The Beijing Music Festival announced its three-year artistic collaboration with the Opéra Comique based in Paris from 2020 to 2022. Three operas co-produced by the two parties, including two classic Western operas and a Chinese opera, will be staged at the Opéra Comique in Paris and the Beijing Music Festival. 

In 2020, a co-production of Carmen by French composer Georges Bizet will premiere in Paris on Sept 25 and then will make its debut in the 23th Beijing Music Festival. The opera, directed by Andreas Homoki, will be performed by the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra under the baton of conductor Yu Long.

In 2022, which marks the 25th birthday of Beijing Music Festival, the two organizations will co-produce the opera Madame White Snake, which won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for its music, composed by Zhou Long, and was staged in Beijing in 2010. 

According to Zou Shuang, the artistic director of the Beijing Music Festival, besides co-producing operas, the collaboration will also cover exchange programs between the two countries for theater talent.