Israeli Opera Festival aims to attract Chinese visitors

A soprano sings an opera song from "Die Entführung aus dem Serail" during a press conference of the Akko Opera Festival held in Tel Aviv on Wednesday, June 15, 2016. [Photo/cri.cn]

With the creation of new direct flights between China and Israel, along with impending changes to ease visa restrictions, an opera troupe in Israel is hoping to capitalize on the expected increase in Chinese tourists.

This July, in the old city of Akko in northern Israel, the Israeli Opera Festival will once again be entertaining opera fans from all over the world.

This year's Akko Opera Festival will highlight "Die Entführung aus dem Serail", or "The Abduction from the Seraglio", a 3-act opera put together by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

The plot of the opera has the hero Belmonte attempting rescue his beloved Konstanze from the Seraglio, or harem, of Pasha Selim, a high ranking Ottoman official.