French choreographer Roland Petit's Pink Floyd! will be performed by the National Ballet of China and is certain to dazzle festival goers.

    "We want to present this performance because many people in the contemporary music circle of China haven't listened to the music of Pink Floyd, which is part of contemporary music according to our understanding," says Ye Xiaogang, artistic director of the festival.

    The 2009 Beijing Modern Music Festival, which begins tomorrow and runs to May 26, will also stage a special version of Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring, and also puppet show from Fujian province, as well as many other events.

    According to Ye, who is also vice-president of the Central Conservatory of Music, all the music that is part of contemporary people's musical lives can be called modern music.

    This year's festival, the sixth in its history, will present 17 performances, five lectures, one symposium, two exhibitions, and the first "China Varsity Debate of Composition Students".

    Most of the activities will be held at the Central Conservatory of Music, but some of the important performances will be held at the Beijing Concert Hall and Beijing Tianqiao Theater.

    At the opening concert tomorrow at Beijing Concert Hall, Hu Yongyan, artistic director and principal conductor of the EOS Orchestra (China's Orchestra Academy at the Central Conservatory of Music), will conduct the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra.

    A selection of contemporary symphonic works will be featured including Ye's Pipa Concerto, Thai composer Narong Prangcharoen's Phenomenon - the Mysterious and Unexplained - for Orchestra, and Evening Prayer by Robert Beaser, who is professor and chairman of the Composition Department at the Juilliard School of Music.

    A concert this Saturday night will showcase chamber works by contemporary Chinese and international composers, such as Wen Deqing's Ants Moving - for Four Pipas and Polish composer Zygmunt Krauze's Piano Quintet.

    Another special concert on Friday night is titled Beautiful Tibet, which will present seven composers' chamber works on the theme of Tibet, including Tibetan composers Juega's Cycle Existence and Mijiu Danzeng's Hymn for Tibet.

    Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring, one of the classics of 20th century music, will be given a special performance on May 24 by the EOS Orchestra under the baton of Hu, who promises that the performance will be full of surprises.