What's on

Stage

Poland celebration

Saturday is the Poland National Pavilion Day at the Expo 2010 Shanghai and a grand gala concert will feature pianist Ewa Poblocka and conductor Krzysztof Herdzin. Poblocka will play music by Chopin, while the Zhejiang Symphony Orchestra will perform music from Polish films under the baton of Herdzin.

May 22, 6 pm

Shanghai Grand Theater, 300 Renmin Avenue

021-6386-8686

Expo aria

The Shanghai Opera House will host a concert in celebration of the Expo 2010 Shanghai. Acclaimed singers, including Wei Song, Dai Yuqiang, Gao Manhua and Zhang Liping, will perform arias from original Chinese operas.

May 23, 7:15 pm

Shanghai Grand Theater, 300 Renmin Avenue

50-380 yuan

021-6386-8686

Bertie Higgins

Best known in Asia for his song Casablanca, American singer and songwriter Bertie Higgins will perform in Shanghai. Higgins, 65, will sing his great hits, including Key Largo, Just Another Day in Paradise, The Heat is the Hunter and many more. In recent years, Higgins has been involved with film production with his son Julian.

May 28, 7:30 pm

Shanghai Oriental Art Center, 425 Dingxiang Road

021-5250-9299

Exhibitions

Homestay

Situated at the former residence of renowned political writer Wang Zaoshi, Osage Gallery Shanghai invites nine artists to create artworks on the concept of home. The exhibition attempts to unfold the many subtle readings of entertainment, displacement, memory, writing, narration, domesticity, nostalgia, migration and design - issues that have close ties with the exhibition site and its surroundings.

May 22-July 4, 10 am-6 pm, Tuesday to Sunday

Osage Gallery, 93 Duolun Road

021-5671-3605

Cosmopolitan chicken

Belgian artist Koen Vanmechelen makes iconic sculptures, paintings, glasswork and installations. His daring expeditions into contemporary science, philosophy and ethics have resulted in The Cosmopolitan Chicken Project, an attempt to create a new chicken species, or a universal chicken, by crossbreeding chickens from all over the world.

Until May 31

Shanghai Zendai Museum of Modern Art, No 28, Lane 199 Fangdian Road

021-5033-9812

Hive

Video installations by Ruth Eckland are featured in the exhibition, Hive, a metaphorical representation of some of the dichotomies and fragmentations that characterize the realities of modern existence. In an ebb and flow of activities, the exhibition explores how we connect with and expand into the world around us, and retreat into inner worlds to relax and recharge. In its form and content, this installation attempts to provide an exciting experience of interconnectivity of contemporary life and the attempt to find tranquility within the context of constant stimulation and information overload.

May 22-June 12

Stir Gallery, 2F, 1 Maoming Road S

021-2635-9535

Movie

A Jewish Girl in Shanghai

The animated film, A Jewish Girl in Shanghai, produced by the Shanghai Animation Film Studio, will be shown across the country from May 28. The movie tells the story of a Jewish girl named Rena and her family who sought refuge in Shanghai during World War II. They develop a friendship with a Chinese boy named Zhou A-gen and his family. Through the friendship between the Chinese and Jewish children, scriptwriter Wu Lin hopes to convey the message that benevolence and righteousness guide one's soul.

(China Daily 05/21/2010 page45)