China is to host the 13th International Women Musicians Assembly, which is slated for April 18 in the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing.

The five-day Assembly, held in China for the first time, is to stage 12 concerts, in which 118 music pieces selected from over 20 countries and regions will be performed.

More than 95 percent of the music works were contributed by women composers, in which nearly 40 Chinese women composers, or 40 percent of the total, will have their works played, said Jin Tielin, chairman of the organizing committee and president of China's Central Conservatory of Music.

The music pieces will be performed in the forms of orchestral, string, chamber, vocality, electro-acoustic, and folk, he said.

More than 20 musicologists will have their publications read and discussed during two seminars of the Assembly, Jin added.

International Women Musicians Assembly is held every two or three years in different countries. The Beijing Assembly has the largest number of music works and women musicians yet assembled for such an event.

(Xinhua News Agency March 21, 2008)