Beijing

Music festival

The second Mercedes-Benz International Music Festival will kick off this weekend in Beijing.

Percussionist Li Biao, who continues to serve as artistic director of Mercedes-Benz International Music Festival, will collaborate with the symphony orchestra of the National Center for Performing Arts (NCPA) and world-renowned conductor Christoph Eschenbach (pictured above) on Chinese composer Guo Wenjing's enchanting The Rite of the Mountain, which was written in the wake of the Sichuan earthquake in 2008.

Eschenbach, who is also a great pianist, will also join violinist Zhu Dan for a concert that is sure to be one of the highlights of the festival. They will perform Mozart and Beethoven sonatas.

7:30 pm, Aug 12-14. National Center for the Performing Arts, west of Tian'anmen Square. 010-6655-0000

Instant classic

The modern opera Rigoletto, jointly created by Teatro Regio di Parma of Italy and China National Center for the Performing Arts (NCPA), is to be staged.

This version of Verdi's classic opera debuted in 2009, in which the 67-year-old baritone master Leo Nucci played the role of Rigoletto for the premiere.

The costumes, stage design, and settings for the play are said to be a clones of the original version, strong in Italian style and tradition.

7:30 pm, Aug 25-28. Opera House, National Center for the Performing Arts, 2 West Chang'an Avenue, Xicheng district. 400-610-3721

Ode to friendship

The Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philippines' premier orchestra, comes to Beijing for a goodwill concert to mark the conclusion of the year-long celebrations of the 35th anniversary of the Sino-Philippines diplomatic relations. Widely regarded as one of the top musical ensembles in the Asia-Pacific region, the orchestra performs to the theme, Ode to Friendship. The concert will be conducted by maestro Olivier Ochanine. The orchestra was established in 1973, and has premiered many Filipino composers' works, besides presenting the works of foreign composers. It has also performed with world renowned conductors including Mendi Rodan, Piero Gamba, Enrique Batis, Sebastian Bereau, and Nicholas Koch.

10:30 am, Aug 13. National Center for the Performing Arts, west of Tian'anmen Square. 010-6655-0000

Popular musical

In 1998 the classic United States children's television program Sesame Street was first introduced to Shanghai audiences as a 130-episode series titled Zhima Jie.

This summer the longest-running children's show in US history and an Emmy Awards winner, will be revived once more with Sesame Street Live: Elmo's Green Thumb, which will tour the country for six weeks. The stage show combines puppetry, muppets, dancing and multimedia tools.

After Beijing, the show will visit another 12 cities including Shanghai and Shenzhen.

7:30 pm, Aug 12-14. Beijing Exhibition Hall Theater, 135 Xizhimenwai Dajie, Haidian district. 400-610-3721

Vintage prints

The Cafa Art Museum is to hold Vintage Prints - China Exhibition Tour of the Collection of Charles Jin: 20th Century Works of Western Photographers.

The exhibition featuring more than 100 masterpieces of photographic art "not only offers local audiences a visual feast but also an insight into photographic education, creation and collecting in developed countries", says curator Cai Meng. After its Beijing debut, the exhibition will move to Shenyang, Hangzhou, Shanghai, Xi'an, Guangzhou, Wuhan and Hong Kong.

10 am-5 pm, until Sept 11. 8 Huajiadi Nanjie, Chaoyang district. 010-6477-1575

Interactive event

Ullens Center for Contemporary Art's (UCCA) unique exhibition series, entitled Curated By ,has launched the careers of numerous young artists since its inception in 2008. To celebrate its third anniversary, 10 artists who have participated in the program over the years, will return to the gallery to share their stories with visitors. The activity will be conducted in Chinese but there will be English translators on hand.

3 pm-4:30 pm, Aug 13. UCCA, 4 Jiuxianqiao Lu, Chaoyang district. 010-5780-0293

Shanghai

Pop concert

Popular Chinese singers, including Karen Mok and Nicolas Tse from Hong Kong, Jolin Tsai and David Zee Tao from Taiwan, and Zhang Liangying from the Chinese mainland, will do a joint concert tour in Shanghai, Wenzhou of Zhejiang province and Shenzhen in Guangdong province.

7:30 pm, Aug 28. Shanghai Stadium, 666 Tianyaoqiao Lu. 021-6217-2426

Shanghai Art Fair

The 15th Shanghai Art Fair, claimed to be the largest of its kind in Asia, will include a series of drawings by 90-year-old He Youzhi, who is known for his sharp satire. The fair will present works by acclaimed master artists from galleries and art institutes all over the world.

9 am-5 pm, Sept 14-18

Shanghai Mart, 99 Xingyi Road

021-6225-4977

Stage opera

Women Generals of the Yang Family is a theatrical production that combines traditional Peking opera with symphonic music. The lead role will be played by Shi Yihong. The play is accompanied by the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of its artistic director Yu Long.

7:30 pm, Aug 31. Shanghai Grand Theater, 300 Renmin Avenue. 021-6386-8686

Contemporary art

A joint modern art exhibition, The Ultimate Image, will open on Saturday at Van Gallery in Shanghai.

Organized by Double Win Capital, the exhibition will display more than 100 works by 16 leading Chinese modern artists. They will include paintings, sculptures and installments. The late Chinese painter Chen Yifei's oil paintings and rising young artist Wang Qianwen's abstract paintings (pictured) are some highlights of the show.

9:30 am-6 pm, Aug 13-Sep 13. 257 Jinyan Lu, Pudong district. 021-6100-2198

Charity exhibition

Maitian Education Foundation is a charity NGO that helps children in under-developed areas with access to better educational resources. In the past six years, volunteers with the group have visited many remote villages, teaching children to paint and enjoy art.

The foundation will present some of the paintings in Shanghai under the title, Rainbow Bridge.

The organization plans to host 30 exhibitions, and raise 1 million yuan ($155,800) to help poor children realize their art dreams.

10 am-10 pm, Aug 14-17. Goban Machi, B1 Metro City, 1111 Zhaojiabang Lu. www.mowo.cn

China Daily