Nearing its 7th anniversary on December 22, the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) is gearing up for its biggest annual festival: Open Day, an event established in 2008 to celebrate the anniversary of the NCPA's founding the year before.

At a press conference Thursday, Wang Zhengming, vice president of NCPA, explained that from 9 am to 4:30 pm the NCPA will hold more than 70 performances during this year's Open Day. 

Performances will include the NCPA's latest original opera Visitors on the Snow Mountain, Peking opera Bond of Silk and a series of world classic music concerts.

Tickets for the event are free but must be reserved in advance online or at the NCPA itself.

According to Wang, the NCPA expects more than 10,000 visitors will come to the theater that day.

Having produced a total of 47 original works including Western operas, stage dramas and Peking operas, over the past seven years the NCPA has staged more than 6,000 commercial performances and over 6,000 free art education activities.

According to Wang, the NCPA has also been stepping up its efforts abroad in recent years.

In 2012, its original Peking opera Red Cliff premiered overseas to critical acclaim in numerous countries.

Next year, two of its new works - ballet Marco Polo, based on the historic Silk Road and opera The Rickshaw Boy - will head to Europe to bring more Chinese culture to audiences there.

Global Times