Russian ballet stars will take center stage during the Meet in Beijing festival. Photos Provided to China Daily

The month-long festival will bring music, dance and theater, in addition to free open-air shows from artists at home and abroad. Chen Jie reports.

In keeping with the lively spirit of spring, Meet in Beijing, the capital's first big festival will kick off on April 27 with a night of Peking Opera and Western opera at Poly Theater. The month-long festival will bring music, dance, theater and free open-air shows, from artists at home and abroad, to people from all walks of life.

Every year, the festival invites one country to be the featured foreign country and this year it is Australia.

The opening concert will see vocalists from Opera Australia singing classical operatic arias, and leading Chinese Peking Opera artists, including Yu Kuizhi, Li Shengsu and Meng Guanglu, singing Peking Opera.

Other artists and groups from Australia include the pianist Lesile Howard, theater companies Strange Fruit and Polyglot Puppets, and the jazz trio Misinterprotato.

"Australia is honored to be chosen as the featured foreign country of this prestigious festival," says Graeme Meehan, deputy head of mission at the Australian Embassy in Beijing.

The Australian International Cultural Council has been running the Imagine Australia: Year of Australian Culture in China since June, 2010. More than 150 events have been presented in 30 Chinese cities.

The dance category will have a classical ballet gala performed by Russian ballet stars, and the Cameroon National Dance Company's folk dances. The closing show will feature National Ballet of China's Red Detachment of Women. Respected theater directors Lin Zhaohua and Stan Lai will also bring their works to the festival.

The organizers are additionally planning to hold free open-air shows and special programs on campuses and within communities.

"As the biggest annual festival organized by the Ministry of Culture, Meet in Beijing is aimed at ordinary people," says Zhang Yu, president of China Arts and Entertainment Group, the company presenting the festival.

Polish folk dancers from Warsaw University.

"We present our programs on the streets and squares to cater to those who never go to the theaters."

For the first time in 11 years, Meet in Beijing has received corporate sponsorship, with American Airlines stepping in as a strategic partner of the government-backed festival.

"It's time for us to explore the market now and find financial supporters," says Dong Junxin, director of Bureau for External Cultural Relations.

"The airplane is a place where people from different places and cultures gather together. American Airlines is a bridge in the sky between Chinese and Americans," says Victor Lee, the airlines' China regional director-general.

He says that American Airlines sponsors many cultural events in China and the United States and was the main patron of the US pavilion of the 2010 Shanghai Expo.

"If you want to develop the market, you must know the people, learn about their culture, lifestyles and habits. We believe we share many things in common with the organizing committee of Meet in Beijing festival," he says.