Art beat in September

Sept 13-17

3 for the classics

Trio Lenitas launches its China tour in Shanghai this week. The classical music group consists of Switzerland's Serge Charlet on the violin, and two French musicians, Francois Martigne playing the viola and Guillaume Martigne on the cello. The three met during an international music festival in 1996. Considered one of the best chamber music groups of the new generation, the Trio Lenitas asserts itself in a pure classical style that is warm, cordial and inspiring.

7:45 pm, Sept 13. Shanghai Oriental Art Center, 425 Dingxiang Road, Pudong New Area, Shanghai. 021-6854-1234.

Massage

Massage, a drama that deals with love and life in a massage center run by the visually impaired is being staged at the National Center for Performing Arts.

Adapted from the Mao Dun Literature Award winning novel by Bi Feiyu, the fictional play explores the delicate twists and turns of affairs of the heart. Liu Xiaofeng, Wang Yinan, Hu Ke play the leading roles.

Visually impaired folk singer Zhou Yunpeng has composed music for the play.

7:30pm to 9:45pm, Sept 5 to 14, National Center for the Performing Arts, No 2 West Chang'an Avenue, Xicheng district, Beijing. 010-66550000

For more：Play gives insight into world of the blind

Songs of Kaohsiung

Audiences can get a glimpse of the city of Kaohsiung through the work of Taiwan award-winning harpist-composer Lee Je-yi, Harbor Fantasy. Combining erhu (Chinese two-string fiddle) and cello, the work describes the past, present and future of Kaohsiung, and expresses the musician's love for the city. The work will be performed at a concert titled The Trip Across Music by Kaohsiung City Symphony Orchestra, which was founded in 1981. To boost cultural exchange across the Straits, the concert will also feature mainland musicians, including award-winning pianist Liu Mengjie and Paganini Violin Competition winner Ning Feng.

7:30 pm, Sept 13. Shanghai Oriental Art Center. 272, Fengxian Road, Shanghai. 021-6217-242. 7:30 pm, Sept 15. National Center for Performing Arts, 2 West Chang'an Avenue, Xicheng district, Beijing. 010-6655-0000.

Prisoner of love

Pudong New Area is holding a theater festival with a series of plays to be staged on the weekend at Pudong New Stage. Tickets are priced at 20-50 yuan ($3-$8), to encourage more people to come to the theater. This is the second year of the festival, which aims to enrich local cultural life and promote related industries in the area. The upcoming play is The Yellow Handkerchief, directed by Xiong Yuanwei. The plot is based on a news story about a man released from prison who asks whether his wife wants him home.

7:30 pm, Sept 13-14. Pudong New Stage, 143 Pudong Avenue, Shanghai. 021-5039-3585.

Dance to death

Adapted from Igor Stravinsky's ballet of the same name, Chinese-Australian choreographer Zhang Xiaoxiong's Rite of Spring deals with people's fear and lust, as exposed in the process of an ancient tribal girl dancing to death after she was chosen as a sacrifice. The first half of the show premiered at the 2012 Taipei International Dance Festival. Students from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts presented the latter half this year. As a key component of Beijing Normal University's International Creative Dance Symposium, the full-length show will be jointly presented by BNU's department of dance and dance students from WAAPA.

7:30 pm, Sept 13-14. Guo'an Theater, 16, Huayuan East Road, Haidian district, Beijing. 010-5728-6313.

Feeling their way

Massage, a drama that deals with love and life in a massage center run by the visually impaired, is being staged at the National Center for the Performing Arts. The stage version is adapted from the Mao Dun Literature Award-winning fiction by Bi Feiyu. Liu Xiaofeng, Wang Yinan and Hu Ke will play the leading roles of blind masseurs and masseuses. Blind folk singer Zhou Yunpeng has composed music for the play.

7:30 pm, until Sept 14. National Center for the Performing Arts, No 2 West Chang'an Avenue, Xicheng district, Beijing. 010-6655-0000.

Identity through images

Photographer Mercedes Barros will unveil her first exhibition Who Am I? in China. The portraits display her understanding of the concept of identity. Born in Rio de Janeiro, she has spent more than 25 years out of Brazil. She studied at New England School of Photography in Boston, and The School of Visual Arts in New York. The influences of Brazil and other countries in her works are evident. There will be a cocktail reception for the opening ceremony on Sept 7, at 2 pm.

10 am-6 pm, Sept 8-15. Force Gallery, 798 Art Zone (South Gate), Jiuxianqiao Road 4, Chaoyang district, Beijing. 010-5762 6138. Free entry.

Focus on number 85

China Academy of Art is presenting a special project 8585. The art school celebrates its 85th anniversary this year and 1985 marked the emergence of the first wave of contemporary art movement in the Chinese mainland. Curated by Gao Shiming, the exhibition features art works and precious documentaries that tell the stories of contemporary art in China. Eighty-five artists are on display. They experienced the age of awakening in the early 1980s and many are representative figures in today's Chinese art scene.

9 am-5 pm, Sept 6-15. Art Museum of China Academy of Art, 218 Zhongshan Road South, Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. 0571-8716-4798.

Music for festival

Celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival with a feast of traditional Chinese music this Sunday. Guangdong National Orchestra of China has invited famous erhu (two-stringed bowed instrument) player Deng Jiandong, who was the first Chinese to stage an erhu solo concert at Vienna Concert Hall, to join their performance that features classics including The Moon Reflected in Two Springs.

8 pm, Sept 15. Symphony Hall, Xinghai Concert Hall, 33 Qingbo Road, Ersha Island, Yuexiu district, Guangzhou.

12 Angry Men takes to the stage

The Chinese production of the play 12 Angry Men will be presented soon in Shanghai. The play created by American author Reginald Rose in 1954 became very popular with Chinese audiences when the Chinese production was released last year. The story about the jury debate of a homicidal trial attracted groups of Shanghai prosecutors to the theater. This summer, the production will celebrate its 100th show, and embark on a national tour after Shanghai. The upcoming performances will feature a new cast.

7:30 pm, Aug 20-Sept 15. D6 Space-Shanghai Dramatic Art Center, 288 Anfu Road. 021-6473-0123.

Chinese writings

The Chinese Characters Exhibition continues through Sept 15 in the Capital Museum of Beijing. Organized by the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries and the government of Henan province, the exhibition displays the history of development of the Chinese characters. The exhibition will also be presented in Canada, Uzbekistan and Nepal, with a series of seminars focusing on the arts of Chinese character and calligraphy.

9 am-5 pm, until Sept 15. Capital Museum, Fuxingmenwai Street, Xicheng district, Beijing. 010-6337-0491.

Paintings depict law of the jungle

Soka Art Center is presenting two solo exhibitions of young artists, Zhao Bo and Xun Guipin. The paintings of Zhao, 29, examine the birth and death in the nature, the law of the jungle and the continuous transformation of energy. Xun, 28, was born, raised and educated inYunnanprovince. His paintings convey a strong yearning for things that are lost in the midst of urbanization.

10 am-6 pm, closed on Monday, until Sept 15. Soka Art Center, 798 Art District, 4 Jiuxianqiao Road, Chaoyang district. 010-5978-4808.

Individual interaction

OCAT Shanghai is presenting Yang Zhenzhong's solo show Trespassing, the third exhibition since its opening in September 2012. Yang was born in 1968 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, but has been living in Shanghai for 15 years. His career is closely intertwined with the development of new media art in China. The exhibition comprises video installations, single and two-channel videos and installations.

10 am-6 pm, Aug 17-Sept 17. OCT Contemporary Art Terminal Shanghai, 1016 Suzhou Road N. Shanghai. 021-6608-5119.

Works full of color

Chinese-Singaporean artist Lim Siang-hiong is launching his new exhibition, which will eventually tour internationally, at the National Art Museum of China. Born in Guangdong province in 1945, Lim studied in Singapore and France during the 1960s and 1970s. Since then, he has taken on multiple roles including artist, entrepreneur and social activist. The exhibition features 99 ink paintings Lim created between 1990 and 2013. The 68-year-old's works are full of color, which vividly express his fond feelings toward Southeast Asia. The exhibition later will tour to China's Xi'an, Zhengzhou and Shanghai, and then to Europe, US, Africa and Oceania.

9 am to 5 pm, until Sept 17. Hall 3 and 5, National Art Museum of China, 1 Wusi Dajie, Dongcheng district, Beijing. 010-6400-1476.