Tales of love unfulfilled

The National Center for the Performing Arts has made itself "the national opera house" by producing 21 operas since it opened in December 2007. Every piece is an international production featuring cast and crew from renowned European or US opera houses and every piece is a huge production with fantastic setting. Now comes the first production in 2013, The Tales of Hoffmann, by French composer Jacques Offenbach. It tells a love story of the poet Hoffmann and three women. Each of his romantic loves ends with tragedy, and eventually he devotes himself to his art. Director Francesca Zambello and stage designer Peter J. Davison created Carmen for NCPA in 2010, winning rave reviews. The conductor will be Britain's Stephen Barlow.

7:30 pm, Jan 31-Feb 3, National Center for the Performing Arts, West of Tian'anmen Square, Beijing. 010-6655-0000.