Vibration of the Heavens focuses on all kinds of "Extensive-organism" in the dimension of urban space-time: air, water, light, radio, dust, buildings, crowd, traffic, social media... From the perspective of people living in metropolis, the piece pays attention to the living conditions of themselves and all things around them, explores the relationship between people and their living environment. Using piano and interactive electronic music to form narrative clues of sound, and extend to different new media artistic elements. The pianist is the initiator of audio/visual perception, the whole theatre space acts as the projection medium. Three sections named Light, Shadow and Image are played continuously, which are shown as follows: the ever-changing of a single thing; the pluralistic relationship between things and the reflection of human beings; the shape of human beings is derived from the shape of everything. Grateful for this present media age to achieving the extension of music and the transcendence of sound over hearing. Applying the artistic language belonging to this age to arouse peoples confused feelings and establish a keen connection between the past and the future. Looking downward, we are small in the modern metropolis, shining all things with the light of sound. Xu ZhiboXu Zhibo, composer, PHD, associate professor of Shanghai Normal University Music College, director of Shanghai Computer Music Association, outstanding young scholar of SNU. Graduated from Shanghai Conservatory of Music, he studied successively with Professor Zhou Xianglin, Chen Qiangbin and Yang Liqing. His works involves various types and genres, some of them won a lot of awards for music creation at home and abroad. He is currently engaged in the teaching of composing and music theory courses, and devotes himself to theoretical research in contemporary music, sonic art, new-media art and other fields. He has presided over the theoretical research projects of the NSSFC (Art), the Humanities and Social Sciences Fund of Ministry of Education of China, the Shanghai Art-Science Planning, the Shanghai School Art Research and the Research Institute of SHCM. His academic achievements mainly focus on the core issues of contemporary music and media art, confronting the development track and trend of sound theory, technology and mix-media. As an author, more than 20 papers have been published in journals and conferences around the world. As a speaker, he was invited to attend international academic conferences held in the United States, Germany, the Netherlands and Taiwan, China. He has formed an research mechanism supported by cooperation between theory and practice.
YICHING is a time-honored classic in the history of Chinese civilization with a profound connotation. It is not only called as the "top of all classics", but also the source of Chinese philosophy. YICHING integrates the heaven, the earth and the mans world, and elucidates the life philosophy of self-cultivation and family management. The production extracts the name of YI in order to express the choreographers understanding of "YI", in addition, it also draws on the basis of creativity on the hexagrams, which gives birth to specific movements and images. Taiji elements are also adapted to develop movements, expressing the dynamic balance of "YI" through formal YIN and YANG transformation simultaneously fusing the rigidity and softness, and trying to express the thought of Unity of Heaven and Man, and the artistic conception that the greatest truth is the simplest. Li YuanMFA, Lecturer of Dance School of Shanghai Theatre Academy. For many years, Li has been engaged in the curriculum (Deconstruction and Reconstruction on Physical Actions) research on the Chinese classical dance, exerting to solve the derailment between the physical and rhyme training on the Chinese classical dance and contemporary classical dance. In addition, Li has explored and created a number of excellent contemporary classical dancing works. The creative work High Mountains and Flowing Water has won the first prize in the dance competition of Six Provinces and One City in the East of China. Flying Dragon and Dancing Phoenix has won the second prize of group dance in "Peach and Plum Cup" dance competition and the gold award in "Lotus Cup" dance competition. Long Sword and Ectopia have won the Award for Competition of small program competition in Shanghai. Tian Heng 500 Scholars has won the "Collectively Creative Youth" award in Shanghai. Heart without Dust has participated in the national dance competition exhibition.
The work Clouded by D.LAB DANCE is to explore a sense of alienation in peoples subconscious when they are overwhelmed by the unprecedented technology development in this era. When we upload all traces of our life to the "cloud", is there no need to hold onto our memories of happiness and sorrow? In the age of digital "cloud", arent we all "cloud"ed? This work is to bring out the characteristics of a particular group of people through the concept of "Clouded". Largely affected by the development of digital technology, this group of people become attached to illusions, and immersed in the "safe house" created by sensory pleasure. They are always searching for things that dont exist in reality. The only outlet of their emotions is psychedelic music at night clubs, where they would find temporary relief. In the work Clouded, we tend to explore their true emotions lying behind the facade they put up. Qian TingtingQian Tingting graduated from Beijing Normal university before moving to join TAO DANCE THEATER and performed in 6 and 7, during which time she received strict training and explored infinite potential of the body. She joined D.LAB DANCE as full-time dancer and choreographer in 2016. Her choreographic works: Parabola(2014), Dance!Dance! Dance!(2017) , Invisible(2018), and The Blue Notebooks(2019). Qians inspiration comes not only from years of immersion in different dance styles, but also from her close observation of little things in life. Dance itself is not the only focus of her work. She tends to merge into her creation the perception of all the changes and different events happening in real life. Apart from theater performance, she also works with musicians, installation artists and fashion brands. Duan JingtingDuan Jingting is a multi-award winning ballerina, an elite contemporary dancer, and a producer of theatre performance. She was awarded the Judges Special Prize in Shanghai International Ballet Competition (2001), the Best New Artist of the 20th Varna International Ballet Competition (2002), and the Bronze Medal in the 7th "Taoli Cup" National Dance Competition (2003). After graduating from Shanghai Dance Academy as valedictorian, she began her career as a dancer in Shanghai Ballet and later joined Hong Kong Ballet and performed many leading roles. DUAN founded D.LAB DANCE in 2014. From 2011, Duan premiered a series of theatrical productions that have been highly recognized by the industry and audience, including Shanghai Jungle(2011), LOVE(2014), Invisible Cities(2014), Fragile(2015), The Letter of Love(2016) and Mirage(2017). In 2016, her works Boundary and Icosahedron were both ranked within the TOP5 Box Office in Chinas Small Theatre Dance Performances.
Lukashin, a surgeon from Moscow, gets drunk with his old friends and accidentally gets on a plane to Leningrad by mistake. There is a place in Leningrad which has the same address as Lukashins home address in Moscow so Lukashin mistakes it as his own home, which causes misunderstandings between him and the hostess of the place in Leningrad Nadya. Both Lukashins and Nadyas partner broke up with them because of this misunderstanding. Under this circumstance, the fire of love begins to burn between these two lonely people. This play is adapted from the work of director Elda Ryazanovs, Ironiya sudby, ili S legkim parom! and inspired by the Dutch historian Hejzinhas discussion that art originated from "games". If we say that art is originated from game, then in this play, love is like the dice in a board game. Whether you dare to reroll the dice before reaching the end of the game, is the question that the two protagonists must consider.Co-presented by China Shanghai International Arts Festival / China Dream Live Entertainment. Zhou TaoMaster in the Directors at Shanghai Theatre Academy, Ph.D. in World History at Fudan University, mentor of Fudan Drama Troupe, director of Shanghai Student Drama Experiment Center, winner of Chinese Theatre Award-Campus Drama Screenplay, listed in "Shanghai Literature and Art Talents Training Program", member of the expert committee of leading group of Shanghai major literary and artistic creations, former host of the Five-star Sports channel in Shanghai Satellite TV. Since 2009, he has devoted himself to the creation and research of campus drama. His creations, Prime Minister of the alley, 4:1, The Chosen One, Richard II, the Seed in Heaven have been shortlisted for China Campus Drama Festival for five consecutive years, and he has won the first prize of the Chinese College Students Art Exhibition in drama category for three consecutive sessions. His works Richard II and Cross were selected for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Sydney Fringe Festival and Melbourne Fringe Festival respectively.
Catch Shadows is a story within a story within another story. There was an island called Shadow Kingdom which was located in Southeast Asia in ancient times. The islanders were used to catch shadows and contribute to their King in order to save their own lives. A shadow puppetry artist came to Shadow Kingdom by chance. During the days of performing for the King, the artist found out the secret of the Shadows and the King. At the same time, the artist has developed certain subtle relationship with the Blind Queen... At the end, the artist became a new King, but he can never get into the world of Shadow Puppetry again. Catch Shadows combines Chinese traditional puppetry and contemporary theater elements. This works is trying to explore the theme of battles between like a small character and the Mr. Big, individual livings and the time torrent. What you really desire may become a heavy crown as well as a chain that imprisons you. In the end, the crown becomes your shadow and it will never leave you.Co-organizer: China Shanghai International Arts Festival / A Threater Company / A Script Studio / Shanghai Sanzhe Cultural Media Centre Chu XiaChu Xia is a playwright currently works in Nanjing Art Institute. She graduated with a MFA from Nanjing University, School of Theatre and Film Literature. She was selected in the international New Writing project of Royal Court and British Council. Chu Xias Works: Elsewhere for Hope (Drama) selected in 8th Beijing Nanluoguxiang Performing Arts Festival (2017), Upstairs and Downstairs (Yue Opera) selected in Jiangsu Literature Award (2018), Invisible Crane (Kun Opera) selected in National Arts Fund (2018). She always keeps a curious eye at her surroundings. She tends to tell stories in a serious but absurd style. She is looking for a balance among story-telling, exchange of emotion and making magic.
Drawing on the worldview of Shan Hai Jing (Classic of Mountains and Seas), a Chinese classic text of mythic geography and beasts, we instill contemporary, philosophical contemplations into a newly conceived story. Against the mythical backdrop is the idea of "avatar", or modes of "alter-being", through which we elaborate the inner journey of human beings coming to terms with the unknown: the birth of life, the struggle for survival, the revelation via love, hate, and fear, and the ultimate transcendence and release with inner peace. If the mythical world filled with Eastern totemic symbols represents the birth of the unknown, the "beasts" that are the "alter-beings" of humans render visually our inner complexes. This piece combines semi-immersive video space and media art to let the audience inhabit the "unknown" and experience their "alter-beings" with the dancers, as we journey into the mysteries of life. In correspondence, the digital media design features technological "avatars" by way of motion capture, interactive animation, and remote control, linking backstage manipulation with frontstage performance. With these all-permeating technological "avatars" as metaphorical "alter-beings", the performance also embodies the merge between modern technology and traditional arts. Zhang YinanPhD, lecturer of College of Design and Innovation, Tongji University, Digital Media Designer. Cofounder of Integrated Media Design Lab at Tongji University, main member of Tongji-Soundlab, visiting scholar of Parsons School of Design, New York. Zhang Yinan dedicates to education and research focusing on digital media design and motion graphics design as well as the creative practice of new media art. He has rich interdisciplinary cooperation and innovation experience, including video art, 3D animation, creative coding, sound design, new media performance and other comprehensive fields.
Nirvanais a piano-hypermedia concert series. It was initiated by young Chinese pianist Yu Xiangjun who studied both in China and Germany. The program of Nirvanamainly focuses on contemporary piano repertoire, especially those with structural tension and sonic expressiveness. Nirvanatries to combine the aesthetics of piano and the vividness of new media art to promote contemporary music with various art forms and technology. The concert continues to present a mixture of various media including piano, electronic music, interactive lighting, graphic scores and responsive visuals. The medialized performance creates a visible and kinetic spatial effect, transforming the musical interpretation into an immersive music experience beyond hearing. The piano music of four Chinese and Western composers from different periods forms an interesting sense of dialogue with the visual interaction design by new media artist, Da Yan. It is not only a dialogue between different musical styles of China and the West, but also a dialogue of creative aesthetics across media and time. PROGRAM (subject to change)Makrokosmos (Volume I &Volume II, excerpts) / George CrumbVibration of the Heavens / Zhibo Xu Commissioned by RAW - CSIAFThree Etudes-tableaux No.3 / Qing ShaoChina Gates / John Adams
One day the tipsy Qian Daduan, a sorehead poor scholar, found a copper coin on his way back home. Badly in need of money, he hesitated a lot whether to take it or not. In the end, he made the firm resolution to resist the temptation of wealth and take pains to study.
In Retrospect takes kunqu opera, Chinese classical dance and contemporary dance as the main forms to express the revival of kunqu opera in peoples mind. Through the separation and integration of movement elements, the graceful style of kunqu opera and the free collision of contemporary dance are combined to tell the cultural collision between modern culture and traditional Chinese culture in different slow and fast rhythms and in different situations of static and dry.
Tale of Seeking the Mountain is adapted from Volume Strange, A Taoist From Lao Mountain. Wu was a male intellectual, who departed from Guangdong to seek the Mountain. He had been to Danxia Mountain, Heng Mountain in Hunan, finally he had made his way to Lao Mountain in Shandong, been apprenticed to his mater to learn sorcery. Taoist from Lao Mountain, his master, taught him the spell to be invisible. By the time Wu was home, his mother was long gone. A month in Wonder Land had brought great changes to the world. Wu begged his mater for a reunion with his mother. For exchange of his wish, Wus Life had been given to his mother. Wu saw his mother again but he could no longer stay by her side, for himself was old and aging.
The Australian Art Orchestra (AAO) is a portable orchestra for the new millennium. With an emphasis on improvisation, it explores the meeting points between disciplines and cultures, and imagines new musical forms to reflect the energy and diversity of contemporary Australia. Now in its 25th year and led by prolific composer, trumpeter and sound artist, Peter Knight, the Australian Art Orchestra features some of Australias most celebrated jazz musicians. It tours both locally and internationally and has won numerous awards for its work including three Australian Jazz Bell awards, the 2014 AMC/APRA Art Music Award ‘Excellence by an Organisation, the 2013 AMC/APRA Art Music Award ‘Performance of the Year and many others. In Water Pushes Sand, composer Erik Griswold and the Australian Art Orchestra team up with all-star musicians and performers of Sichuan to create a wild intercultural celebration. The ten-piece big band fuses Sichuan melodies and rhythms with modern jazz improvisation, and evoke the vibrant landscape of the Chengdu Provence. Known for its brash and friendly people, spicy food, laid back tea houses, and the distinctive dialects, Chengdu is unique in China. Chengdu-style music is more like blues or early rock and roll than classical music, and combines colours from rustic country folk, street songs and the ear splitting cacophony of gongs and cymbals.
At dead of night, a surprised live webcast about a rehearsal of a stage play was asked to be held, in order to increase publicity. The participants include a has-been singer,an inexperienced artist,a second-rate radio anchor,a web celebrity,an amateur writer,a self-respecting stage manager,an overexcited assistant who keeps making mistakes,and a producer who ignores producing content. With the live time approaching,the casts begin to shift their attention from small talk to rehearsal. They start to revise the play and point out errors to each other,as well as getting tired,becoming selfish,jealous,and complaining…All the things associate with art, work and life in general.
The drama is selected from the famous absurd playwright Jean Genets masterpiece The Maid.This play uses the stage style of puppet opera and modern avant-garde drama style to explain the insurmountable gap between classes. In the real and fantastic play game, the ridiculous and tragic performance of the two maids is vivid and vivid. The stage style established by the use of the globe not only creates a strange and mysterious atmosphere, but also creates a tacit understanding of watching and acting different from realism. It is also the hope and fantasy in the hearts of the two maids.Yearning produces desire, desire multiplies evil thoughts, evil thoughts cause death. Its a murder, a sacrifice, a self-salvation, or a joke from two poor people.
Huang Ruo:Composer & Conductor Composer Huang Ruo has been lauded by The New York Times for having a distinctive style. His vibrant and inventive musical voice draws equal inspiration from Chinese ancient and folk music, Western avant-garde, experimental, noise, natural and processed sound, rock, and jazz to create a seamless, organic integration using a compositional technique he calls Dimensionalism. Huang Ruos diverse compositional works span from orchestra, chamber music, opera, theater, and dance, to cross-genre, sound installation, architectural installation, multi-media, experimental improvisation, folk rock, and film. His music has been premiered and performed by the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, etc., and conductors such as Wolfgang Sawallisch, Marin Alsop, Michael Tilson Thomas, and James Conlon. His new opera An American Soldier (with libretto by David Henry Hwang) has recently received its world premiere at the Opera Theatre of St. Louis in June 2018, and was named one of the best 10 classical music events in 2018 by The New York Times. His installation opera Paradise Interrupted was premiered at the Spoleto Festival USA in 2015 and was performed at the Lincoln Center Festival in 2016, with future touring planning for Europe and Asia. Another opera, Dr. Sun Yat-Sen, was premiered at the Santa Fe Opera in 2014. He served as the first composer-in-residence for Het Concertgebouw Amsterdam, and will be the visiting composer for the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra in Brazil.Huang Ruo was born in Hainan Island, China in 1976. His father, who is also a composer, began teaching him composition and piano when he was six years old. He received both traditional and Western education at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. His education expanded from Bach, Mozart, Stravinsky, and Lutoslawski, to include the Beatles, rock and roll, heavy metal, and jazz. Huang Ruo was able to absorb all of these newly allowed Western influences equally. After winning the Henry Mancini Award at the 1995 International Film and Music Festival in Switzerland, he moved to the United States to further his education. He earned a Bachelor of Music degree from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, and Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in composition from the Juilliard School. Huang Ruo is a composition faculty at the Mannes School of Music in NY, and is the artistic director and conductor of Ensemble FIRE. He was selected as a Young Leader Fellow by the National Committee on United States–China Relations in 2006. Huang Ruos music is published by Ricordi. For more information about the composer and his music, please visit: (www.huangruo.com) Conductor:Zhang LiangSoprano:Huang YingMezzo-Soprano:Yang GuangShanghai Philharmonic Orchestra Programme (subject to change):1. Two Pieces for Orchestra 2. Becoming Another3. An American Soldier、Bound4. Shattered steps -Intermission-1. Still / Motion2. An American Soldier、Bound3. Folk songs for orchestra I:Flower Drum Song from Feng YangII:Love Song from Kang DingIII:Little Blue FlowerIV:The Girl from the Da Ban City
On an extremely cold winter night, the freezing senator Mr. Marcel appears on the bed of Margaret, the maid, all out of a cause for keeping himself warm. The maid is driven away by the senators wife who does not know the truth. Amidst misunderstanding, the sudden death of Mr. Marcel, a blasting fuse, ignites all the conflicts. And all the stories begin around his death……The characters in this play, such as Marcels drug-addicted daughter, Mrs. Marcel with a bruised heart and the maid Margaret, are full of contradictions. Amidst the surging undercurrent of drama and emotions, the truths behind all mysteries, start to reveal themselves. The truth as told by each character depicts different stories around Mr. Marcel: The tensions in his family, the wife crying about the heartbreakingly painful surgery, and the nonchalant husband who seems in love with another……Is there any secret behind all these? Whats exactly the truth behind Marcels death?The play depicts the protagonists overlap of destinies under different masks through a multiple narrative method. Slices of life, slices of emotions, slices of mysteries…… The "Rashomon" kind of truth is sketched out with fragments of memories of different characters. The chameleonic actress Ofelia plays multiple characters in this play, another worth-noting highlight. Her flexible switch between different roles injects into the play plentiful layers and exciting suspense and twists.
Presented by the Composition Department of Central Conservatory of Music, The Chinese Chamber Opera Composition Promotion Project has been successfully held for six seasons. Since the beginning, Prof. Guo Wenjing, a renowned composer and the former chairman of the department, has been serving as the artistic director of the project. This project has made a positive contribution in fostering young talents of music composition, libretto writing and vocal performance.By the invitation of the 2019 China Shanghai International Arts Festivals R.A.W!Land, we carefully selected four students chamber operas to participate in the festival. We will gather rising stage directors, young conductors, and outstanding CCOM student singers to form teams producing these operas. On this unique platform of the Shanghai International Art Festivals Youth Promotion Plan, we would like to present this Composition in Action, advocating the synergies between compositional theory and practice, which has long been implemented throughout the composition program of the Central Conservatory of Music. 1.The Forest of SwanIt is adapted from a true story. In the beautiful and rich Qilu land, there was a paradise. There were beautiful lakes, trees embracing this piece of wetlands tightly. Every year there will be a group of spirits from Siberian fly to this oasis, and play. But with the expansion of the city, the trees along the shore were pushed down, more and more factories has been established. The original blue sky was covered with haze, the original clear lake becomes turbid, also gave off a bad smell. But the swans did not give up this home, they are tenacious to live here. But the pollution became serious and food was declining, some swans had to eat garbage, which led to the sickness of many swans. When the swans went to the edge of despair, the emergence of a young man awakened the conscience of mankind, changed their fate, and changed the lost paradise as well……2.JigokuhenThe story, set in the Heian period, depicts the conflict between Korean painter Yoshihide and his patron, the cruel and egotistical Hosokawa.The plot of Hell Screen centers on the artist Yoshihide. Yoshihide is considered the greatest painter in the land, and is often commissioned to create works for the Lord of Horikawa, who also employs Yoshihides daughter in his mansion.When Yoshihide is instructed to create a folding screen depicting the Buddhist hell, he proceeds to inflict tortures upon his apprentices, so he can see what he is trying to paint. Supernatural forces seem to be present. one time, Yoshihide speaks in a devilish voice. The story climaxes when Yoshihide asks the lord to burn a beautiful lady in a carriage so he can finish the screen. The lord concedes, but, in a macabre twist, Yoshihide must watch as his daughter and her monkey are the ones who burn.The story ends with the magnificently horrible screen completed.3.I Love Peach BlossomsAt the time of the Tang Dynasty, Feng Yan, a teenager in Yuyang City, committed adultery with Zhang Yings wife. One night, when Zhang Ying returned home drunk, the wife of Zhang hastily hid Feng Yan, but Zhang Ying pressed Feng Yans towel on the chair when he was drunken. And by the time Feng Yan wanted to escape, Zhang Ying beckoned his wife to bring the towel. She quietly came to Zhang Yings side, and at that time the towel was pressed under his body and she had mistaken Feng Yans intention that it was his knife in the waist that he wanted to kill her husband. Then she quietly drew out the knife and handed it to Feng Yan and Feng Yan felt that the woman was ruthless and killed her with it.4.Wang QiA scholar named Wang Qi decides to learn magic arts from Taoist priests on a mountain. One year later when he has made some achievements, he returns home and shows off to his wife. She complaints about his neglect of the family, but he doesnt think so. The reunion of this couple sparks a farce.
Xiyu Guo, a Chinese young artist who graduated from the Painting Department of the Academy of Fine Arts of Florence, has gained a lot in the three years of life and study in Italy. For example, he won the first prize in the Roberto Togni International Painting Competition in Bormio, Italy, and he was commissioned by the local municipal government to create a large-sized historical-mythological public artwork. Then he was invited by the Regional Council of Tuscany. In the office hall of the Regional Council, a solo exhibition of landscape paintings was held, and its landscape paintings were collected by the official and the President of the Regional Council. With this opportunity of the exhibition, the artist brought his landscape series from Florence, Italy to the Shanghai China International Arts Festival. Visitors can see the artists special depiction of the colors, light, shadow, and figure of the Tuscany landscape, feeling the love of nature and humanity. By nature, the artworks reflect the artists personal feelings of the tight connection to the land, the people of Tuscany, and his inner world.
Synopsis:A son grows healthily with happiness under the care of his parents. As he grew up, he encountered the education problems that every family may face. An exam of the child broke this originally sweet and harmonious family. The disobedient of fathers hardline, the helplessness of mother, the rebellion of son, all of which make the family to be immersed in predicament...