Capital feast in China

Canadian soprano Katherine Whyte will perform an excerpt from Chinese opera The White Haired Girl. [Photo provided to China Daily]

For the past three years, he has been preparing for the show and has worked with Chinese standup performers at many venues in Beijing.

"I have been learning xiangsheng, the Chinese comedic tradition, for decades. Now, I want to make people laugh in a whole new way by using my experiences in China and mixing it up with the Western standup tradition," says Rowswell.

Besides Canadian artists, troupes and artists from other countries will also share the stage at the festival.

Other highlights of the festival include performances by five-time Grammy winner, The Swingles, a London-based group, which has been performing a cappella for more than half a century, Spanish pianist Jose Menor and Caribbean-themed festivals on photography, music, movies and food.

Speaking about the festival, Zhang Yu, president of the China Arts and Entertainment Group, the event organizer, says: "In the last five years, the Meet in Beijing Arts Festival has developed into an international event catering to people of all ages. We have presented more than 30,000 artists and 1,000 troupes from 115 countries and regions to more than 4 million Chinese."

Zhang says the goal of the festival is to present world culture to Chinese audiences as well as to show Chinese art to the world.

The China Arts and Entertainment Group, which was founded in 1957, is among the country's first performing arts groups to engage in cultural-exchange programs.

Among the other programs at the festival, the National Ballet of China will present Raise the Red Lantern, on April 30 at the NCPA. The show, which has renowned Chinese film director Zhang Yimou as its artistic director and musician Chen Qigang as its composer, was premiered 15 years ago, and combines Peking Opera and ballet.

Feng Ying, the director of the National Ballet of China, says the work is significant when it comes to the promotion and development of Chinese ballet in terms of its visual and aesthetic presentations.