Oriental Art Center

Last updated
Oriental Art Center
2011 Shanghai Oriental Art Center1.JPG
General information
Type Arts complex
Location Pudong, Shanghai
Construction started 26 March 2002
Completed 31 December 2004
Inaugurated 1 July 2005
Technical details
Structural systemReïnforced concrete frame,
steel roof girder,
glass facade
Design and construction
Architect Paul Andreu

The Shanghai Oriental Art Center (simplified Chinese : 上海 东方 艺术 中心 ; traditional Chinese :上海東方藝術中心; pinyin :Shànghǎi Dōngfāng Yìshù Zhōngxīn), abbreviated SHOAC, is one of the leading performance and cultural facilities in Shanghai. The five interconnected hemispherical halls or "petals" are shaped to resemble a butterfly orchid from above. [1] They comprise the Entrance Hall, the Concert Hall, the Opera Hall, the Performance Hall, and the Exhibition Hall. The high-tech ceiling changes color during the night to reflect the nature of the performances inside. Located off Century Avenue in Pudong, the SHOAC was opened with a New Year's Eve concert in 2004 and officially opened on July 1, 2005.

Simplified Chinese characters standardized Chinese characters developed in mainland China

Simplified Chinese characters are standardized Chinese characters prescribed in the Table of General Standard Chinese Characters for use in mainland China. Along with traditional Chinese characters, they are one of the two standard character sets of the contemporary Chinese written language. The government of the People's Republic of China in mainland China has promoted them for use in printing since the 1950s and 1960s to encourage literacy. They are officially used in the People's Republic of China and Singapore.

Traditional Chinese characters Traditional Chinese characters

Traditional Chinese characters are Chinese characters in any character set that does not contain newly created characters or character substitutions performed after 1946. They are most commonly the characters in the standardized character sets of Taiwan, of Hong Kong and Macau, and in the Kangxi Dictionary. The modern shapes of traditional Chinese characters first appeared with the emergence of the clerical script during the Han Dynasty, and have been more or less stable since the 5th century.

Hanyu Pinyin, often abbreviated to pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Chinese in mainland China and to some extent in Taiwan. It is often used to teach Standard Mandarin Chinese, which is normally written using Chinese characters. The system includes four diacritics denoting tones. Pinyin without tone marks is used to spell Chinese names and words in languages written with the Latin alphabet, and also in certain computer input methods to enter Chinese characters.

Contents

History

The facility was jointly constructed by the Shanghai Municipal Government and Pudong New Area Government on a budget of 1.1 billion RMB. The right to operate its grounds were won by the Poly Culture and Arts Company in September 2003; they then partnered with the Wenhui-Xinmin United Press Group to establish the Shanghai Oriental Art Center Management Company, Limited. This company continues to manage the property and its subsidiary facilities, despite Poly's interest having been replaced by Beijing Poly Theatre Management in June 2009 and WXUPG's by the Shanghai United Media Group in January 2014. [1]

Shanghai United Media Group(Chinese: 上海报业集团) was established on October 28, 2013 through the merger of the city’s two largest newspaper groups, Jiefang Daily Press Group and Wenhui–Xinmin United Press Group, in order to accelerate media reform and capitalize on the fast growth of Internet media. The merger of Jiefang Daily Group and Wenhui-Xinmin United Press Group gave birth to the country's largest newspaper company, SUMG.

Performances

Various cultural and musical performances are held in the center, beginning from the 2005 Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra Shanghai Concert. It's a regular venue for concert performances and its popular "Chinese Traditional Opera Series" hosts performances by the China National Opera, the Shanghai Jingju and Kunqu Companies, and the Shanghai Yueju Opera Troupe. The OAC's Saturday Brunch Concerts claim audiences of over 100 000 every year. [1]

The China National Opera House (CNOH) or China Central Opera (中央歌剧院) is a State-run opera company based in Beijing, China, and under the Chinese Ministry of Culture. CNOH consists of an opera troupe, a choir, a symphony orchestra and a stagecraft, costume and scenery departments. It is affiliated, through common direction under the Ministry of Culture, with the Shanghai Opera House company and other geju companies around China.

Facilities

Architecture

The building was designed by French architect Paul Andreu and the Huadong Architectural Design & Research Institute. The façades are mainly laminated glass incorporating perforated metal sheets. The dark granite floors and multi-layered glass screen walls aim to create a softly diffused forest floor effect. The separate "petals" of the construction are hung with large distinctly colored pebbles to differentiate them. [2] The backstage facilities include an Orchestra Rehearsal Hall, Choir Rehearsal Hall, Dance Rehearsal Hall, and Integrated Rehearsal Hall. [3]

Paul Andreu french architect

Paul Andreu was a French architect, known for his designs of multiple airports such as Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, and multiple prestigious projects in China, including the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing.

Laminated glass

Laminated glass is a type of safety glass that holds together when shattered. In the event of breaking, it is held in place by an interlayer, typically of polyvinyl butyral (PVB) or ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA), between its two or more layers of glass. The interlayer keeps the layers of glass bonded even when broken, and its high strength prevents the glass from breaking up into large sharp pieces. This produces a characteristic "spider web" cracking pattern when the impact is not enough to completely pierce the glass. In the case of the EVA, the thermoset EVA, offers a complete bounding (cross-linking) with the material whether it is glass, polycarbonate, PET, or other types of products.

Granite A common type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock with granular structure

Granite is a common type of felsic intrusive igneous rock that is granular and phaneritic in texture. Granites can be predominantly white, pink, or gray in color, depending on their mineralogy. The word "granite" comes from the Latin granum, a grain, in reference to the coarse-grained structure of such a holocrystalline rock. Strictly speaking, granite is an igneous rock with between 20% and 60% quartz by volume, and at least 35% of the total feldspar consisting of alkali feldspar, although commonly the term "granite" is used to refer to a wider range of coarse-grained igneous rocks containing quartz and feldspar.

Concert Hall

The Concert Hall has 1953 seats, a computer-controlled elevating stage, and an 88-diapason 5-layer organ by Austria's Rieger Pipe Organ. [2] It houses 2 VIP and 7 regular dressing rooms. [3]

Organ (music) musical keyboard instrument

In music, the organ is a keyboard instrument of one or more pipe divisions or other means for producing tones, each played with its own keyboard, played either with the hands on a keyboard or with the feet using pedals. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria, who invented the water organ. It was played throughout the Ancient Greek and Ancient Roman world, particularly during races and games. During the early medieval period it spread from the Byzantine Empire, where it continued to be used in secular (non-religious) and imperial court music, to Western Europe, where it gradually assumed a prominent place in the liturgy of the Catholic Church. Subsequently it re-emerged as a secular and recital instrument in the Classical music tradition.

Austria Federal republic in Central Europe

Austria, officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in Central Europe comprising 9 federated states. Its capital, largest city and one of nine states is Vienna. Austria has an area of 83,879 km2 (32,386 sq mi), a population of nearly 9 million people and a nominal GDP of $477 billion. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Hungary and Slovakia to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west. The terrain is highly mountainous, lying within the Alps; only 32% of the country is below 500 m (1,640 ft), and its highest point is 3,798 m (12,461 ft). The majority of the population speaks local Bavarian dialects as their native language, and German in its standard form is the country's official language. Other regional languages are Hungarian, Burgenland Croatian, and Slovene.

Opera Hall

The Opera Hall has 1015 seats, divided into three areas and designed to recreate the intimate experience of Italian opera houses. The orchestra pit is 120 m2 (1,300 sq ft) and able to accommodate up to 100 musicians. The central stage provides computer-controlled side, ice, and ballet platforms in addition to the main large-scale platform. [2] It houses 2 VIP and 15 common dressing rooms. [3]

Orchestra pit

An orchestra pit is the area in a theater in which musicians perform. Orchestral pits are utilized in forms of theatre that require music or in cases when incidental music is required. The conductor is typically positioned at the front of the orchestral pit facing the stage.

Performance Hall

The Performance Hall has 333 seats and is modeled on semicircular Roman theaters. Its performance floor is golden Swiss pearwood. [2] It has 4 dressing rooms. [3]

Exhibition Hall

The Exhibition Hall is located on the second floor of its petal of the Oriental Art Center. It covers 250 m2 (2,700 sq ft) and has 9.8-meter (32 ft) high walls. [3]

Other facilities

The venue also features ancillary public facilities, including the 100-seat Paris Shanghai French restaurant open daily for lunch and dinner, [4] the 530-square-meter (5,700 sq ft) Café Salon Etoile and an adjacent gift store, [5] and 11 piano training classrooms. [3] The Shanghai Gallery of Antique Music Boxes and Automata is located at the SHOAC, displaying over 200 antique music boxes and European automata, including the oldest extant music box in the world, constructed in 1796 by Antoine Favre-Salomon. [6]

Outreach

The Oriental Art Center engages with the broader public through free admission days every month, reduced-fare student tickets, and weekly lectures on art and music appreciation. [1]

Related Research Articles

Glasgow Royal Concert Hall

Glasgow Royal Concert Hall is a major concert and arts venue, in the city of Glasgow, Scotland. It is owned by Glasgow City Council and operated by Glasgow Life, an agency of Glasgow City Council, which also runs Glasgow’s City Halls and Old Fruitmarket venue.

Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall

Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall is the concert hall component of the San Francisco War Memorial and Performing Arts Center in San Francisco, California. The 2,743-seat hall was completed in 1980 at a cost of US$28 million to give the San Francisco Symphony a permanent home.

Concordia International School is a private, Christian, international school located in Pudong, Shanghai, China, founded in 1998. It is a part of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod. The school’s launch followed considerable feasibility research and numerous requests from the Hong Kong corporate community for a school.

War Memorial Opera House opera house in San Francisco, California, United States, home of the San Francisco Opera company

The War Memorial Opera House is an opera house in San Francisco, California, located on the western side of Van Ness Avenue across from the west side/rear facade of the San Francisco City Hall.

Straz Center for the Performing Arts performing arts center in Tampa, Florida

The David A. Straz Jr. Center for the Performing Arts opened its doors as the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, Tampa, Florida in July 1987 and has welcomed more than 16 million guests. The venue was renamed in November 2009 to recognize the generous donation, the largest individual philanthropic gift ever made to a cultural institution in the Tampa Bay area, of financier David A. Straz, Jr.

The Henry and Leigh Bienen School of Music, or Bienen School of Music, is an undergraduate and graduate institution devoted to musical performance and academics. Located on Northwestern University's campus in Evanston, Illinois, 12 miles north of downtown Chicago, the school was known as the Northwestern University School of Music from 1895 to 2008. In September 2008, the school was named to honor retiring University president Henry Bienen and his wife, Leigh Buchanan Bienen.

Ordway Center for the Performing Arts performing arts center in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States

The Ordway Center for the Performing Arts is located in downtown Saint Paul, Minnesota and hosts a variety of performing arts, such as touring Broadway musicals, orchestra, opera, and cultural performers. It serves as a home to several local arts organizations, including the Minnesota Opera, The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and The Schubert Club. Jamie Grant is currently the President and CEO. Rod Kaats is the Producing Artistic Director.

Zoellner Arts Center is an arts center located on the campus of Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It opened in 1997, having been endowed by a $6 million gift from Robert Zoellner ('54) and his wife Victoria.

The University of Cincinnati – College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) is a performing arts college of the University of Cincinnati in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Kings Place building in London

Kings Place is a building in London’s Kings Cross area, providing music and visual arts venues combined with seven floors of office space. It has housed the editorial offices of The Guardian newspaper since December 2008 and is the former headquarters of Network Rail and CGI.

The Seongnam Arts Center (성남아트센터) is the largest venue for cultural events in the city of Seongnam. It is in Yatap-dong in Bundang, within a few minutes' walk of Imae Station. The Seongnam Arts Center was first opened on 14 October 2005 by the Seongam Cultural Foundation.

Peoria Civic Center entertainment and conference venue in downtown Peoria, Illinois, USA

Peoria Civic Center is a convention center in downtown Peoria, Illinois. It has an arena, theater, exhibit hall and meeting rooms. It opened in 1982 and completed an expansion to its lobby and meeting facilities in 2008.

Schulich School of Music

The Schulich School of Music is one of the constituent faculties of McGill University in Montréal, Canada. The faculty was named after benefactor Seymour Schulich.

The Pikes Peak Center for the Performing Arts is a concert auditorium in Colorado Springs, Colorado. It serves as an entertainment, cultural, educational, and assembly center for the citizens of El Paso County, the Pikes Peak region, and the surrounding area.

Canberra Theatre theatre in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia

The Canberra Theatre or officially the Canberra Theatre Centre, is the Australian Capital Territory’s central performing arts venue and Australia’s first performing arts centre, the first Australian Government initiated performing arts centre to be completed. It opened on 24 June 1965 with a gala performance by the Australian Ballet.

Robert and Judi Newman Center for Performing Arts

The Robert and Judi Newman Center for the Performing Arts is located on the University of Denver campus in Denver, Colorado at the southwest corner of E. Iliff Ave. and S. University Blvd. Robert and Judi Newman were asked by then Chancellor Daniel L. Ritchie to spearhead the fundraising effort for the Center. They also made a substantial donation to the Center's fundraising efforts. The Newman Center officially opened in the fall of 2002 with the commencement of classes, and the three main performance venues officially opened in spring 2003.

The Daryl Chase Fine Arts Center is a multi-venue visual and performing arts complex on the campus of Utah State University. It is named for Daryl Chase, the tenth president of USU, who served from 1954 to 1968.

The Center for the Performing Arts and Art Building at Miami University

The Center for the Performing Arts building was designed to house three major components of Fine Arts academics of Miami University: the Miami University Theater, the theater department, and the music department. Originally the programs were distributed between Fisher Hall and Hall Auditorium, and were moved to the Center for the Performing Arts after its construction.

Antoine Favre-Salomon was a Swiss watchmaker. In 1796, he invented a pocket watch with an embedded musical mechanism, which was later recognised as the first "comb" music box. One of his surviving music boxes has been displayed at the Shanghai Gallery of Antique Music Boxes and Automata in Pudong's Oriental Art Center.<ref>Shanghai Oriental Art Center. "Antique Music Box Gallery." and is now in the Reuge museum in Kyoto, Japan.

The Jefferson Performing Arts Center is a 1,065-seat live event venue located in Jefferson Parish in Metairie, Louisiana. The venue was designed to host grand operas, musicals, symphonies, choral concerts, ballet and private or corporate events. The venue is currently managed by SMG.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 SHOAC. "Prelude".
  2. 1 2 3 4 SHOAC. "Freezing Notes."
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 SHOAC. "Auxiliaire Facilities."
  4. ↑ SHOAC. "Restaurant."
  5. ↑ SHOAC. "Cafe & Gift Store."
  6. ↑ SHOAC. "Antique Music Box Gallery."

Coordinates: 31°13′30″N121°32′13″E / 31.22495°N 121.536899°E / 31.22495; 121.536899

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.