Cadillac Shanghai Concert Hall

The Cadillac Shanghai Concert Hall, since its construction in 1930, has borne witness to the historical changes and urban development, with countless music masters gracing its stage to bring artistic feasts. Every brick, every pillar, every carving, and every oil painting within this building tells a story. Let us approach the Shanghai Concert Hall and, through more than 90 years of time, trace the past and present of this architectural masterpiece and appreciate the legendary tales of this palace of arts. Originally named Nanjing Grand Theater, the Shanghai Concert Hall was completed in 1930 and designed by Chinese architects who studied abroad, Fan Wenzhang and Zhao Shen. It opened on March 26th of that year and was the first theater in Shanghai to screen foreign films, with the American musical ‘Broadway Melody’ as its inaugural show. Due to its European Baroque architectural style, it was hailed as ‘Shanghai’s Paris Opera House’. In 1950, it was renamed Beijing Cinema, and in 1959, it was once again renamed the Shanghai Concert Hall, a name it has retained to this day. As a national professional music performance venue, with its distinctive European classical architectural style, in 1989, it was listed by the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government as a municipal-level cultural heritage site—outstanding modern architecture. It is one of Shanghai’s historical professional music performance venues and a landmark that reflects the spirit of the Shanghai culture, which is a blend of Chinese and Western elements, diverse coexistence, and progress with the times. The Shanghai Concert Hall is dedicated to chamber music, focusing on presenting a variety of musical genres including classical, modern, jazz, pop, and folk music. It hosts over 500 concerts and hundreds of public welfare educational activities annually, adhering to the artistic service concept of ‘Music for Everyone’. It receives more than 200,000 visitors annually and is in the hearts of Shanghai citizens as ‘the palace of classical music, the window of fashionable music, and the home of popular music’, making it one of Shanghai’s cultural landmarks. Since 1960, major music events such as the ‘Shanghai Spring’ International Music Festival and the China Shanghai International Arts Festival have been performed here, and most international and domestic music groups that come to Shanghai also perform here. The Shanghai Concert Hall has always been an important window for Shanghai audiences to understand and appreciate world orchestras and musicians. Since its opening, world-renowned artistic groups such as the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, the Juilliard String Quartet, the Hagen String Quartet, conductors Mariss Jansons, Christian Thielemann, violinists Isaac Stern, Salvatore Accardo, cellists Yo-Yo Ma, Mischa Maisky, Wang Jian, pianists Fou Ts’ong, De Larrocha, Murray Perahia, Maurizio Pollini, Andras Schiff, early music master Jordi Savall, accordionist Richard Galliano, and 10-time Grammy Award winner and singer Bobby McFerrin have all performed unforgettable and wonderful performances on the stage of the Shanghai Concert Hall.
To cooperate with urban renovation planning, starting from September 2002, the Shanghai Concert Hall underwent a translation and renovation project. The Shanghai Concert Hall, weighing up to 5,650 tons, was lifted by 3.38 meters during the translation process and was translated from the current entrance of the Xizang Road ramp of the viaduct to the southeast to its current location. It traveled a total of 66.46 meters, creating a miracle in the history of building translation in China. The translated concert hall reopened on October 1, 2004. On August 28, 2017, Cadillac was honorably named as the title sponsor of the Shanghai Concert Hall. Opening hours are subject to the performance and event times of the theater.

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