Mozart's Requiem
Performed by the China Philharmonic Orchestra and the Shanghai Opera House chorus and conducted by Yu Long
This concert on May 7 was by no means a simple music event; it was a diplomatic gesture. Performed at the Vatican in front of an audience including Pope Benedict XVI, it was an attempt to use art as a tool for bridging cultural and diplomatic chasms. As Bernard Francis Law, the archpriest of the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, one of the four major Catholic basilicas of Rome, said: "The concert could be a good beginning to open dialogue between China and the Vatican."
Runner-up: Concert by the Philadelphia Orchestra in Beijing
In September 1973, the Philadelphia Orchestra played Beijing's Cultural Palace of Nationalities during the lead-up to the two countries' warming-up of relations. The program was the Yellow River Concerto and Beethoven's Symphony No 6 (Pastoral). On June 2, the same concert was repeated at the same venue, by the same orchestra, to mark the 35th anniversary of that historic performance. The original concert was conducted by Eugene Ormandy, and the new one by Christoph Eschenbach.
Rhinoceros in Love
Meng Jinghui's experimental play debuted in 1999 and caught the imagination of the young with its quirky and passionate love story and unique stage treatment. It has been sporadically revived over the years, with a total of 100 performances. The revival, at the new Citycomb Theater, aims for a really long run of 1,000 performances. But with or without the commercial success, the play has already become a hallmark of avant-garde theater in China.
A rhinoceros caretaker, Ma Lu, falls madly in love with a sexy, mysterious girl, Ming Ming. When she rebuffs him, his desperation drives him to kill his rhinoceros and kidnap her.
Runner-up: I 'Aide Memoire (The Memorandum)
Early in the year, Hong Kong star Edison Chen was found to have kept a database of digital photos of his girlfriends, all nude and in provocative positions. Jean-Claude Carriere's play, as produced by Xu Ying and directed by Guo Shixing, has coincidental relevance. In The Memorandum, a black notebook is where a Parisian man dutifully writes down the profiles of all the women who happen to bump into his life - 134 in all. The intimacy of the set and the theater helps get across the multi-layers and complexity of the story:
Kylie Minogue
As part of her KylieX2008 Tour, the Australian pop star played Shanghai's Hongkou Soccer Stadium and Beijing's Workers' Stadium to standing ovations. Nicknamed the "Pea Princess" for her diminutive figure, Minogue packed a wallop and electrified local fans.
Runner-up: Celine Dion's concert
The Canadian chanteuse played Macao and Shanghai early in the year, canceling her Beijing leg unexpectedly.
Turandot
The Grand National Theater production
Puccini's swan song, as seen at the brand-new egg-shaped venue, was grand yet innovative. It took a giant step out of boundaries of historical constraints and created a world of fantasy. It had grandness, but was not overwhelmed by grandiosity. It made clever use of state-of-the-art stagecraft, but was not carried away by endless set changes.
The production will be remembered for its last 18 minutes, which Chinese composer Hao Weiya wrote to replace the original version by Franco Alfano (Puccini died before he could complete the last part).
While Alfano's finishing touch relentlessly builds up to a crescendo, Hao's work goes in the other direction, lapsing into a mood of quiet meditation, which is dramatically convincing.
In terms of casting, the slave girl Liu usually comes out strongest no matter who the singer happens to be. Not only was the character realistically drawn but the singer invariably gave an empathetic rendition. The aria before her suicide was so full of emotion it almost brought the performance to a standstill.
This was a Turandot that China's opera community can proudly call its own, and this was a Turandot that fit the venue and the location. After all, the story supposedly took place in the Chinese capital.
