The festival has also witnessed enhanced collaboration between Chinese and international music institutions. This year, 21 productions will feature international communications.
The closing production, Mozart's opera The Magic Flute, will be performed at the Shangyin Opera House from April 9 to 12. Jointly produced by the Shanghai Conservatory of Music (SHCM) and the University of Music Freiburg in Germany, the new production will be conducted by German musician Marius Stieghorst, with Liao Changyong, president of SHCM, as the artistic director.
"With participation from artists from home and abroad, as well as the students and staff of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, this new production of The Magic Flute will be performed in commemoration of the 270th birth anniversary of Mozart," Liao said at the conference for the upcoming Shanghai spring festival on March 18. "We hope the new opera will contribute to Shanghai's urban cultural construction, nurture musical talents, and cultivate audiences at the same time."
Aside from the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Shanghai Oriental Art Center will host an additional two international orchestras during the festival, according to Luo Xueqin, deputy general manager of the center. The Budapest Festival Orchestra from Hungary, led by its founding director Ivan Fischer, will play on Tuesday, and the Orchestre de Paris from France will play two concerts on April 17 and 18, featuring conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen and violinist Renaud Capucon.
Also, in celebration of the China-Brazil Year of Culture and the 40th anniversary of the Shanghai-Hamburg city friendship, the festival is planning a series of China-Brazil music dialogue events and China-Germany musical exchange performances.
The spring festival also announced new partnerships with music events in three other cities: Harbin, Heilongjiang province; Chengdu, Sichuan province; and Shenzhen, Guangdong province. These partnerships facilitate exchange programs, jointly commission new compositions, and exchange of other musical resources.
