Day 23 in Beijing

7th December, my 23rd day in China. What's so special about today? I'm going to see a piano performance today!!!!! Remember I bought the 780RMB ticket few weeks ago? Omg!! It's today! It's Lang Lang!!

Lang Lang's concert was held in the Chinese National Opera House. Jordan and I arrived at the opera house at around 7pm, just in time for us to get in, have a look around the theatre, and get ready for the performance at 7.30pm. The performance will be held in the musical performance theatre, it's a smaller theatre and solely for orchestral performances.

Tonight was the first performance for the 2010 The 200 Years of Chopin series. This serie is to celebrate and memorate the 200th year of Chopin's birthday. 14 top pianists from 7 different countries will be performing Chopin's music in the Chinese National Opera House throughout the year until end of 2010. Lang Lang was chosen to be the first pianist and to officialy open the series.

As soon as we walked into the National Opera House, we were amazed at the amount of people (well, of course). What I love the most is the interior design. Extremely dome shaped tall ceilings made of glass, side walls made of red wood, marble floor, what more can I say? This is GRAND. This is breathtaking.

The inside of the musical theatre was mostly decorated by wood. All the seats are quite small and therefore wasn't very comfortable. The centre of the stage was for the orchestra and Lang Lang, surrounded by hundreds of seats for audiences. I started to look around at the audience. I can say at least a good third or even half of the audiences are children and teenagers. Some of the children are only led by one parent. That immediately reminded me of some comments I heard before. Chinese parents will try their best to inspire and motivate their children in excel in what they do. If the child is playing piano, then the family will try very hard for the child to go to performances like this, hoping for the biggest inspiration for their child. Sometimes the expensive ticket prices may mean that only one parent will go with the child, or even none. At the end of tonight, I realised the two boys sitting behind me, were exactly like what I was told. They were here alone, no parents next to them, but when they walk out, I realised the parents were outside, waiting.

Tonight's performance began by China National Orchestra. Lang Lang came out (finally) from the second piece. Lang Lang began performing 'Polonaise A Major' by Chopin; then the Third Perlude of Opera NO.13 by Liszt; Lang Lang played the Andante spianato & Grande Polonaise, Op 22 before the break. After the break Lang Lang performed the Piano Concerto No.1 by Chopin.

To be honest, the design of the interior of the theatre was quite appauling. I really could've enjoyed more of Lang Lang's performance more if the interior designs were better? What do I mean by that? Basically the stage for performers and musicians are in the centre of the theatre, surrounded by audiences. However because the stage was so far below the seats of audiences, the sounds are basically blocked by the first few rows of audiences and the music couldn't go expand throughout the theatre. The performance was therefore rather confined and closed within the little stage, the tall ceilings and open spaces really withdrew the grand effect of transferring sounds inside a theatre. Dissappointed.

演出曲目：
A大调波罗乃兹舞曲 格拉祖诺夫 改编
十三首交响诗之第三首前奏曲 李斯特
大波兰舞曲 Op.22 肖邦
独奏：郎朗
——中场休息——
第一号钢琴协奏曲 肖邦