Symphonic
Tan Dun, Patrick Messina, Lei Jia and the Ningbo Symphony Orchestra: The Nightingale, The Firebird and Three Lotuses
About the performance
Four works in two halves, two by each composer, and every one of them built on a story. The first half opens with Stravinsky's symphonic poem The Nightingale, drawn from his own opera on Andersen's tale of the Chinese emperor and the bird, and is followed by Tan Dun's clarinet concerto Three Lotuses in the Zen Garden, which Patrick Messina and the Orchestre National de France premiered in Paris on 21 March 2026. This is its first performance in China. After the interval comes Tan Dun's vocal concerto Dunhuang Murals: The Story of the Nine-Coloured Deer, taken from the jataka painted in the Mogao caves in which the deer saves a drowning man and is betrayed by him; Lei Jia, who gave the premiere with the Philadelphia Orchestra at the NCPA in 2019, sings the deer, the man, the king and the narrator in turn. The evening ends with the 1919 Firebird suite, which is also a folk tale. Tan Dun conducts the Ningbo Symphony Orchestra, founded in 2015.
Program
Tan Dun 谭盾 (1957–)
Dunhuang Murals: The Story of the Nine-Coloured Deer, vocal concerto
声乐协奏曲《敦煌壁画·九色鹿的故事》
Performers
- Conductor
- Tan Dun
- Soloist, Clarinet
- Patrick Messina
- Soloist, Soprano
- Lei Jia
- Orchestra
- Ningbo Symphony Orchestra
Tickets
Shanghai Symphony Orchestra
Official site
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Buying and admission
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From Shanghai Symphony Orchestra — ticketing service, checked 2026-08-27. We do not resell, and no link on this page pays us.
- Section J 96 seats
- Behind the orchestra, centre, facing the conductor
- Section I, odd numbers 49 seats
- Behind the orchestra, to one side of J
- Section I, even numbers 49 seats
- Behind the orchestra, the other side of J
- Section H, odd numbers 56 seats
- Above and to the side of the platform
- Section H, even numbers 56 seats
- Above and to the side of the platform, other side
- Section G, odd numbers 93 seats
- A long side terrace running back down the hall
- Section G, even numbers 93 seats
- The same terrace on the other side
- Section A 301 seats
- The largest single block, facing the platform
- Section F, odd numbers 43 seats
- Section F, even numbers 35 seats
- Section B, odd numbers 48 seats
- Behind Section A
- Section B, even numbers 48 seats
- Behind Section A, other side
- Section E, odd numbers 49 seats
- Section E, even numbers 49 seats
- Section D, odd numbers 66 seats
- Section D, even numbers 66 seats
- Section C 70 seats
- Rearmost, centre
Location
1380 Middle Fuxing Road
Metro Line 1 / Line 10 / Line 12 — South Shaanxi Road, 8 min walk
Provenance
Permit no. 沪文旅许[2026]4357号granted
Issued by the Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture and Tourism · issued Aug 10 · 上海莱澳得文化传播有限公司
Changes to this page
- Running time, purchase limit or admission rules changedAug 27
- On-sale time changedAug 20
- Prices, availability or booking link changedAug 20
Only changes that affect buying a ticket are listed.
Data Source: Official channels of each presenter (websites, ticketing systems, public announcements)
Last Checked: Aug 25
This performance holds a commercial performance permit from the Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture and Tourism. How we verify concert data
Cite this page
“Tan Dun, Patrick Messina, Lei Jia and the Ningbo Symphony Orchestra: The Nightingale, The Firebird and Three Lotuses.” Shanghai Concerts, https://shanghaiconcerts.com/en/concerts/tan-dun-lei-jia-ningbo-symphony-nightingale-firebird. Checked 2026-08-25.