I have now frequented two concerts at the Shanghai Oriental Art Center (SHOAC) which is in Pudong, or the east side of the river in Shanghai. I realized about a month into my stay in China that I needed to take advantage of the opportunities that an enormous city provides, namely excellent food and music events. I saw Akon (woo!) and I’ve eaten at many great restaurants (my budget limits me from trying the truly gourmet locales—but brunch and breakfast deals can give you a taste of those too!).
Pretty much any act doing a world tour that includes China will come to Shanghai (supposedly the most cosmopolitan city), and I needed to get on that! My main focus was on seeing some good classical music. Though many Chinese are familiar with popular works, the viewing market is still small so the chance of getting tickets is pretty high. The prices are also fairly reasonable (from $10 to $80). I gathered a few interested pengyous and ventured out to the ticket office inside the SHOAC.
There were flyers galore but pretty limited English information. Locating important information like date, time and price is really hard in China. This is true in advertisements, flyers and on Craigslist. I’m not sure why the vagueness but it’s irritating. I knew I wanted tickets to the King’s Singers, a famous a capella group doing a Christmas show in Shanghai. We grabbed a few other flyers, including a chamber series with good prices.
The purchasing process was typical China: people in “lines” in front of tellers whose office looked like a shabby campaign headquarters. Everything was in paper and every transaction took a long time. People were frequently switching lines, getting out of line and shoving to get back in, and the staff was leaving the windows for extended periods of time. When we finally left, each of us ended up with a ticket to a piano concert and several other symphonies, and me with my King’s Singers ticket.
Episode 1: The Loudest Man
Time: Quarter to eight
Place: SHOAC Performance Hall
Artist: Italian pianist Elisa d'Auria
Dan, Jake, Anna and I arrived at the SHOAC around seven thirty to find it bustling with activity, as there were concerts in all the halls that night. We wandered into our small chamber theater which was bowl-shaped around a small stage upon which sat a Steinway grand piano. There were not very many people there and there were tons of kids. I'm not personally against kids being at concerts; in fact, I think kids should be more exposed to the arts. But...kids are loud and impatient. Classical music is best appreciated in a quiet environment and kids are fidgety and eventually get bored. I mean, sometimes I get bored, but I've trained myself to maintain my composure. So I was a bit on edge before the concert began.
The lights dimmed down and suddenly a large posse of Shanghainese people walked in and passed us to their seats. One man was having a loud and aggressive conversation with his companions that he continued to have as they settled down. Elisa walked to the piano to applause and sat down, preparing to play. The man loudly commented to his neighbor. People looked at him with eyebrows raised. Elisa began her piece. The man chattered. The piano played. The audience began to wiggle, uncomfortable but were unwilling to intervene.
This is the difference between American and Chinese crowd mentalities. You can get a rude person in any culture, but how they are dealt with is entirely different. Chinese err on the passive aggressive or apathetic side. No one wanted to tell this man directly to be quiet and even the ushers were absent. I saw a Westerner start to get up with a determined and irritated expression on his face. Of course it would be him, because in the States, someone would take action. We are people of action. There was some shushing, but nothing committal going on in the near vicinity of our resident concert-ruiner.
Before the bespectacled white guy could tackle the jabbering Chinese man, he left or possibly was escorted out. It seemed like he realized he didn't want to be there, but not before he entered again, interrupted the performance and then finally exited for good. It was bizarre and upsetting, though a Chinese man behind us kindly informed us that this man was "not representative of all Chinese." True, true, but the obnoxious situation continuing on as long as it did was highly representative.
Furthermore, after the first short sonata, the ushers allowed in almost thirty people who were late. It was loud, distracting and required Elisa to wait until the noise had subsided. It had only been maybe seven minutes. I couldn't believe they allowed late people this courtesy, especially if it comes at the expense of the performer. SHOAC should probably redo their door policy, keeping this in mind.
All in all, the concert was a success. Elisa played almost entirely from memory and I enjoyed myself immensely. It turned out the kids were not the obnoxious ones at all, though the minor whispering during the performance was mainly parent-to-child communication. What can you do? At least these kids will learn proper behavior earlier, assuming they take their cues from me and not from the loudest man.
Episode 2: Passive Aggressive
Time: Seven thirty
Place: SHOAC Concert Hall
Artist: King’s Singers
Amazing.
Forgot my ticket on my way out of the apartment complex. Ran back to get it and made up time to the subway by running and getting my pantyhose all in a bunch. Read War and Peace on Lines 1 and 2 to Shanghai Science and Tech Museum stop. Hurried into SHOAC with ten minutes to spare. Brilliant seat on the close left side of the hall. The stage was set.
Surprisingly, the hall is circular, so there are a few hundred seats behind the stage with a good view but probably odd acoustics. This must be where the extra cheap seats are, but for $10, I would probably do it. I’m not sure this layout works with a large symphony, but I’ll have to wait and see some other time. Again, the prerecorded set of rules played and was drowned out by chatting audience members.
As the lights dimmed, I noticed that the hall was probably 80% full. Yet, as I walked in, there were about twenty scalpers actively haggling and trying to sell me tickets. I believe this to be a huge problem. You cannot continue to bring in big names for concerts if they don't sell enough tickets. Furthermore, I’m annoyed that they sell out of the cheap tickets because the scalpers buy them up, and then I have to buy the expensive ones. SHOAC should really take this into account. I'm not really sure how you deal with it here, a country with a thriving "black market" in everything, but an unfilled concert hall should be a concern for the institution.
The King's Singers entered to applause and the flashes of cameras, because, as you may have noticed, Chinese people do not obey rules regarding electronics. Sweeping generalization, I know, but a constant problem. Even the poor baby pandas were not spared flash photography. They began with a gorgeous opening number which ended with hearty applause. The ushers then promptly opened the doors to let in the late-comers. After maybe three minutes. Unbelievable! Choir songs are short, it's not like a symphony with long halves. Were they actually going to let in people after every song? Luckily the trickle between songs slowed, but only after about one hundred people shuffled in, to the awkwardness of the performers and educated audience members.
I got pretty into the music and I tried to ignore the ignoramus people making noise and using their phones around me. As I mentioned before, no one here will confront the irritating or disruptive people, so the ushers employed a different tactic: when they spotted wrong-doing, they grabbed the neon signs stating "No Photography" or "No Food/Drink" and simply walked down and waved it in the general direction of the misconduct. The entire section was flashed (no, not like that) for a minute and then the usher peaced out. This passive aggressive tactic was annoying, but also amusing.
The King's Singers overcame these challenges magnanimously and put on an amazing show. If you enjoy a capella music and you get the chance to see them, I recommend it. They're fantastic.
Best song of the night: Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming
Wow, that's a long one! Sorry!
Love,
ellen
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