Libera Concert in China (2017)

[filiarheni]

Also, keep in mind that even singing a 2-hour concert each evening may sound like a lot, most boarding school cathedral choirs rehearse and sing their boys about the same amount daily, and on a regular basis.

Hm, difficult comparison, I think, as the circumstances are different (real daily routine, travel)

It looks to me that the opportunity was used as much as could be, that resulted in five concerts, which is, of course, a marvelous acknowledgement for Libera! And since there is no other way, there is one concert every single day.

They can do it and they will have fun, but it is hard, surrounded by school time, that can't be argued away - part of the boys are very young, as Dani pointed out. And: Enough sleep is enormously important for the voice! Therefore, I'd consider it as a good idea to shorten the concerts and balance it a little this way. But if all are full concerts, I stick to my opinion finding five in five days too much.
For Robert, that week will also not be like just going for a walk, as I imagine. I think a lot about him as well.

I know that the boys are taken best care of. I hope and believe that they will have super great time in China and a lot of fun. Concerning cultural experience ... keyword time again.

We'll see. And if I'm proved wrong with my above concerns, it's me who will be happiest!

[Emily_kr]

I've checked this one out, it's rather easy to navigate.
(I don't know if you have to register to buy tickets there, but the sign-up [注册] is on the top-right corner.)
When you click on the frame showing the schedule at "选择时间：", ticket prices will appear - from 280 to 880元 ($42.47 to $133.49), not cheap compared to the 13-song concert at WuXi 80 & 180元 ($12.14 & $27.30).
Then select quantity & hit that blue button. But I have to say I don't know Chinese at all, so all of this is just prediction.

Thank you kinda_k00l, I really hope you can make it too.
I agree that the price is is not cheap at all, I have just booked my tickets for Wuxi on the phone.
Yesterday I struggled so much on that website, but I guess I should give another try - I tried calling them but somehow it won't work.

At 26., 27. and 28. Oktober it would be possible to visit the last three concerts in shanghai. Tomorrow I speak with my Boss, to have a free thursday and friday. I hope it can happen to me!

I hope your boss would be generous enough for you!

It's good to know that some contributors on here are going to the concerts, we'll hopefully get some feedback if they are kind enough to share their thoughts on here. The Great Firewall of China is proving tough to break through, I've not found much more on the venues that Emily has above. It's must be one of the hardest tour to organise for international visitors who are thinking of attending the concerts.

Yes it took me a very long time to find those small pieces, and it was even pretty hard


Especially for booking tickets, I guess it must be hard for foreign fans, actually pretty hard - even some phone calls wouldn't work.

I succeeded calling two places, Jinshan(10/25) and Wuxi(10/24).
First Jinshan, the staff I talked to didn't really speak english enough but it was just enough to know that there will be a Libera concert on 25th, and she the museum is usually opened free but not sure if it is the same for the concert. Maybe there won't be specific seat tickets but just some kind of entering tickets.. or something else.
And for Wuxi, when the staff figured that I'm not in Wuxi or anywhere in China and that I do not understand any chinese, she offered me that she will leave two tickets booked for me so that I can pay & grab the tickets on the concert day. She was very nice!

For Jinshan Museum : +86 021-57953310
For Wuxi Grand Theatre : +86 510 8558 9922 (you can choose between 80y and 180y, and the floor, first/sec/third. The staff said she would recommend the first, obviously.)


And I have a question, for those who are planning to attend all concerts,
How are you planning to move from Wuxi to Shanghai?

Less than a month left and I'm still not sure of my whole journey

[kinda_k00l]

Yes it took me a very long time to find those small pieces, and it was even pretty hard


Especially for booking tickets, I guess it must be hard for foreign fans, actually pretty hard - even some phone calls wouldn't work.

As a matter of fact, China has their own search engine called 'Baidu' (www.baidu.com) and people there also use its own social network (Weibo) instead of Facebook & Twitter, which has been blocked by the government, so it is unlikely that you can find anything about these small places on Google.

Yesterday my cousin (she majored in Chinese) & I spent half an hour searching for information about the two small venues (where Libera concerts will be held on the 26 & 27), sadly we got nothing. There are some websites that have information about leisure destinations, but the one about those two are very limited. We'll continue our research on Baidu because clearly, it's a better way to do so than on Google. I'll share the information if I find any.

For Jinshan Museum : +86 021-57953310
For Wuxi Grand Theatre : +86 510 8558 9922 (you can choose between 80y and 180y, and the floor, first/sec/third. The staff said she would recommend the first, obviously.)

This part is useful indeed. Take note, everyone.

[kinda_k00l]

GOOD NEWS EVERYONE!!
The 3 concerts on October 25, 26 & 27 are open to the public & no tickets required (as shared by a fellow Chinese fan).
Edit: reservations for those 3 can be made after October 9th, via call. (More information to come)

[Surpinto]

Thank you so much, Emily, for taking the time to do the research and for sharing it with us. Although I am unable to go I just thought it was important to acknowledge the time and effort you have expended on helping others here i this endeavor.

[Emily_kr]

GOOD NEWS EVERYONE!!
The 3 concerts on October 25, 26 & 27 are open to the public & no tickets required (as shared by a fellow Chinese fan).
Edit: reservations for those 3 can be made after October 9th, via call. (More information to come)

Thank you kinda_k00l! That really is a good news!

Thank you so much, Emily, for taking the time to do the research and for sharing it with us. Although I am unable to go I just thought it was important to acknowledge the time and effort you have expended on helping others here i this endeavor.

Thank you Surpinto! I've always been the one who waits till the others gather up infos, all I would do is just to translate them in korean for korean forum - this time was pretty challenging for me.
I really wish each and every Libera fans around the world could make it to each and every concerts tho.

[kinda_k00l]

So after hours (but not that many hours) of digging for more, I've received this precious piece of information:

Apparently, you must make appointments ahead if you want to go to the 3 free concerts on the 25-27th. As said by a fellow Chinese fan, you can either call 021-62720455 or use some websites like 大麦网，文化上海云，艺术节官方票务平台, bookings will be opened on Oct 9th. (There's nothing in those sites for now, but he said there will be from Oct 9th onwards.)

It's rather complicated, but that's how it works.

[JimmyRiddle]

Good to see things are finally clarifying for booking tickets for the Libera concerts in China. Thanks to Yuki who has tweeted the latest blurb to come from the Shanghai International festival;

https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s?__biz=MjM5NT ... t_redirect

https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/L7tB14pl7I-6cnd_LHuheA

...all of the concerts apart from their opening one in Wuxi are being supported by the festival. The next three concerts are 'free' and the final one is chargeable. Hopefully Libera won't be needing to finance this tour as it's being sponsored by Volvo and they are invited guests to perform for the festival. Interesting to note that Dresden Boys Chorus are also performing a few concerts, maybe something to look out for those that are going.

Copied from the link above;

Note: tickets will be held on September 27 to make an appointment, you can directly visit the official festival ticket platform, barley net, cultural Shanghai cloud or call the telephone 021-62720455 make an appointment.

September 27 The first batch of tickets : October 25 before the repertoire of
October 9 The second batch of billing : November 1 before the repertoire of
October 19 The third installment : November 1 - 20 of the repertoire
The above is a free scheduled repertoire, does not include 12 hours of special events with the Shanghai Forest Music Festival ticket sales activities!

I still thought Libera would have had at least one rest day, but I'm sure they'll take it all in their stride.

[kinda_k00l]

Copied from the link above;

Note: tickets will be held on September 27 to make an appointment, you can directly visit the official festival ticket platform, barley net, cultural Shanghai cloud or call the telephone 021-62720455 make an appointment.

September 27 The first batch of tickets : October 25 before the repertoire of
October 9 The second batch of billing : November 1 before the repertoire of
October 19 The third installment : November 1 - 20 of the repertoire
The above is a free scheduled repertoire, does not include 12 hours of special events with the Shanghai Forest Music Festival ticket sales activities!

This is important news. And it does not contradict at all with the information that Emily & I have found.
Things are being more revealed now, and that's a very very good thing, as my head is getting dizzy for all this searching in the dark I've been doing.

[bachmahlerfan]

I wonder why Libera hasn't put out an official announcement about their tour? It seems that everything about this tour is different than past tours. I'm not concerned about concert attendance, as I think the attendance will be good, but it's only 18 days until their first concert.

[kinda_k00l]

I started to get concerned about many things too. Some fans in China said that they hadn't even seen an advertisement about the tour in Shanghai. Information gathering is extremely complicated & limited. Tightest schedule ever without any announcement besides the update on their 'events' page... An unusual tour, perhaps.

I think I really need a nap.

[kinda_k00l]

Just a small updates: it seems like they have the same setlist (as Patrick has posted before) for all 5 concerts, and there are only 13 songs each - can be understandable for such a tight schedule.

I'll repost the setlist here tho:
1.圣达米安诺/San Damiano
2.梦回故里/I’m Dreaming of Home
3.在远方/From A Distance
4.与我相随/Stay With Me
5.遥远歌声/Far away
6.庄严的神圣/Sacris Solemnis
7.世界 何等美好/Wonderful World
8.欢乐颂/Joyful
9.天使/Angel
10.奇异恩典/Amazing Grace
11.奥里诺科河/Orinoco flow
12.飘零客旅/Wayfaring stranger
13.微笑/Smile

About the tickets: things have been mad the previous day (online ticket war) with only 5 tickets available for the 26th (I mean really?) & 72 for the 27th. All of them are 'sold out' within a couple of hours and Emily & I haven't got enough for our group... (yet, hopefully!!) So if anybody here has a spare ticket (or tickets), especially for the 27th one, can we have it/those? I'll bring you some Vietnamese instant noodles (as I have nothing else to offer).
The rest of the tickets for concerts on the 26th & 27th are available for sale offline on October 11th & 12th (well I cannot fly there to have those...) Tickets for the concert on the 25th will be available at the venue itself. And yes tickets for these 3 concerts are free of charge.

For the concert on the 24th & 28th, I got a reply from Libera:

rNz3SQ5O.jpg (107.66 KiB) Viewed 2421 times

rNz3SQ5O.jpg (107.66 KiB) Viewed 2421 times

And I still can't find any information about the M&G until now. I also asked about it when contacting Libera, but they didn't answer that part.

[Yorkie]

Just a small updates: it seems like they have the same setlist (as Patrick has posted before) for all 5 concerts, and there are only 13 songs each - can be understandable for such a tight schedule.

I'll repost the setlist here tho:
1.圣达米安诺/San Damiano
2.梦回故里/I’m Dreaming of Home
3.在远方/From A Distance
4.与我相随/Stay With Me
5.遥远歌声/Far away
6.庄严的神圣/Sacris Solemnis
7.世界 何等美好/Wonderful World
8.欢乐颂/Joyful
9.天使/Angel
10.奇异恩典/Amazing Grace
11.奥里诺科河/Orinoco flow
12.飘零客旅/Wayfaring stranger
13.微笑/Smile

Will the encore be 'Libera' or the song they did in Taiwan a few years ago ('The Moon Represents My Heart' iirc)?

[kinda_k00l]

Will the encore be 'Libera' or the song they did in Taiwan a few years ago ('The Moon Represents My Heart' iirc)?

Or it can be 'Sanctus', or maybe no encore at all hmm... I don't know, the odds seem to be the same (the Chinese song is a little bit higher though).

[fan_de_LoK]

Will the encore be 'Libera' or the song they did in Taiwan a few years ago ('The Moon Represents My Heart' iirc)?

I assume the Chinese list of 13 songs is incomplete and that the concerts most probably will have the usual number of songs of 18 to 20.

The reason that makes me raise an eyebrow on this too short list is that it seems inconceivable to have a Libera concert without 'Sanctus', 'Libera', and (unfortunately) 'Exultate', and it's too much to have all this as the encore.

However, despite being too short that list looks to be pretty accurate, all the songs but one were sung on stage this year, it's not a random list just build from Libera's repertoire like we see at times in some press releases.
So I assume the list is correct, all these songs will be sung, but I guess that 5 to 7 more songs will be also performed, including Sanctus, Angele Dei, Libera, Dies Irae, Exultate (sadly) and Salva me, because they were sung at both the Japan and the USA tours this year.


The only novelty in the Chinese list is 'Stay With Me', which is pleasant.
Does anyone remember when it was sung on stage for the last time and who was the soloist ?
On the French forum The Furby manages a wonderful list of the songs (see here) with useful references to all the CDs, but there is no reference to the live performances in concerts.
I'm really looking forward to ear it again and to discover the soloist in charge
(high harmonies by Taichi ?)


As for the Encore, I second Yorkie in the hope for 'The Moon Represents my Heart'. I was blessed to hear it sung live 7 times in April 2013, it's a wonderful sung and it would be a delight to have it back in concert