The concert is the opening performance of the Imperial Garden Concert Series which runs through June.

Initiated by Dan-Wen Wei, president and artistic director of the International Concert Alliance, a non-profit organization headquartered in New York City, the Imperial Garden Concert Series introduced top international musicians to Beijing concert-goers last year.

Wei, a Beijing-born Chinese-American pianist, is one of the last pupils of music legend Vladimir Horowitz (1903-89).

Wei said he acquired "a sense of historical responsibility to keep the piano recitals flourishing in today's society" in 1989 when he had the rare chance to study under the guidance of Horowitz.

Over the past few years, amidst their busy schedules, Wei and several friends have been working hard to bring concerts to communities and make them more interesting to audiences.

The reality today is that a lot of people have been lured away from classical music concerts and recitals by television programs, sports events and other contemporary forms of entertainment.

Wei admits it is difficult to change this situation. But he insists that he and his friends will try "to keep an area for like-minded people and expand this area." Last year, he returned to his home city of Beijing to "create a series that is befitting of the great Chinese capital."

"We intend to give Beijing audiences the kind of concerts people living in New York, Paris, London and many other world arts capitals have long enjoyed on a regular basis," Wei said.

Qian Cheng, the concert hall's general manager, said he was immediately drawn to Wei's idea for such a series because "the concerts help bring to Beijing the most popular young classical musicians in the world today."

The 2002 series, which offers a concert every month through June, will feature some young but established musicians who have their own novel interpretations of classics, Wei said.

The opening concert stars the chamber musicians from the United States and who will play the string quartet works of Shostakovich and Ravel. They also will perform Anton Webern's quintet with the accompaniment of Chinese-American clarinetist Fan Lei.

Among the American musicians, violinist Anton Miller, a graduate from the Julliard School, was invited to Beijing in 1995 to play Chinese composer Ye Xiaogang's violin concerto "The Last Paradise." A CD recording of the work was released the following year.

Stephane Tran Ngoc, the Paris-born violinist, joined the Lawrence Conservatory faculty last autumn. He has performed as a soloist with many of the world's most prominent orchestras in more than 30 countries and has won prizes at numerous international competitions.

Matthew Michelic, the viola player, has been praised by critics as "possessing an extraordinarily exquisite technique in viola."

Cellist Janet Anthony has also performed in Europe, Australia and the United States.

(China Daily February 20, 2002)