"We've prepared for the Nanjing Music Festival since 2019, which aims to showcase the beauty of traditional Chinese music," says composer Li Shaosheng, who is also the executive director of the Nanjing Music Festival. The festival is organized by the Nanjing Chinese Orchestra.

"Traditional Chinese music has gained a large fan base among young Chinese audiences thanks to social media platforms. We want to display the achievement of traditional Chinese music, as well as its current development and innovation, by presenting both classic and new music pieces and introducing veteran and young musicians," Li says.

To better fit audience schedules, the festival will be held over four weeks with seven concerts. Besides live performances, two forums, workshops and master classes will also be held during the festival.

On June 10 and 11, Li will team up with Fang Jinlong, a master of the pipa, for works composed and arranged under the theme of "martial arts".

"There will be songs that audiences are familiar with, as well as new works. For many fans of martial arts, the sounds of traditional Chinese musical instruments like the pipa instantly conjure up images of martial arts masters. It's an interesting way to get audiences involved in the fantasy world of traditional Chinese music," says Li.