Lebensraum in Beijing

Date: Dec 9-10－7:30 pm
Venue: Inside-out Theater
Price: 100-380 yuan

Two men are living in a small, singleroom apartment. Their space-saving solutions are ingenious. Everything is multifunctional: the bed is a piano, and the bookcase also serves as a fridge. But they long for a woman in the house.

To compensate for the lack of the feminine touch, they create a mechanical maid. One of the men makes romantic advances; the other sees her in a more practical role. But the doll soon shows there's more to her than polishing her day away. She has a will of her own and refuses to be bossed around. Things start getting more agitated in the one-room apartment. The German title, meaning 'living space', is a literal and figurative reference to the small world in which the two men live, and the making of the doll is an extension to their own existence. The Pinocchio motif is clearly present, with the doll maker translating the need to make into the creation of new life.

Contact: 183-0186-5939

Elisso Virsaladze Piano Recital

Date: Dec 14－7:30 pm
Venue: National Center for the Performing Arts
Price: 50-380 yuan

Elisso Virsaladze grew up in a family in Tbilisi, which was for generations involved in the art and culture of Georgia. She received her first piano lessons from her grandmother. After attending the conservatory, she moved to Moscow, where she continued her studies with Heinrich Neuhaus and Yakov Zak.

These gifted teachers had not only a deep influence on her artistic development, but also immersed her in the renowned tradition of Russian piano pedagogy. Her deepest love is for the composers of the late 18th and 19th centuries, especially Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin and Schumann. At the age of 24, she won the first prize at the Schumann Competition in Zwickau, and she has been described by the international press as one of the great contemporary interpreters of Schumann.

Contact: 010-6655-0000