For the people

When asked how big the NCPA is, the president blurts out the figures, as if accounting for his family property: "Construction area of 217,500 square meters, (Kennedy Center covers 110,000 square meters and Sydney Opera House covers 80,000 square meters), four theaters, five rehearsal rooms, 27 piano rooms, 90 dressing rooms, 90 elevators and 11 substations."

Chen clearly recalls that on March 29, 2007, he stood at the incomplete canteen, wearing

a helmet, and reported to the municipal officials that he would run the theater "for the people, for the arts and for the world".

"'What is NCPA's audience?' First we considered the regular theater-goers in Beijing and people who love performing arts. But finally we decided everybody could be a member of our audience and it's our mission to make NCPA accessible to everyone," says Guo Yuliang, the center's vice-president.

Every Friday morning by around 7 am, people are lining up in the lobby to buy tickets to the Sunday concert. Most of them are plainly dressed older people and students. Each ticket is 40 yuan ($6.40) but if you are a NCPA club member, the cost is just 10 yuan. The performance begins at 10:30 am and the audience often arrive 30 minutes early, while the performers do several encores.

"We present different shows for people of different backgrounds: classical, experimental and grassroots," Guo says.

Beyond the formal productions, NCPA offers charity and educational programs. Weekend concerts by conservatory faculty or students are part of the outreach program. They also organize artists, scholars and critics to give free lectures, pre-show talks, master classes, album listening sessions, and costume and props exhibitions.

Group tourists among audiences have been criticized since "The Egg" opened in December 2007. Occasionally, during a performance, a tour guide raises his flag and several rows of ticket-holders leave. But even so, Chen believes tourists should be welcomed.

"We briefly go over the basic rules before a show starts but it takes time to educate audiences."

Though it has been said that for the first few years, more people went to NCPA for the architecture than for the performances, over the past five years NCPA has received some 3.13 million visitors.

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In Chen's eyes, they are all potential audience members.

Welcoming everyone does not mean degrading the artistic level. Chen knows that a high-quality production is always the key.

NCPA has received more than 300 of the world's leading companies and signed strategic partnership agreements with such internationally renowned companies as Royal Opera House, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the Philadelphia Orchestra.

In the last five years, the center has produced 28 productions, including 21 operas, during a time when most opera houses in the world are cutting budgets. NCPA runs an annual opera festival presenting a dozen imported operas and homemade productions, as well as organizing summit forums to gather opera producers and managers from all over the world.

At the beginning, NCPA imported productions, after which it collaborated with world-leading companies such as Royal Opera House and La Fenice. Now it invites renowned directors, conductors and singers to produce NCPA's own productions. NCPA has even formed a resident orchestra and choir.

Key player

"Going to NCPA has become a trend on the world performing arts scene in recent years," says Giancarlo Del Monaco, the Italian opera director who directed NCPA's Tosca (2011), The Flying Dutchman (2012) and his latest NCPA production Lohengrin, which finished its first run on Dec 9.

"I feel really involved here, as if I'm a member of NCPA. Chen trusted me and all my colleagues are fantastic. I've grown up in theater and worked as an opera director and manager in Europe and the US for 46 years, so I have the right to give two thumbs up to the NCPA. I see it growing every time I return."

This month, NCPA is celebrating its fifth anniversary. Chen no longer thinks of the center as "big". In fact, he feels it is not big enough to fulfill his and his employees' dreams.

A company to produce and restore all of NCPA's settings and several rehearsal rooms are going to be built in Tongzhou, east Beijing. They also plan to rent some theaters in Beijing to run NCPA's productions.

"I arrive at the office every morning around 8 and the first thing I do is see the three theaters. If I just stand on the stage, I know how last night's shows were," Chen says.

Contact the writer at chenjie@chinadaily.com.cn.

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