Shows

NCPA Opera: Don Giovanni

Date: Nov 27 - Dec 1 - 7 pm

Venue: National Centre for the Performing Arts

From Moliere, Byron, Pushkin, Alexandre Dumas to Merimee, the story of Don Giovanni came down in these European literary giants' writings for nearly 400 years. In 1787, Mozart wrote the opera Don Giovanni based on Lorenzo da Ponte's libretto, portraying a bold and romantic Don Giovanni who defies convention. With fantastically dramatic music, Mozart creates a lively dramatic atmosphere, and brings the characters of different classes, identities and personalities to life. The NCPA production of Don Giovanni is in homage to this classic that has been spread and sung for over two centuries. Music director of the NCPA Lu Jia will render the essence of Mozart's music. After Lucia di Lammermoor, director and set designer Yannis Kokkos joins the NCPA production again to elaborate on how the licentious nobleman is punished, revealing the "avant-garde" sense of the opera when Mozart lives. Many domestic and foreign singers that have an outstanding performance in Mozart's operas will gather together to present the unique charms of the composer's music.

Lord of the Rings in Concert in Beijing

Date: Dec 18-19 - 7 pm

Venue: Beijing Exhibition Center

The Lord of the Rings in Concert: The Fellowship of the Ring kicks off a three-year celebration during which each of the three Academy Award-winning films will be performed upon the 10th anniversary of its release. The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) toured in 2011, The Two Towers (2002) in 2012, and the grand finale, The Return of the King (2003), in 2013. Composer Howard Shore said, "My first score for The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Fellowship of the Ring, was the beginning of my journey into the world of Tolkien, and I will always hold a special fondness for the music and the experience." Shore's score not only captures Fellowship's sweeping emotion, thrilling vistas and grand journeys, but also echoes the very construction of Tolkien's Middleearth. Styles, instruments and performers collected from around the world provide each of Tolkien's cultures with a unique musical imprint. In operatic fashion, these musical worlds commingle, sometimes combining forces for a culminated power, other times violently clashing - and always bending to the will of the One Ring and its own ominous family of themes.