As the Chinese Culture Year in France draws to a close, China is preparing to take the baton with a series of activities beginning this October. One of the highlights will be a concert by French synthesizer wizard Jean-Michel Jarre in Beijing's Forbidden City on October 10.
 
Jarre began his career experimenting with electro-acoustic sounds, putting French synthesizer music on the map in 1976 with his best-selling album "Oxygene". Since then this "retro-futurist", as he once famously described himself, has gone on to become a truly international star. He has held large-scale concerts in the pyramids of Egypt, the Acropolis of Athens, Moscow's Red Square and the Eiffel Tower in Paris. The upcoming concert will be his second visit to Beijing.

With plans to repeat his previous gigantic sound-and-light extravaganza, Jarre's concert will, without doubt, be a musical feast for Beijing locals. China Central Television and French Television will broadcast the event live to the whole world.

(CRI September 20, 2004)