Conductor Tang Muhai (right) and erhu (two-stringed fiddle) player Song Fei will be featured in Tianjin Grand Theater's upcoming performance season. [Photo by Zou Hong/China Daily]

The Tianjin Grand Theater will entertain local audiences with a wide and varied repertoire in 2018, announced Beijing Poly Theatre Management, which recently took over the theater's management.

Tianjin audiences will enjoy shows of classical music, drama, dance and traditional Chinese opera in the upcoming performance season, says Guo Wenpeng, CEO of the company, which manages 58 theaters in 50 cities around the country.

"The performances will be brought by world-renowned troupes, some of which will make their debut in Tianjin," says Guo.

"We will not only introduce international theater productions to Tianjin but also have local Tianjin artists showcase themselves at the Tianjin theater and across the country."

Under the baton of Raphael Schluesselberg, the Symphonia Vienna New Year's Concert will be staged from Wednesday to Sunday, with a program including Leichte Kavallerie Overture by Franz von Suppe and Aquarellen Waltzer, Op 258 by Josef Strauss.

Tang Muhai, who is also the artistic director of the Tianjin Symphony Orchestra, will take up the baton at the concert on Jan 1, in which the National Symphony Orchestra will perform with Chinese-Canadian soprano Zhang Liping and Chinese tenor Shen Yang.

Western orchestras, including the London Symphony Orchestra, Hagen Quartet and the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra will perform at the Tianjin Grand Theater in 2018.

Among the most notable changes after the management transition will be the increasing number of shows of traditional Chinese arts, such as Chinese folk music.

"Tianjin is the hometown of traditional Chinese folk arts, and we have a large fan base here," says Peking Opera artist Meng Guanglu.
Together with a number of Peking Opera artists from Beijing, Meng will perform at the Tianjin theater classic pieces, including Auspicious Dragon and the Phoenix and Yang Silang Visits His Mother.