Debra Li

    debra_lidan@163.com

    SHENZHEN Grand Theater will present 14 programs between September and December for its annual festival, offering music, dance, opera, traditional Chinese opera, drama and acrobatic ballet.

    “In seeking programs for the fall season, we’ve considered the needs of audiences both young and old, classical and modern,” said Zheng Wenxia, general manager of the theater.

    Helped by subsidies from the local government, the cheapest ticket for all shows will be just 50 yuan (US$8).

    The annual Shenzhen Grand Theater Art Festival began in 1992 and has become a traditional cultural brand in the city. The theater, a supporter of traditional Chinese arts, is one of the few venues where Shenzheners can enjoy Chinese opera.

    Led by Mei Baojiu, son of late Beijing opera master Mei Lanfang and, like his father, a dan — male performer of young female roles — a group of Beijing opera artists will perform excerpts from well-known shows in late September.

    The performance, featuring artists of the Mei, Cheng, Xun, Li and Ye schools as well as roles of both sexes and all ages, is an opportunity for audiences to appreciate the best of Beijing opera and experience the kaleidoscopic Chinese art.

    Fans of Shaoxing opera will have the chance to view a new-concept show based on “The Good Person of Sichuan” by Bertolt Brecht. Mao Weitao, an actress with the Zhejiang Hundred Little Flowers Troupe, will star in the show, playing roles of both a kind-hearted woman and her cold-hearted male cousin. Modern theatric factors will bring a novel feel to the traditional Chinese art.

    Dance fans will be able to watch “Mystic India” performed by 65 professional dancers. The show will feature Bollywood-style dances as well as more classic Indian traditional and ethnic dances, accompanied by scores from popular Bollywood films. The dancers will showcase more than 1,000 colorful couture items that are an indispensable part of Indian culture.

    Dance show “A Dream of Red Mansions” combines modern dance and ballet to give an innovative interpretation of arguably the best work in the Chinese literature canon. The 90-minute show was well received at the 2nd Beijing International Dance Season in 2005 and has toured to many Chinese cities.

    “Spirit of the Dance,” presented by the National Dance Company of Ireland and one of three representative tap dance shows of Ireland, returns to Shenzhen this year. Taking the form of a Broadway musical, the show portrays the legendary struggle of the Celtics for freedom and merges flamenco dances with classical ballet and other modern styles.

    The acrobatic ballet version of “Swan Lake,” performed by the Soldier Acrobatic Troupe from the Guangzhou Military Region, re-interprets the classic ballet by masterfully integrating China’s traditional acrobatics and Western ballet.

    For classical music fans, there will be Verdi’s “Aida” presented by the opera center of the Central Conservatory of Music and bass-baritone Shen Yang’s solo concert. Shen was the winner of the 2007 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World.

    Soprano Wang Xiufen’s concert will feature guest performers including Wang Hongwei and Cai Guoqing. PLA Military Orchestra, the best wind orchestra in the country, will perform a concert adapted from Chinese and foreign songs and music.

    The MozART group from Poland will be a pleasant surprise for music fans. The string quartet plays classical music in a humorous way.

    Another unconventional performer will be German pianist Joja Wendt. The artist will play “Variations on Bizet’s Carmen” by Vladimir Horowitz, Wendt’s favorite classical pianist. The piece is considered one of the most demanding in the history of the piano, and making it more difficult is the fact that each note has to be transcribed individually, because no score exists. He will also perform “Flight of the Bumblebee” and scores he composed himself.

    The season also will present dramas about modern Chinese life for younger audiences.