City guide

Beijing

Piano recital

Paris-based Shanghainese pianist Song Siheng, winner of the Grand Prix at the 61st Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaudet Competition in Paris, will stage a multimedia piano recital. The program includes works of Debussy and Bach.

7:30 pm, March 16. Beijing Concert Hall, 1 Beixinhua Street, Liubukou, Xicheng district. 010-6417-7845

Post-punk band

Johnny Lydon will be in Beijing with his post-punk band Public Image Limited. PIL is the experimental and explosive band that revived punk music. The band's first tour in China will likely feature its 1978 classic album Fist Issue and its 2012 release This Is PIL.

7:30 pm, March 30. Yugongyishan, 3-2 Zhangzizhong Road, Dongcheng district. 010-6404-2711

Inspiration of nature

Liang Rujie is putting on a solo show of her flower-and-bird paintings. Liang, who teaches at the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, has injected her views of nature into the traditional ink paintings. The works display regional characters and traces of Chinese calligraphy.

9 am-5 pm, March 25-31. National Art Museum of China, 1 Wusi Dajie, Dongcheng district. 010-8403-3500

Shanghai

Romanticism in music

German clarinetist Sabine Meyer will perform works by Carl Maria von Weber in concert. The composer is widely regarded as the initiator of German Romanticism in music.

In his works there are often logical break points and familiar elements like magic and forest, as in the opera Der Freischtz.

7:30 pm, March 15. Shanghai Concert Hall, 523 Yan'an East Road. 021-6386-2836

Art from Pompidou

The exhibition Electric Field: Surrealism and Beyond features 120 works selected from Musee National d'Art Moderne housed in the Pompidou Center. On show are paintings and photographs.

9 am-5 pm, until March 15 closed on Mon. Power Station of Art, 200 Huayuangang Road. 021-3110-8550

Art scene in NY

Organized in New York for James Cohan Gallery's Shanghai space, Downtown is a group exhibition featuring eight artists whose works exemplify the alternative scene in Manhattan's burgeoning arts district known as the Lower East Side. Participants include Joshua Abelow, David Adamo and Michael Bauer.

10 am-6 pm, until May 5, Mon by appointment. James Cohan Gallery Shanghai, 1F, Building 1, 170 Yueyang Road. 021-5466-0825

Hong Kong

To market

Think that Hong Kong is only about its brand name air-conditioned shopping malls? Think again. Island East Markets brings local organic farmers, sustainable-minded retailers and creative craftspeople to the community with an outdoor Sunday market for everyone. Previous editions have included urban farming workshops, children's programs such as face painting, cooking demonstrations by prestigious chefs and pop-up street food made to order alongside some of the freshest fruit, veg and homemade sauces available in town.

10 am-5 pm, every Sun until May 12. Island East Markets, Tong Chong Street, Quarry Bay. For upcoming program, visit www.hkmarkets.org.

Beautiful dreamer

Stuttgart Ballet's principal dancer Friedemann Vogel is the handsome prince in The Hong Kong Ballet's The Sleeping Beauty. The lavish production is staged by Cynthia Harvey, former principal dancer of American Ballet Theater and The Royal Ballet, and is a condensed version of the beloved fairy tale classic set to music by Pyotr Illyich Tchaikovsky. Be entranced by a night of good magic triumphing over evil and, of course, the power of love.

8 pm, March 15; 3 and 8 pm, March 16; 2:30 and 7:30 pm, March 17. Auditorium, Sha Tin Town Hall, 1 Yuen Wan Road, Sha Tin. 852-2573-7398

Visions of the future

Allan Zeman, aka Mr Lan Kwai Fong, joins Hang Lung Properties' chairman Ronnie Chan to talk about the future of architecture and design for Hong Kong at a special cocktail reception. The venue is currently featuring Imminent Domain: Designing the Life of Tomorrow, an exhibition showcasing the talents of 12 Hong Kong designers curated by Fumio Najo of Tokyo's Mori Art Museum. Installations include work by architect William Lim and new media designer Kingsley Ng.

Reception 6:30-8:30 pm, March 13; Exhibition ends March 31. Asia Society Hong Kong Center, 9 Justice Drive, Admiralty. 852-2103-9511

China Daily