Chinese and French musicians share stage at centuries-old opera house

A concert pairing Chinese and French performers opened on Monday evening at the Zhengyici Opera House, one of Beijing's oldest surviving theaters.

The event, titled "Melodies of Architecture: China-France in Harmony," formed part of the reception series of the 2026 Beijing Culture Forum and of a wider program on architectural heritage conservation and regeneration, following on from a China-France visual dialogue held last year.

Officials from the cultural and diplomatic circles of both countries, along with architects, artists and members of the public, gathered to explore — through music — what cultural heritage can mean today.

Du Yue, deputy director of the Beijing municipal publicity department, noted that China and France may be thousands of miles apart but share a long history of cultural exchange.

He said he hoped the concert would lead to deeper cooperation in heritage conservation, artistic creation and youth engagement, "so that cultural exchanges between the two countries may grow ever more substantive and enduring." Maurice Gourdault-Montagne, a former French ambassador to China who now heads the Cité internationale des arts in Paris, described the forum's vision of peace as "especially precious in our time." He said he hoped the heritage series would help deepen cultural and people-to-people cooperation between the two countries.

The program was built around the theme of harmony, moving between ancient and modern, East and West — classical repertoire alongside contemporary works, inherited tradition alongside new creation.

The venue itself, often called a "living fossil" of Chinese theater architecture, became for one night what the organizers described as a "living salon" for cultural exchange.

The evening opened with "Ji" (The Ultimate), a piece built around the sheng — an ancient Chinese mouth organ — joined by percussion and modern guitar.

Its melody built in layers, like new shoots on an old tree: a statement, the organzers said, of the openness of traditional Chinese music to the world.

One of the night's highlights was "Anxiang" (Subtle Fragrance), a song written more than 800 years ago by Jiang Kui, a poet and composer of the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279), whose score has survived intact.

The French vocalist Sébastien Fournier performed it alongside musicians from the China Conservatory of Music on dizi , xiao , guqin and percussion — Western vocal warmth meeting the restraint of the Chinese classical tradition.

Two traditions then entered into dialogue.