The 2006 French Piano Festival, featuring recitals by some of the world's top pianists, will raise its curtain this weekend in Beijing with concerts by pianists Alexandre Paley, Bertrand Chamayou and Yaron Herman.

Since its debut in Toulouse in 1979, the French Piano Festival has become a massive music event that flourishes every September in southern France. Last year with the help of the French embassy in Beijing, the organizers of the festival brought their talented pianists to Beijing for the first time to much acclaim. "China has amazingly a few million piano learners and that is why we come back this year," said Paul-Arnaud Pjouan, founder of the festival.

Parley, Chamyou and Herman will present the Chinese audience with classic pieces. On June 2, Paley, who won first prize in the Bach Piano Competition and the Bulgaria Plancho Viadigerov International Competition, will play Liszt's technical Annees De Pelerinage, Paganini Etude, and Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition. Chamayou will play Scriabin's Fantasy in B, PoemNocturne and Sonata in F sharp major, Liszt's Sonata in B minor. Bertrand has won the prize of Long-Thibaud International Competition at age 20 and has worked with France Broadcasting Philharmonic Orchestra.

Herman will play on June 4. From Israel, he began learning piano at 16, and surprised all to win the Rimon Young Wit award after two years.

Time: 7:30 pm, June 2-4
Location: Forbidden City Concert Hall, in Zhongshan Park
Price: 30-800 yuan (US$4-100)
Tel: 010-65598285