At the end of July, China’s pioneering musical composer San Bao is set to bring some of his best works to the concert stage in Beijing. Since dedicating himself to making home-grown Chinese musicals some 20 years ago, the pop songwriter has risen to fame with hits such as the musical Nie Xiaoqian and Ning Caichen and songs like “Faint Aroma.”

Bringing nearly 30 songs to the stage, The End of the World concert is scheduled for July 27 and 28 at the Beijing Tianqiao Performing Arts Center. 

“The size of this concert will be unprecedented. Nearly 190 people will be on stage, adding to that 100 staff members. Presenting such a stage performance acts as a summary of my previous compositions and is a dream come true,” said the musician from North China’s Innner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

As a professional musician, San Bao has made contributions to Chinese music that cannot be ignored. Yet in 2005 he gradually disappeared from pop music, deciding to focus on making musicals, an art form that was not appreciated by mainstream audiences at the time.

“It’s only been 30 years since musicals began to develop in China. Professional institutions and schools or majors for musicals didn’t appear across the country until the 1990s and even now these are lacking both in quantity and quality,” San Bao told media recently while discussing the state of musicals in China.

San Bao remained excited for the upcoming performances in Beijing. 

“After 20 years of working in Chinese musicals, these performers who have been in my works have accumulated considerable experience in their profession, so their performances are sure to be very different,” added San Bao.

Global Times