Shanghai Grand Opera House opens: the first season

The opening night, and Tosca

Shanghai Grand Opera House and Her Friends was the 17 October gala shared with the China Shanghai International Arts Festival. Shanghai’s symphony, opera and philharmonic ensembles joined singers including Liao Changyong, Huang Ying, Juan Diego Flórez and Siobhan Stagg. Chinese works and European opera shared the programme.

La Fenice followed with Puccini’s Tosca on 22 October at 19:30 and 24 October at 14:00, in Harmony Hall. Renato Palumbo conducted Joan Anton Rechi’s production. Both Shanghai dates are now past. Tosca puts a singer, her painter lover and a police chief into a brutal contest of desire and political power; it is a sharp opening choice for a theatre built around the human voice.

The dates still ahead

The calendar below starts on 25 October, following the opening week. All times are Shanghai time; these are announced performances, and seats depend on current availability. The short date ranges for the opera house’s entire opening season should not be mistaken for daily performances.

Gergiev, Shostakovich and the Mariinsky

Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra are presenting all fifteen Shostakovich symphonies in eight concerts from 23 to 28 October. Five sessions remain after 24 October: two on Sunday 25 October, then an evening concert on each of 26, 27 and 28 October. They are in Shen Hall, the 1,200-seat room.

This is an unusually concentrated survey of a composer whose symphonies range from compact orchestral works to huge scores with singers and chorus. The remaining concerts include the vocal Fourteenth and Thirteenth, Babi Yar, alongside large orchestral works. A complete cycle makes the scale of this visit quite different from a single touring-orchestra evening.

On 25 October at 14:00, the programme is Symphonies No. 5 and No. 14; at 19:30, Nos. 6 and 10. On 26 October come Nos. 12 and 11. On 27 October, Ilya Papoyan plays Piano Concerto No. 2 before Symphony No. 8. The final concert on 28 October combines Nos. 2, 13 and 3.

Aida: 30 October–1 November

The Mariinsky returns to the Red Hall with Verdi’s Aida, conducted by Gergiev, on 30 and 31 October at 19:00 and 1 November at 14:00. Giancarlo Del Monaco directs the production, first staged by the company in 2025; Shanghai hosts its Asian premiere.

Aida is an Ethiopian princess held captive in Egypt, in love with the Egyptian commander Radamès. Public ceremony and private loyalty collide throughout the opera. The triumphal scene supplies its famous scale, but the final duet brings the drama back to two people. This is my pick for a first opera at the new house: the conflict is immediate, and Verdi gives it both spectacle and tenderness.

Berlin: Beethoven and Der Rosenkavalier

Rudolf Buchbinder plays and directs Beethoven’s five piano concertos with Staatskapelle Berlin on 7 and 9 November at 19:30. Leading from the keyboard places the soloist visibly at the centre of the orchestral exchange. These are the five piano concertos; the orchestra is also in Shanghai for a separate staged opera.

Christian Thielemann conducts Staatsoper Unter den Linden in André Heller’s Der Rosenkavalier on 8 November at 14:30, and 10 and 12 November at 18:30. Richard Strauss and librettist Hugo von Hofmannsthal set the comedy in Vienna: the Marschallin’s young lover Octavian becomes the bearer of a silver rose and falls in love with its intended recipient, Sophie. Behind the social farce is a touching account of ageing and letting go. The Asian-premiere billing applies to Heller’s production.

The swans arrive in November

American Ballet Theatre’s Swan Lake closes the arts festival at the new opera house, with performances on 12, 13, 14 and 15 November, including a matinee on the 14th. It is Kevin McKenzie’s 2000 production, after Petipa and Ivanov, to Tchaikovsky’s score. The white-swan ensembles and the Odette/Odile double role are the centre of this version’s classical appeal.

Yuja Wang, then the winter season

Yuja Wang and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra appear in the Red Hall on 13 and 14 November at 19:30. The first evening pairs Brahms’s two piano concertos. The second has Prokofiev’s Classical Symphony, Kapustin’s Fourth Piano Concerto and Mozart’s Symphony No. 29. Wang plays and directs, with Matthew Truscott as concertmaster and leader.

After the festival, the announced season includes Shanghai Opera House’s Turandot on 20 and 22 November, and Shen Wei Dance Arts with Guangdong Modern Dance Company in Mindscape on 27–29 November. Shanghai Ballet brings The Nutcracker on 24–27 December. András Schiff and Staatskapelle Dresden are scheduled for 27 and 28 January 2027. These are season announcements; the opera house’s current ticket listing supplies the final session details.

Finding the right venue and ticket

Shanghai Grand Opera House · 上海大歌剧院. 1 Yongzhan Road, Pudong New Area, Shanghai · 上海市浦东新区咏展路1号. This is the new Expo Culture Park venue. A taxi destination for 上海大剧院 would take you to the older Grand Theatre at People’s Square.

Official festival event pages provide programme details and ticket links or WeChat ticket QR codes. The opera house’s own mini-programme is 上海大歌剧院. The hall printed on the ticket matters: 红厅 is Harmony Hall, 申厅 is Soar Theatre and 镜厅 is Open Stage.

For staged opera, the selected performance listing gives the cast, running time, intervals and surtitles. English surtitles are not guaranteed. Daytime public visits and roof access have their own arrangements; arriving for a concert does not include a tour of every hall.