Needlessly to say,Charpentier himself is a composer and keen piano player.
So the opening of the US $ 150 million opera house,scheduled for July 1,will be a particularly significant moment for Charpentier."This will be the most important moment in my life."he siad,speaking from his newly -opened office in Hong Kong.
"This project represents the synthesis of two passions:architecture and music."
It all began with the Shanghai Municipality's decision to construct a luxurious modern new building that would be a fitting showcase for the opera in the city that is the economic powerhouse of China.
Just as New Yourk's Metropolitan Opera has the Lincoln Centre,the thinking goes,so Shanghai must have an appropriate venue for its opera company.
A modern temple to operatic arts,the new opera house is to be a vision of glass and steel measuring 114 metres high,100 metres long and 90 metres wide.
That vision is taking shape in Puxi,the old section of the city close to the Bund,set in the middle of the People's Park.
In fact,the building was conceived as an Asian pavilion in a park,with a spacious,open layout and a raised temple-style roof,explained Andrew Hobson,a member of Charpentier's design team.Unlike in traditional strctures,the new opera house is desighed for interaction with the passing public.
Normally,all one could expect to see woulde be a glimpse of an elegant crowdleaving or arriving for performances
Not so with the Shanghai Opera House.