University of Chicago Presents Envisioning China: A Festival of Arts and Culture This Weekend

The University of Chicago is a destination for artists, scholars and audiences to converge and create. With a strong tradition of cross-disciplinary, intellectual curiosity and creative energy, UChicago fosters a bustling arts community on Chicago's South Side. UChicago Arts is comprised of renowned museums, theaters and music organizations; initiatives connecting the arts with scholars and the city; academic and research programs; and more than 60 student arts organizations, forging an integrative model for practice, presentation and scholarship.

UChicago announces the Chicago premiere of Chinese opera star Ling Ke and members of the Tianjin Peking Opera Company this weekend, April 12 and 13, 2014, as a highlight of its campus-wide Envisioning China: A Festival of Arts and Culture. Incorporating over 40 events and exhibitions related to Chinese culture and heritage, the majority of which are free to the public, Envisioning China is presented in venues throughout the University of Chicago from February 13 to June 15, 2014.

The new festival begins next month with At the Threshold: Envisioning China, an opening celebration on February 13 from 5-7:30 p.m. for the festival and Smart Museum of Art's Performing Images: Opera in Chinese Visual Culture, an exhibition of rarely seen works from late imperial China. The festival continues through June with art, film, music, conversations and performances organized by UChicago's Center for the Art of East Asia, Center for East Asian Studies, Court Theatre, Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, Department of Music, Department of Visual Arts, Doc Films, Film Studies Center, Oriental Institute, Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts and University of Chicago Presents, as well as other collaborative partners.

"UChicago Arts is thrilled to welcome the outstanding young performer Ling Ke and the Tianjin Peking Opera Company to campus as part of Envisioning China," said Judith Zeitlin, faculty festival director and William R. Kenan Jr. Professor in East Asian Languages and Civilizations and Theater and Performance Studies at the University of Chicago. "The opera performance expands the festival's already diverse offerings and provides the greater Chicago community the opportunity to experience one of China's great cultural traditions."

The festival also includes collaborations with Chicago-based arts organizations, including the Chinese Fine Arts Society's first performance in its five-part concert series exploring the Chinese Five Elements.

For additional information about Envisioning China: A Festival of Arts and Culture, the latest announcements, and a complete schedule of programs, visit envisioningchina.uchicago.edu and like the festival on Facebook at facebook.com/envisioningchina.

Learn more about UChicago Arts at arts.uchicago.edu and follow UChicago Arts on Facebook at facebook.com/uchicagoarts and on Twitter at twitter.com/uchicagoarts.