Season of music and sightseeing at cultural institution

A program that combines a concert production by the Shanghai Chinese Orchestra with digital visual art will be launched at the Shanghai Concert Hall in October. It will consist of a daily package of day-time tours of the venue and evening presentations of Chinese music and outdoor digital art shows.

The concert by the Shanghai Chinese Orchestra will be an updated version of the production New Oriental Chinese Music Scene, which premiered in 2016. The gala, featuring traditional Chinese instruments and music pieces, has since toured more than 30 cities worldwide.

Luo Xiaoci, orchestra director, says the concert will feature new arrangements, as well as site-specific digital visual projection.

"We have witnessed more public interest in Chinese culture in the past few years," Luo says. "However, there have not been so many concerts of Chinese music, so we decided to create an on-site edition of the Chinese concert.

"We hope audiences, be they local or tourists from China or abroad, will feel the warmth and diversity of the city. It's a live-music experience that can't be replaced by anything you see on the internet."

The concert will be presented in 100 shows at the Shanghai Concert Hall, and the first round of performances will take place from Oct 20 to Nov 11.

The 91-year-old Shanghai Concert Hall located by Yan'an Road Middle on the People's Square is the first concert hall in China. The classical Western-style building has been an important landmark in Shanghai's cultural scene, popular with music lovers in the city.

"We have made regular efforts over the past decades, opening to the public and inviting people in," says Fang Jing, general manager of the concert hall.

The new program is part of an initiative aimed at "illustrating Shanghai's cultural characteristics and increasing the city's cultural soft power".

On Sept 21, a new exhibition will kick off and go on for six months on the fourth floor of the Shanghai Concert Hall. It will be an immersive show of Chinese music, illustrating the rich colors and diverse characteristics of Chinese instruments and music.

Motion Magic, a leading digital entertainment company in Shanghai, will create a 3D projection on the western facade of the concert hall.

"Audiences will enjoy the 8-minute 3D visual show projected on the wall from the lawn to the west of the building," says Zhang Zhe, vice-president of Motion Magic.

During the concert, 3D imaging will be adopted as an integrated part of the show, to enrich audiences' visual experiences. Motion Magic is affiliated to the Shanghai Media Group and has been a leading digital entertainment content and service provider in China for the past 20 years. The company does digital lighting and video shows at the Bund, the Oriental Pearl TV Tower in Shanghai and conference events all over the country.

As the Shanghai Concert Hall is a protected building, the installation of visual projection equipment will not damage it, Zhang says.

Six series of concerts and events will be held there from August to December. Aside from the in-house concert of the orchestra, 10 other classical concerts will also take place, featuring leading artists such as pianist Chen Sa and violinist Ning Feng, and young rising stars.

A New Year concert will be presented by Novus-Classica Camerata founded by young conductor Jin Yukuang. Jin, born in 2000, was runner-up in the Khachaturian International Conducting Competition and came second at the Only Stage International Conducting Competition. He was the first Chinese conductor to win awards in both events.