On the day a 12-day show of UK artists’ work in
China was launched, reporters were told that the fifth Meet in
Beijing Arts Festival will also open on April 28, with thousands of
artists from more than 30 countries staging over 100 performances
and four large exhibitions.
At a press conference in Beijing, Zhang Yu, general
manager of the China Arts and Entertainment Group, said the
festival would hold four performances on each day of its 34-day
schedule in 20 large theaters and squares throughout the city.
Zhang said a large singing and dancing performances
featuring Chinese culture would kick off the festival, in addition
to a Chinese performance series including ballet, drama and
opera.
Pu Tong, a senior Ministry of Culture official,
said culture has become increasingly important in relationships
with other countries. The festival this time will showcase the arts
of Denmark, France and other EU countries.
Denmark's National Symphony Orchestra, the oldest
broadcasting orchestra in the world, will be invited to perform as
conclusion to the festival, and give a children's concert to
commemorate the 200th anniversary of Hans Christian Andersen's
birth.
The French Preljocaj ballet troupe, in tune with
the ongoing French Culture Year in China, will stage a modern
ballet adaptation of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.
This year is the 30th anniversary of the
establishment of diplomatic ties between the EU and China. Outdoor
performances are an outstanding character of Meet in Beijing and
the popular music series staged in Chaoyang Park last year
attracted 170,000 people, Pu said.
This year, artists from 15 countries will give 50
outdoor performances and even more in theaters. Weeklong
performances will also be staged at Beijing University, for the
first time.
Exhibitions will include Picasso's works, Louis XIV
treasures from Versailles, New Wave masterpieces from the Pompidou
Center and Finnish design arts.
Before the festival, seven artists from the UK
Royal Academy of Arts are showing works on modern China at the
China Art Gallery in Beijing. They are John Bellany, Paul Huxley,
Allen Jones, David Mach, Ian McKeever, Brendan Neiland and Chris
Orr. The works on display range from oil paintings and prints to
sculptures.
Since 2003, each has toured China at the invitation
of the Red Mansion Foundation, a non profitable organization
dedicated to the promotion of China-UK cultural
communication.
The artists chose only what they are interested in,
whether skyscrapers or neon lights in big cities, traditional
temples, a tax driver in a small alleyway or the smile of a
farmer.
Apart from the exhibition, the artists will also be
invited to give lectures in the Central Academy of Fine Arts and
exchange views on China's arts market with Chinese
counterparts.
The Red Mansion Foundation was founded in 2000 in
London, and has set up an annual award for students at the six top
UK art schools.
(Xinhua News Agency April 14, 2005)