SHOAC to feature bevy of big names for new season

The Shanghai Oriental Art Center will be bringing together internationally acclaimed artists and groups in a new performance season, including the Vienna Philharmonic, Mariinksy Orchestra, soprano Angela Gheorghiu, pianist Li Yundi, the St. Petersburg Eifman Ballet and the Chinese Cloud Gate Dance Theater.

The theater's 2019-20 performance program will feature 109 productions taking place from September to July 2020.

"The Shanghai Oriental Art Center has played a leading role in the cultural development of Pudong, having presented many world premieres of Chinese artworks as well as Chinese debuts of overseas productions," says Tang Jinsong, head of the publicity department of Pudong New Area of Shanghai.

Lei Wen, general manager of the theater, points out that Shanghai has hosted more internationally acclaimed symphonies in the past decade alone than it did in the entire century prior, with many of these performances taking place at the SHOAC.

The Vienna Philharmonic will be making its third visit to the SHOAC since signing a strategic partnership with the theater in 2016. On Oct 27, the orchestra will play Russian compositions by Rachmaninov and Stravinsky under the baton of Andres Orozco-Estrada with Chinese pianist Yuja Wang. The next day, Christian Thielemann will take over the conductor's podium and present a concert of Viennese works featuring the music of Richard Strauss, Johann Strauss II and Josef Strauss.

On Nov 21, maestro Valery Gergiev will lead the Mariinsky Orchestra, the oldest symphony in Russia, to play Tchaikovsky's symphonies No 5 and No 6.