The long-anticipated Seventh Beijing International Music Festival opened Thursday evening with a Sino-French cast of a new opera version of "Romero and Juliet" at the Poly Theatre in eastern Beijing.

World-famous Chinese tenor Zhang Jianyi co-starred with Albanian soprano Inva Mula as the tragic Shakespearian couple.

Music lovers can see a total of 27 performances at a relatively low fee, with most tickets priced no more than 300 yuan, during the three-week festival, from October 14th to November 5th.

(CRI.com October 15, 2004)