What's on in Beijing, Shanghai

Beijing

Despite the absence of noted Japanese conductor Seiji Ozawa, the Saito Kinen Festival Matsumoto, which travels to China for the first time this year, will remain a highlight of the music scene in September.

The festival will present a variety of programs created by Ozawa, who has opted out for health reasons, including concerts of the festival's resident orchestra, Saito Kinen Orchestra; The Soldier's Tale, a theatrical work set to Stravinski's music; a concert of film music by Toru Takemitsu; and a concert by Seiji Ozawa Music Academy.

New York-based French conductor Pierre Vallet will replace Ozawa in the opera Bluebeard's Castle, while Saito Kinen Orchestra will perform without a conductor.

"It's a great pity that I can't come to China this time, but I hope Chinese audiences will still enjoy the Saito Kinen Festival Matsumoto," says Ozawa in a letter.

7:30 pm, Sept 2-4. National Center for the Performing Arts, west of Tian'anmen Square, Beijing. 010-6655-0000

7:30 pm, Sept 6-11. Shanghai Grand Theater, 300 Renmin Dadao, Huangpu district, Shanghai. 021-6372-8701

Return of a legend

Vitas, who shocked Russia with his unique voice in 2000, and whose stage charisma created a stir in China in 2007 and 2008, will return this October with a concert promoting his new album, Say You Love. He will also perform old hits such as Opera 2 and Star. 7:30 pm, Oct 4. Great Hall of the People, west of Tian'anmen Square. 010-6608-1188

Ink paintings

The Art Museum of the Cultural Palace of Nationalities is hosting Gansu artist Guo Zhengying's solo exhibition.

On view are some 60 ink works based on life in Northwest China, especially in his home province of Gansu, and calligraphy pieces about ancient poems eulogizing the natural beauty of these provinces.

9am-5pm, until September 6, 49 Fuxingmennei Dajie, Xicheng district, Beijing 010-6602-4433, 6603-9307

Traditional approach

Museum of the Beijing Fine Art Academy is holding an exhibition of the works of master painter Huang Binhong and his students Li Keran and Lin Sanzhi.

The more than 100 ink paintings, calligraphy scrolls, ink sketches, and manuscripts on display reveal how these artists have forged their own styles while remaining steeped in tradition, says Wang Mingming, curator and head of the academy.

9 am-5 pm, until September 28. Museum of the Beijing Fine Art Academy, 1 Liulitun Beili, Chaoyang district. 010-6507-1285

Shanghai

American quartet

Violinists Nicholas Tavani and Rachel Shapiro, violist Gregory Luce and cellist Alan Richardson, formed the Aeolus Quartet in 2008 at the Cleveland Institute of Music. Since its inception, the all-American quartet has picked up prizes at nearly every major music competition in the United States, and has performed across the globe to great acclaim. The group is named for the Greek god Aeolus, the keeper of the four winds.

7:45 pm, Sept 9. Shanghai Oriental Art Center, 425 Dingxiang Lu. 021-6854-1234

Dialogue matters

The exhibition Window in the Wall brings together photographs, videos, sculptures and paintings by 15 contemporary Indian and Chinese artists. It has been put together by curator Gayatri Sinha, who says it represents a new form of communication where contemporary artistic vision and cultural heritage become the basis for an imaginary dialogue - a Window in the Wall - to investigate cultural and philosophical concerns and redefine Asian consciousness in terms of individual and collective identity.

10 am-6 pm, Sept 9-Nov 9. Pearl Lam Gallery, 1F, 181 Jiangxi Zhonglu. 021-6323-1989

Wood prints

Modern prints became popular in China in the early 20th century. Writer Lu Xun wrote about the development of print art in China and a new wave of the genre in the 1930s, when a series of print studios opened in Shanghai. Print art was then used to advocate fighting against the Japanese invaders and the corrupt Kuomintang government. It occupied an important place in the nation's propaganda art. The latest exhibition displays the collection of the Shanghai Art Museum, and includes 180 print works created over the past 80 years.

9 am-5 pm, Sept 6-16. Shanghai Art Museum, 325 Nanjing Xilu. 021-6327-2829