Singing praises

 

 

The gathering financial crisis has begun biting into the world arts scene. Metropolitan Opera has slashed its once-mighty endowment of more than $300 million by a third. Broadway closed half its shows in January, including the popular Hairspray, Spamalot, Young Frankenstein and Spring Awakening, in the wake of falling ticket sales. But what is the outlook for show business in China in 2009?

Industry insiders say China will suffer loss in entertainment revenue (see breakout story). However, most theater managers and show presenters in Beijing say that as yet, they have no reason to consider anything more than slight revisions to plans for the coming season.

Their optimism can be attributed to the long list of big stars and world-famous companies who have confirmed their tours of Beijing this year.

The first of these is the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) led by its principal conductor, Bernard Haitink.

Two points of note about the tour are that firstly, the two concerts at the National Center for the Performing Arts (NCPA) on Friday and Saturday mark the orchestra's debut in China. It is the only one of the so-called "Big Five" American orchestras to have never visited Beijing.

Secondly, February is usually considered the slack season for the performing arts, so CSO's concerts show the NCPA's courage to break new ground.

The Vienna Philharmonic's concerts led by Zubin Mehta, at the NCPA on March 8 and 9, are yet another example of making the early spring period a busy one. According to Wang Wei, marketing director of the NCPA, by the end of Feb 8, 85 percent of the tickets for the four concerts were sold out.

According to a source familiar with it, the NCPA received a grant of around 100 million yuan ($14.6 million) last year from the Beijing municipal government. It has been slashed this year by about 10 million yuan.

However, the hardly year-old performing arts institution has not cut any shows and even plans to produce four new ones including the operas La Bohemia, Women Teacher on the Countryside, Xi Shi and a drama Jane Eyre. Last year, it only produced two - the opera Turandot and the Peking Opera Red Cliff.

"It's hard to tell the potential impact now, but so far, I don't think the crisis has hit the NCPA," Wang says.

Last year, NCPA staged 661 shows, yielding box-office earnings of 300 million yuan ($43.9 million). Wang says this January's earnings were as high as last January's and he expects 2009 to be as productive as 2008.

Besides the Chicago Symphony and the Vienna Philharmonic in February and March, the NCPA will present the trademark repertoires of the National Ballet of China, the Shanghai Ballet and the Guangzhou Ballet. Drama fans can also catch avant-garde director Meng Jinghui's Rhinoceros in Love, leading Taiwanese director Stan Lai's Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land and veteran experimental theater director Lin Zhaohua's Hamlet 1990. Each of these are considered signature works of their directors and enjoy great popularity among Chinese theater-goers.

The NCPA's first Opera Festival gets underway from mid-April to late June, and will feature a dozen operas including Western classics such as Tosca, Turandot, Carmen and the Chinese original Jiang Jie and The Prairie.

If the NCPA shines in the first half year of 2009, the Bird's Nest, which drew the world's attention during the Beijing Olympic Games in August, will once again come under the spotlight, a year later.

On Aug 7, 8 and 9, an open-air opera spectacle, Turandot, directed by Zhang Yimou will wow the world at the landmark venue.

The Beijing Artists Management Corp Ltd joins hands with HAOSI International Group, the company behind the Games' Opening Ceremony, to invest some 90 million yuan ($13.2 million) to produce three shows of Turandot at the Nest.

"We want to do a show that will revive the glory of the Beijing Olympic Games," says Li Qin, managing director of the Beijing Artists Management Corp Ltd.

Besides Turandot, the Beijing Artists Management Corp Ltd has also produced a water concert at the Water Cube, the National Aquatic Center. Since it opened last October, the show combining concert playing, lighting and a dancing fountain has drawn thousands of people. The first run will end this month and the company will host a revised re-run in October.

For those not into classical music, there are other shows to queue up for this year.

Interestingly, when the Wall Street Journal reported early this month that Ticketmaster and Live Nation, the two biggest American companies in live concerts, were close to a merger to form the world's dominant concert promotion, ticketing and artist-management group, their joint ventures in China - Emma Entertainment and Beijing Gehua Live Nation Entertainment and Sports Co, Ltd - said they would each present two big gigs in Beijing.

Emma Entertainment will bring Sarah Brightman and Oasis while Gehua Live Nation will present two well-loved Chinese singers, Xu Wei and Joanna Wang.

This is the first time Brightman will be in Beijing after her duet You and Me with Chinese tenor Liu Huan at the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics last August. The concert at Capital Gymnasium on March 22 is part of Brightman's on-going World Symphony Tour.

On its Dig Out Your Soul World Tour, Oasis will thrill its Chinese fans at the Capital Gymnasium on April 3. It marks the famous English rock band's Beijing debut and the gig will fulfill a long held dream of the local rock community.