Moscow and Beijing celebrated the 25th anniversary of the partnership between the two cities with a concert held at the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing on Dec 8.

Organized by Wu Promotion, one of China's first performing arts promoters and event organizers, the concert saw live performances by Beijing Symphony Orchestra under the baton of conductor Li Biao, featuring programs including Festive Overture by Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich and Spanish Dance Song from Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake.

Besides live performances, Osipov State Russian Folk Orchestra and Bolshoi Theatre Chamber Orchestra gave an online performance under the baton of conductor Vladimir Andropov, with Chinese musical pieces, including Dance of the Yao People by composers Liu Tieshan and Mao Yuan, and A Moonlit Night on the Spring River, adapted from a pipa piece of the Chinese classical repertoire, which is named after a Tang Dynasty (618-907) poem by Zhang Ruoxu.

The concert closed with a performance by both Beijing Symphony Orchestra and Bolshoi Theatre Chamber Orchestra under the baton of conductor Liu Zhi, performing a Chinese song titled My Motherland.