Returning of“Queen of Violin”Midori to BCH in Spring
Midori Goto, reputed as "national-treasure musician of Japan" and "Queen of Violin", along with the five instrumentalists from Vienna Philharmonic, returned to her familiar stage of Beijing Concert Hall (BCH) on March 31 and staged an energetic opening concert in the 2017 International Classical Performance Season. This legendary violinist once played one of the most difficult 24 Capricces of Paganini at the age of 7 and, at the age of 11, was invited as the soloist of New Year's Eve Gala of New York Philharmonic by Zubin Mehta. At the age of 14, she broke two E strings of two violins thanks to her advanced technique in playing Leonard Bernstein's Serenade, and with the third Guadagnini, she finished this legendary performance, which made Bernstein and American musical fans fascinated. Famous with her subtle but strong passions, she was praised by Zubin Mehta as the "new generation of Jascha Heifetz". 
“Story of the Orient” in Contemporary Context
Day and Night (Silk) by Huang Wei (Taiwan, China)
At the beginning of March, "Story about the Oriental Art: Invitational Exhibition of Asian Youth" was held in National Art Museum of China (NAMOC). Consisting of over 20 latest works by 17 Asian young artists, this exhibition aimed to probe into how contemporary Asian artists in the wave of globalization use artistic languages to find out conversation modes with the West and the whole world, how to inherit oriental spirit with traditional context and let it grow in contemporary context. This exhibition involved painting, installation, image and sculpture, Audiences were able to appreciate the unique charm of Asian contemporary arts in multicultural colors and experience different creations by Asian young artists.
PAP Laureates Announced
La Lira Theatre Public Open Space (Girona, Spain, 2011) Photo by Hisao Suzuki
On March 1, Thomas J. Pritzker, president of Pritzker Architecture Prize (PAP) and Hyatt Foundation, announced in Los Angeles that three architects Rafael Aranda, Carme Pigem and Ramon Vilalta became the 2017 Laureates. PAP is commonly considered to be the Nobel Prize in architecture.
Ever since founding their firm RCR Arquitectes in their hometown in 1988, those three architects who came from Olot in the Catalonian region of Spain, have worked together collaboratively. Their works demonstrate an unyielding commitment to the region and its culture, to creating spaces that are in discourse with their respective contexts. As the Laureates in the 39 session of the PAP, they created a new record in history of three architects sharing this prize, and became the second spanish laureates national prize for Spain after Rafael Moneo won this prize in 1996. The Award Ceremony of PAP took place at Akasaka Palace, Tokyo of Japan on May 20.
"NT Live" at Tianjin Grand Theatre
Stage Photo of Richard III
Within in the 8 years after the launching of "National Theatre Live" (NT Live), over 50 works have been promoted which have attracted over 5.5 million audiences at 2000 venues all over the world. This event was introduced into China in 2015 and until
March 2017, over 800 performances have been staged in 33 venues of 18 cities nationwide with a total of over 120 thousand audiences. From April 15 on, in association with Beijing Aozhewei Cultural Communications Co., Ltd, Tianjin Grand Theatre brought NT Live to Tianjin and staged such plays as Hamlet, Coriolanus, The Audience, Frankenstein, No Man's Land and Man and Superman to Chinese audiences.
