Meet in Beijing gears up for 14th event

The Latin American Arts Season will feature Agarrate Catalina, a troupe from Uruguay.

The drama section will feature the historical play, The Great Revenge, directed by 87-year-old Lan Tianye from Beijing People's Art Theater, The Late Christopher Bean, a comedy-drama by Rene Fauchois, and May All Your Wishes Come True, a blackly humorous drama performed by Taiwan's Monster Drama.

According to Zhang, most of the performances will tour China in May, offering more audiences opportunities to get close to those artists. The company has also cooperated with universities to bring shows and exhibitions onto campuses.

Last year's special feature - The Latin American Arts Season, will be continued, with several artists and musicians from Latin America taking part in the festival.

Musicians from China National Orchestra will perform the most popular music from 18 Latin-American countries, including Uruguay, Mexico and Cuba, with traditional Chinese instruments.

The Latin American Arts Season is just one of the mini festivals within the festival. Others are the Strawberry Music Festival, Chaoyang Pop Music Festival and INTRO Electronic Music Festival.

During the May Day holiday, the first Latin American & Caribbean Music Festival will rock Chaoyang Park in Beijing with more than eight hours of performances each day for free, featuring 11 bands from 10 countries.

"Besides bringing great shows to audiences in China, many original Chinese performances featured in past festivals went on to tour internationally," says Zhang, referring to performances such as Wedding of Erdos, an extravaganza celebration of traditional culture from the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, and dance drama Qingming Riverside, which were staged at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC.