Festival pays tribute to original Chinese theater productions

Peking Opera performer Wang Peiyu, renowned for her laosheng old male roles. [Photo Provided to China Daily]

Separately, Taiwan's Contemporary Legend Theater will showcase its production, Kingdom of Desire - a Peking Opera adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth - which has toured the world extensively since it opened in 1986.

Contemporary Legend Theater, founded by Taiwan award-winning actor-director Wu Hsing-kuo, is known for its Peking Opera versions of Shakespeare's works, including The Tempest, King Lear and A Midsummer Night's Dream.

On the music front, Grammy Award-nominated musician Wu Man will bring the pipa - the 2,000-year-old four-stringed Chinese lute - to life with a contemporary twist, using jazz, rock and electronic music.

The Hangzhou-born San Diego-based musician will be joined by tanbur virtuoso Siro-jiddin Juraev from Tajikistan, Bishkek-based komuz player and composer Askat Jetigen Uulu and Italian percussionist Andrea Piccioni.

Speaking about how the festival is reviving traditional Chinese art forms, Yang Qianwu, the secretary-general of the Beijing Theater Association, says: "While the country's economic development and the influence of Western arts has led to Chinese artists losing interest in some traditional Chinese art forms, we are glad to see artists return to and revive the art forms using different approaches."

Among the other offerings at the festival are the award-winning Hong Kong musical, Field of Dreams, which tells the story of the first Chinese soccer team competing at the Olympics in 1936, and the contemporary dance piece White Lotus, Black Sand by Beijing Dance LDTX.