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Shanghai Concert Hall's recent announcement that it would add the German brand "Sennheiser" to its name has sparked dispute in the city's musical circle.

Chen Gang, an established composer from Shanghai, said on Sina Weibo, a Twitter-like micro-blogging service, that "the only concert hall named after the city, with a history of more than 80 years, has quietly sold its ancestral name".

The concert hall management had foreseen the dispute. "A performance venue at the level of Shanghai Concert Hall will receive lots of criticism if it teams up with just any company for title sponsorship," says Zhang Zhe, director of the Shanghai Grand Theater Art Center, the parent institution of Sennheiser Shanghai Concert Hall, when asked to comment about the controversy.

There have been successful examples of title sponsorship for performance venues in Shanghai. The Culture Center for World Expo Shanghai 2010 is now named Mercedes-Benz Arena, in a 10-year title sponsorship agreement with the German automobile company. Mercedes-Benz Arena is now the largest and most successful indoor-performance venue in Shanghai, hosting superstar concerts, such as those by the Rolling Stones and Jennifer Lopez.

But Shanghai Concert Hall is the first professional concert hall that has attracted title sponsorship. Zhang and his team have been looking for partners for a long time.

"We have already known that if we have a random brand in our name, there would be a dispute. That is why we picked Sennheiser, a brand connected to music, to collaborate with," Zhang says.

At the official announcement of the sponsor on March 10, Zhang said: "We believe the cooperation will bring great impact to the cultural development in Shanghai.

"The title sponsorship doesn't affect the orientation of Shanghai Concert Hall. The city will see more and more collaboration between artistic institutions and commercial establishments in the future."

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