In juxtaposition to a floating pearl and a duck egg, the titanium-and-glass half-dome of the National Center for the Performing Arts has lately opened its undersea entrance to Chinese officials and dignitaries. The $400 million complex, a concert hall, opera house and theater on a single platform is designed to be the center of Chinese culture on similar lines of adjacent Tiananmen Square designated as country’s political center.
The complex’s verdant, incredible internal, urbane acoustics and involuntary wizardry can beat any hall in Europe or the U.S. Designed by French architect Paul Andreu, the center has fascinated eyeballs to cover up its cost overruns, safety apprehension and challenging aesthetics. The aperture was an assorted sampler of Chinese and Western musical standards, with two conductors, two orchestras, four choral groups and a half-dozen soloists, a mélange that performed off the building’s acoustics but could comprehend its ongoing hunt for an creative operation.
Via NYT
