Students of the Confucius Music Center at the Petro Tchaikovsky National Music Academy of Ukraine (NMAU) held a concert on Thursday to celebrate China's Teachers' Day, which falls on Sept. 10.

The concert's programs included Chinese folk songs, a tea ceremony and solo performances on Chinese musical instruments.

Vice rector of the NMAU Viktor Bondarchuk congratulated the students on the beginning of the academic year, noting that the center is gaining momentum since the demand for studying the art and culture of the East has been growing.

"This year, we see a particular flow of the international community to the music academy... The total number of international students exceeded 170. About 50 students have already entered the academy this year and the foreign students' enrollment process will continue until early December," Bondarchuk said.

In the current academic year, the center plans to fulfill a number of ambitious tasks, including touring different cities of Ukraine, opening a museum of Chinese musical culture and launching various trainings and conferences to improve the qualifications of the teaching staff.

The Confucius Music Center in Kiev was established by the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing and the NMAU in June 2019, which is the first such educational institution in Europe.