The Chinese premiere of the new semi-staged version of Porgy and Bess is a testament to the Beijing Music Festival's mission, which is "to introduce the finest productions in opera history from different cultural contexts to the Chinese audience," said Zou Shuang, the festival's artistic director.

Zou also pointed out that the collaboration with the Cape Town Opera, the only continuously active opera company in Africa, is the farthest-reaching partnership the festival has established in its 27 years.

The co-production is also a new fruit of the longstanding partnership between the KT Wong Foundation and the festival.