The France National Opera de Lyon will stage Chinese musician Tan Dun's opera Tea in Lyon from Tuesday to Saturday.

Tan Dun will take up the conductor's baton to direct the orchestra.

This opera tells the tragic love story of a Chinese princess and a Japanese prince in the ninth century.

The musician explores the philosophy and spirituality as set out in the ancient Book of Tea, or Cha Jing in Mandarin.

Tan himself sees Tea as a 21st-century opera, a challenge to Western styles of classical music-theatre.

Commissioned by Japan's Suntory Hall and the Netherlands National Opera, Tea had its premiere in Tokyo under Tan Dun's baton two years ago, directed by Pierre Audi, artistic director of the Netherlands National Opera. (Photo Source: qianlong.com)

(CRI June 1, 2004)