Bocom New Bund 31 Performing Arts Center, which saw more than 2,000 representatives from nearly 500 international institutions.
Francesca Magnini, artistic director of Balletto di Roma, a ballet-based contemporary dance company from Italy, tells China Daily that this was the second time the company participated in the fair.
The company had a successful tour with its production of Juliet and Romeo in September and is at the fair to promote its new production, Last Dance, which has already received invitations to perform in China next year.
Magnini was happy to find at the fair that “we are being seen more and more, and I think Chinese audiences are ready for some contemporary and avant-garde dance productions”.
Nicoll Entertainment, a live performance company by the West End of London, promoted its innovative family-friendly theater productions, such as Dinosaur World Live, The Lion Inside, and Dragons and Mythical Beasts Live, at the fair.
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Since the introduction of the company’s Olivier Award-winning production The Purrfect Family Treat! in 2016, the company has toured dozens of cities in China, presenting “hundreds, and maybe more than 1,000 shows”, according to Jin Fengjie with Nicoll Entertainment.
Now that electronic devices and new technologies such as AI and VR are taking up much of people’s time and attention, Nicoll Entertainment finds live theater, which requires actors, puppets, sets, and costumes, has become even more attractive.
“Live entertainment is bigger than it’s ever been,” says Nick Brooke, producer and cofounder of Nicoll Entertainment. “People have a thirst for live entertainment, whether it’s Taylor Swift’s concert or Phantom of the Opera.”
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