Chinese artists will stage a folk music concert at the Golden Hall in Vienna, Austria, during the traditional Chinese lunar New Year in 2006.

The Folk Music Orchestra of Zhejiang Province will give a full play of Chinese traditional musical instruments such as erhu (two-stringed Chinese fiddle), flute and suona horn during in the concert, said Chen Xileng, head of the orchestra, at a press conference on Monday.

In addition, musicians will present a variety of classical Chinese folk music such as the "Zhoushan percussion instrument " and etc.

Wu Zezhou, an official of the concert, said, Chinese folk music characterized by beautiful melody and clear national features has earned great reputation in the world and has lots of foreign fans.

"The concert will bring foreign audience another opportunity to enjoy elegance, purity, and primitive simplicity of Chinese folk music," Wu said.

"Vienna is renowned as a city of music and the golden hall is regarded as the 'Holy of the Holies' for musicians, so it is an honor for Chinese musicians to perform there," he said.

Besides Austria, the orchestra will visit Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Greece and Egypt, said Chen.

(Xinhua News Agency August 9, 2005)