Conductor Lyu Jia, who is also the opera director of NCPA. [Photo provided to China Daily]

From July 18 to 22, the NCPA will premier its new production of the five-act French romantic opera, Romeo et Juliette, by French composer Charles-François Gounod to celebrate the 200th anniversary of his birth.

"There is a growing energy around opera as an art form despite the fact that it was imported to China from the West. Since the opening of the NCPA in 2007, we have been devoted to promoting opera among Chinese audiences and producing original operas as well as Western classics," says Lyu, adding that the NCPA has produced about 60 operas.

The NCPA's original opera production, The Dawns Here Are Quiet, will open this year's opera festival. It debuted at the NCPA in 2015. The opera, composed by Tang Jianping, with libretto by Wan Fang, is based on Russian writer Boris Vasilyev's novel of the same title. It tells the story of five female soldiers fighting German troops during World War II.

The opera was staged on the 70th anniversary of the end of the war, and it has been presented at the NCPA around five times. A film related to the opera will be shown at the upcoming festival, with the aim of further popularizing opera in China.