Locals and visitors alike are preparing for a feast for their ears as Shanghai celebrates the New Year with a wide range of concerts to suit every taste throughout this week and next.

On New Year's Eve alone there are eight performances from ensembles based at home and abroad at different venues, featuring a variety of programs.

At the Lyric Theatre of Shanghai Grand Theatre, the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra's New Year Concert, under the baton of Chen Xieyang, will present a night of Broadway hits, popular movie music and operatic arias.

The Vienna Johann Strauss Capelle will give a concert dedicated to Strauss' family at the Shanghai Concert Hall. Music lovers will hear popular waltz, polka and marching music from Joseph Strauss, Johann Strauss, Johann Strauss II and Eduard Strauss.

The Helsinki Festival Orchestra will play at the Concert Hall of the Shanghai Oriental Art Centre. Founding member and artistic director Olli Mustonen will conduct Beethoven's Piano Concerto in D major. The orchestra will also play Three Mysteries composed by the pianist and conductor Mustenon himself, as well as Sibelius' Symphony No 2 in D major.

At the Shanghai Centre Theatre, the Amadeus Orchestra & Chorus from London will present a repertoire including Elgar's Enigma Variations, a selection of Johann Strauss' waltzes and various pieces by Mozart as 2006 is the 250th anniversary of the birth of the legendary Austrian musician.

The young British conductor Philip Mackenzie will take the baton, and the concert also features the charming violinist Victoria Sayles.

The Amadeus Orchestra is one of the world's foremost training orchestras for young professionals and music students, and their concerts have become renowned for their quality and vitality.

Apart from the many New Year's Eve concerts, there are a host of other choices running into 2006.

The most alluring is the pair of concerts at the Lyric Theatre of Shanghai Grand Theatre on December 31 and January 2. About 50 established Chinese musicians that play overseas will take part in this celebration.

The big names include Lang Lang, cellist Yo Yo Ma, violinist Li Chuanyun, tenor Warren Mok, baritone Liao Changyong and soprano Huang Ying. Rome-based conductor Lu Jia will conduct the gala concert that symbolizes the high status of Chinese classical musicians in the world.

(China Daily December 26, 2005)