Last Tuesday night marked a special evening for young artists in Beijing celebrating the 250th anniversary of Wolfgang Amadues Mozart (1756-91). For the first time, they performed Mozart's music at a chateau hotel inside a landscape park in northeast Beijing.

The design of the chateau follows the style of the Maisons-Laffitte in Paris, a grand architectural work of the 17th century. The hotel has held many cultural and economic forums before. But not until the gala concert did it combine the beauty of classic music and architecture.

Guests sat by tables in the soft light of delicate lamps. They were given a feel of the time when Mozart performed before nobles more than two centuries ago.

During the concert, a big screen behind the orchestra showed a silent "Amadues," the biographical film of Mozart which won seven Academy Awards in 1984.

But Zhu Yibing, the conductor, was more keen that his audience "just listen by heart, and be passionate for the great music."

He led the China Youth Symphony Orchestra of the Central Conservatory of Music to present Mozart's "Clarinet Concerto in A Major, K 622," 1791, and "Symphony in G Minor, No 40, K 550," 1788.

The concert was part of the International Mozart Week. The Conservatory and the Austrian Embassy in China organized the music week jointly to commemorate the great Austrian musician.

Since April 8, the China Youth Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of Zhu Yibing, has been entertaining audiences with Mozart's most popular works including symphonies, chamber music, concerto and operas every night, mostly at the Conservatory.

The music week also featured other renowned musicians from both home and broad, such as Fan Lei (clarinet), Perter-Lukas Graf (flute) and Sheng Yuan (piano).

The closing ceremony will be held at the Forbidden City Concert Hall inside Zhongshan Park tonight.