The Shangyin Opera House opens its doors for the first time on October 18 and looks to be a fine addition to Shanghai's classical music scene. This eight-story project by the Shanghai Conservatory of Music has an impressive horseshoe-shaped opera house, four rehearsal rooms, a lecture hall, and a handful of terraces on the top floor. The opera house itself has 1,200 seats across four tiers, with a touchscreen display fitted in the back of each one that shows subtitles in nine different languages. They have pulled out all the stops for this one.

Its convenient location on the corner of Huaihai Lu and Fenyang Lu puts it only five minutes down the road from the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra Hall, another prestigious classical music venue.

Dean of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music Liao Changyong said that Shangyin Opera House is a “new cultural landmark and can introduce excellent foreign opera to Shanghai, incubate original domestic work, and promote the art form in general.”



This being the era of 5G, new cultural sites in the city are no exception when it comes to adopting technological solutions for problems. For example, the opera house is constructed on a spring isolator that cuts out the vibrations from the metro line directly beneath. According to their WeChat press release, more intelligent tech will be added during their year-long soft opening such as facial recognition, big data analysis and a smart parking service. Does this mean robot valets? They didn’t go into detail.

After the opening ceremony on October 18, the venue will enter a year-long soft opening, with sporadic shows in between the last few bits and pieces of renovation. Doors are expected to open for good in Summer 2020.