On December 14^th, the NCPA held a press conference, attended by, among others, Deputy Secretary of the CPC NCPA Committee and Vice President of the NCPA ZHAO Jiachen, Vice President of the NCPA ZHAO Tiechun and Vice President of the NCPA ZHU Jing, who presented the highlights to be carried out in the following days, and the NCPA’s achievements over the past 11 years. A-list Composers - ZHANG Qianyi and YIN Qing - as well as audience representatives shared with others on how they felt about the NCPA’ developments.

The NCPA was opened on December 22^nd, 2007, therefore, the date of December 22^nd was declared as Open Day. The tradition has been started since 2009 to thank the society and audience for their support. For this year’s Open Day, more than 50 colourful performances and art events will be held at the NCPA from 9: 00 a.m. to 16: 30 p.m.

There will be “a stage everywhere” at the NCPA, alongside wonderful performances given at all theatres and public spaces. In the Opera House, The Dawns Here Are Quiet, an opera film made by 8k technology, will premiere to show an epic picture scroll of Russian music. Also, another two NCPA opera films The Beautiful Blue Danube and The Long March will be shown one after another. In the Concert Hall, a chorus concert and symphony concert will be given by the NCPA Chorus and Beijing Symphony Orchestra respectively. At the Multi-functional Theatre, a chamber concert will be given by the China NCPA Orchestra.

In order to create a gorgeous artistic atmosphere, the NCPA has elaborately planned a series of activities to be carried out at different time slots. Melodious children’s choruses will be performed at the Copper Gate of the Olive Hall by the Xiaowei Hutong Primary School and Zizhong Primary School. Kunqu Opera will be performed at the entrance of Theatre. Exotic Argentine and Indian dances will be performed one after another in the Bloosom Hall. Classical music highlights and special events of the drama will be played and held in the Press Room. Artists will share records with members and the audience at the Art Library. In addition, many other activities, such as “Dramatis Personae” Guest Greeting in the north underwater corridor, Time Telling at O’clock under the north glass curtain wall, Folk Chamber Music Performance on stage in the Fifth Space of the West Cafe, Intelligent Robot Guidance, NCPA Self-media Experience & Display Activity, and NCPA Magazine Promotion, will be held to send the audience onto a wonderful journey of art.


A series of specially planned art exhibitions will be held, including NCPA Repertoire, Exhibition of Oil Paintings by JIN Shangyi and ZHONG Han, Craftmanship and Imagination—Stories behind Stage Props, Sparkling Splendor: An Exhibition of NCPA’s Achievements, and China’s Vinyl Record in the 20^th Century.

This year’s Open Day is expected to attract 8,000 visitors. For public safety on Open Day, all audience must enter the NCPA with “a free ticket”. Some tickets will be sent to model workers, doctors, teachers and students, metro and bus drivers and volunteers in Beijing, while the rest will be put online for people to snap up for free. Snapping-up will start on “Ticket Helper”, a platform within Wechat account of the NCPA, at 10:00 a.m. on December 15^th.

 

In addition to the Open Day, the NCPA will put on different styles of splendid performances to mark its 11^th anniversary. On December 14^th-20^th, the NCPA national dance drama commission The Railway to Tibet will be staged; on December 20^th-25^th, NCPA Chinese opera commission LAN Huahua will be performed; on December 22^nd-27^th, NCPA children’s opera commission A Story About Growing Up will be put on.

Meanwhile, after the kickoff of the Concert for the 11^th Anniversary of NCPA on December 6^th, many excellent domestic and foreign music ensembles and artists will appear. On December 16^th, ZHANG Xian and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales will appear on stage; on December 21^st-22^nd, the Beijing Symphony Orchestra will give a concert; on December 24^th-25^th, a concert of world classic operas will be given by the NCPA. Besides, the China National Symphony Orchestra New Year’s Concert and NCPA New year’s Chime Concert will offer New Year blessings to the audience with music.

On the evening of December 22^th, Fine Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Folk Theatrical Performances will be given at the NCPA Taihu Art Centre to offer suburban citizens a colourful feast of spiritual culture.

Over the past 11 years, the NCPA has given over 9,600 commercial performances, and welcomed over 10 million ticket-holders. When giving grand art performances, the NCPA has established a “performance season” operation mode named “Three Seasons and One Week”: Spring Season, Summer Season, Autumn Season and Anniversary Performance Week, and founded a series of theme art festivals and key brand projects, such as “Opera Festival”, “China Orchestra Festival”, “NCPA May Festival”, “Roam about the Classics" Concerts, “August Chorus Festival” and “Dance Festival”. The NCPA “Pure Classical” concerts of 2018 were attended by many famous orchestras and masters, such as the Berliner Philharmoniker, St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Staatskapelle Dresden, Staatskapelle Berlin, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Ashkenazy, Termirkanov, Mutter, Penderecki, Thielemann, Schiff, Barenboim, Dudamel and Lang Lang. These performances make the NCPA Concert Hall an important platform where the audience can enjoy the world’s classic art.

Over the past 11 years, the NCPA has insisted on innovations “for the people.” Since its founding, it has rolled out 87 NCPA productions, making itself as a globally influential art producer active in co-productions, independent productions and commissions. Especially, since it was put into use in September this year, the NCPA Taihu Art Centre has improved the efficiency of theatre rehearsals. This year, the NCPA has rolled out 11 new productions, including reality-based dance drama The Railway to Tibet, children’s operas Snow White and A Story About Growing Up, French operas Thaïs and Roméo et Juliette, classic Italian bel canto operas La Fille du Régiment and La Sonnambula, Wagner’s masterpiece Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, and Mozart’s Don Giovanni.

In the past 11 years, the NCPA has not only successfully built a range of art popularization and specialty brands, such as the “Weekend Concert”, “Classic Arts Lecture” and “Enter the World of Record”, but also formed a chain of art popularization covering the “primary school, middle school and university,” in order to motivate young people to enjoy the beauty of music. So far, the NCPA has held nearly 12,000 art popularization activities and performances of all kinds, benefiting nearly 4.8 million people. This year, during the “NCPA May Festival”, artists gave performances in museums, high-speed rail stations, schools and hospitals.

The NCPA keep innovating technologies in efforts to expand the channel of art popularization by spreading art on the Classical Music Channel, holding the International Opera Film Festival, and giving and broadcasting performances live on an outdoor big screen.

The NCPA has established exchange relationships with 132 embassies in China and about 440 international art institutions. The NCPA has formed partnerships with 33 foreign art institutions, including the Royal Opera House (Covent Garden), John F. Kennedy Centre for the Performing Arts and the Mariinsky Theatre, and toured 18 countries and regions, including the U.S., the U.K., Italy, Russia, Germany and Australia. In September 2018, at the invitation of the Mariinsky Theatre and Alexandrov Ensemble, the NCPA went to the Mariinsky Theatre and Central Academic Theatre of The Russian Army to perform its opera commission The Dawns Here Are Quiet, receiving positive responses from the Russian audience, promoting cultural exchanges between China and Russia.

2019 is the 70^th anniversary of the founding of PRC, and the NCPA will roll out a series of classics to show gratitude to its audience, such as giving a series of traditional operas, dramas and symphonies to mark the 70^th anniversary of the founding of PRC. Famous orchestras and masters, including the Chicago Symphony, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Riccardo Muti and Joyce DiDonato, will appear on stage. Branded music festivals, such as the NCPA Opera Festival, NCPA May Festival, NCPA Dance Festival and Kunqu Art Week, will be held under new themes.

The NCPA will stage a few commissioned operas, such as Chinese opera commission Song of Youth, modern drama commissions Choice and LIN Zexu, and new productions of classic world operas The Pearl Fishers, La Fanciulla del West and II Viaggio A Reims. Besides, classic operas, including The Long March and Visitors on the Snow Mountain, will be revived for next year.

In order to better serve the people, the NCPA will set up “non-profit seats” on January 1^st, 2019, to thank all those that have made positive contributions to the urban construction and development of Beijing. In 2019, the NCPA will implement new measures to benefit the people by selling tickets to students at preferential prices and allow tourists to visit the rehearsal room. Meanwhile, it will set up “NCPA Smart Butler”, a public service platform on WeChat, and offer smart guide services to tourists, while improving the management of the Taihu Art Centre that is expected to play a leading role in construction of the suburban of Beijing.

In 2019, the China NCPA Orchestra will go to South Korea and Macao, etc. to give music exchange performances. Meanwhile, the NCPA will prepare for “World Opera Development Forum”,“World-famous Symphony Orchestra Forum”and "5^th Beijing International Ballet and Choreography Competition", to enhance its international influence.

Photo by LENG Feng