The Shanghai Opera House was founded in 1956, evolving from the Xin’an Tour Group, established in 1935. Over more than half a century, it has left remarkable legacy in opera, dance drama, chorus, symphonic music, and musical, nurturing renowned veteran artists including REN Guizhen, SHI Hong’e, LI Zhonglin and SHU Qiao, and writing a brilliant chapter in the history of Chinese performing arts.

Today, led by XU Zhong and WEI Song, the Shanghai Opera House is a comprehensive, large-scale performing arts company renowned as an “artistic flagship” of an international cultural metropolis. It comprises an Opera Troupe, a Choir, a Symphony Orchestra, a Dance Ensemble, an Opera Production Department, and a Stage Design Department. Over the years, the Shanghai Opera House has created and staged more than a hundred major works, including original operas such as Tianmen Island, The Strait Flower, Thunderstorm, XIANG Yu the Conqueror, Le Pari, Where Have All the Flower Gone, Song of the Swallow, Morning Bell, TIAN Han and March of the Volunteers, musical commission National Anthem, dance drama commissions The Small-Sword Society, The Phoenix Singing on the Qishan Mountain, ZHOU Xuan, Flying to the Moon, Early Spring in February, Chang’e and Calligraphy in 353 AD; the classic national opera Sister JIANG; as well as the symphonic chorus commission The Land of Rejuvenation, modern dances pieces, and many more landmark productions.

Over the years, the Shanghai Opera House has collaborated with world-renowned opera houses and artists in producing classic operas such as Aida, La Traviata, Nabucco, Turandot, Der Fliegende Holländer, Lohengrin, Falstaff, La Fille du Régiment, Madama Butterfly, Otello, Tosca, La Bohème, Attila, Carmen, Manon Lescaut, Cavalleria Rusticana, Pagliacci, and more. It has also performed major symphonic and choral masterpieces including The Yellow River Cantata, Long March Suite, Carmina Burana and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, with its touring footprint spanning over 30 countries and regions across five continents.

As a cornerstone of Shanghai’s vision to become the “Asian Capital of Performing Arts,” the Shanghai Opera House upholds an artistic philosophy that is diverse, innovative, and refined. Guided by its mission to “champion original Chinese works, preserve global classics, and foster the spirit of the times”, it has become a distinguished cultural brand in the making of an international metropolis.