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[ARTS & CULTURE] ‘Best artists’ and ‘best audiences’ to meet at culture fest

By Ian Bartholomew
STAFF REPORTER
Friday, Sep 18, 2009, Page 13

Shanghai Culture Festival schedule: WHAT: Opening performance by the Shanghai Kun Opera Company of kun opera highlights WHEN:Oct. 15 at 7:30pm WHERE: Zhongshan Hall (台北市中山堂), 98 Yanping S Rd, Taipei City (台北市延平南路98號) ADMISSION:NT$500 to NT$2,000, available through NTCH ticketing or online at www.artsticket.com.tw WHAT: Performance of four complete operas and one program of highlights by the Shanghai Kun Opera Company WHEN:Oct. 20 to Oct. 24 at 7:30pm and Oct. 25 at 2:30pm WHERE: Metropolitan Hall (城市舞台), 25, Bade Rd Sec 3, Taipei City (台北市八德路三段25號) ADMISSION:NT$500 to NT$2,500, available through NTCH ticketing or online at www.artsticket.com.tw WHAT: The Best of Shanghai Youth Acrobatics (上海少年雜技薈萃) WHEN: Oct. 13 and Oct. 14 at 7:30pm WHERE: Zhongshan Hall, Taipei City ADMISSION: NT$400 to NT$1,000, available through NTCH ticketing or online at www.artsticket.com.tw WHAT: Outdoor Variety Show WHEN: Oct. 16 to Oct. 18 at 7:30pm and Oct. 17 and Oct. 18 at 4pm WHERE:Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Xinyi Plaza (信義新光三越香堤大道), 11 Songshou Rd, Taipei City (台北市松壽路11號) ADMISSION:Free WHAT: Shanghai Film Festival WHEN: Oct. 16 to Oct. 19 ERE:SPOT — Taipei Film House (台北光點), 18, Zhongshan N Rd Sec 2, Taipei City (台北市中山北路二段18號) WHON THE NET: www.spot.org.tw WHAT: The Shanghai Story — From the Collection of the Shanghai Art Museum (上海故事 — 上海美術館館藏作品展) WHEN: Oct. 16 to Nov. 8 WHERE: Taipei Fine Arts Museum (台北市立美術館), 181, Zhongshan N Rd Sec 3, Taipei City (台北市中山北路三段181號) ON THE NET: www.tfam.museum

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Cultural exchanges with China have developed apace over the past decade. With the Cross-Strait Intercity Culture & Arts Exchange’s (兩岸城市藝術節) Shanghai Culture Festival (上海文化週), which opens next month, the progression of this relationship will reach a new milestone. Sponsored by the Taipei City Government’s Department of Cultural Affairs and organized by New Aspect Cultural and Education Foundation (新象文教基金會), this event follows the Beijing Cultural Festival held in Taipei in 2006 and precedes next year’s Taipei Cultural Festival in Shanghai.

New Aspect founder Hsu Po-yun (許博允) said the need for established festivals to host ongoing cross-strait cultural exchanges has become more important because the market has changed considerably over the past two decades. Many top Chinese artists now have an international market, and booking them requires long-term planning.

Money is also an issue, Hsu added. In the early days of Taiwan’s business expansion into China, companies sponsored the arts to build good relations with local governments. “Those relationships are now well-established, and the funding has consequently dried up,” Hsu said.

Despite these obstacles, exchanges large and small, especially in the traditional arts, are now almost continuous, and many Chinese artists spend a significant amount of time in Taipei. Zhang Qingxian (張靜嫻), Liang Guying (梁谷音) and Zhang Mingrong (張銘榮) are just three of the big names who now regularly feature in local kun opera productions, bolstering the lineup of Taiwanese artists with their considerable experience.

Hsu said this was a match made in heaven, because many of this older generation of Chinese kun artists enjoy a passionate following in Taiwan. “Artists live for the acclaim of their fans, and they [the performers] say that while China might have the best artists, Taiwan has the best audiences.”

The Shanghai Kun Opera Company (上海崑劇團) headlines next month’s festival and will perform four complete operas and four programs of highlights. The operas include the award-winning new work Ban Zao (班昭), as well as classics The Oil-Seller and the Courtesan (占花魁), The Tale of the Jade Hairpin (玉簪記) and Lanke Mountain (爛柯山).

The festival will also showcase the incomparable skills of China’s young acrobats, featuring emerging artists from the Shanghai Circus School (上海馬戲學校). Also on the program are Huang Doudou (黃豆豆), who featured spectacularly in the opening of the Beijing Olympics, and erhu virtuoso Ma Xiaohui (馬曉暉), one of the few performers of a traditional Chinese instrument with an international reputation and perhaps best known for her performance with Yo-Yo Ma (馬友友) in the Oscar-winning soundtrack of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (臥虎藏龍). Five free performances of the variety program, including acrobatics, dance and music, will be held at the Mitsukoshi Plaza (香堤大道中心廣場) in the Xinyi District.

The Shanghai Culture Festival will also include an exhibition of works from the Shanghai Art Museum (上海美術館) hosted by Taipei Fine Arts Museum (北美館), and a Shanghai Film Festival at SPOT, which will include Shanghai productions ranging from 1964’s Uproar in Heaven (大鬧天宮) to the big-budget animation The Magic Astor (馬蘭花), released this June.

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