娱乐英语新闻:Chinese soprano to perform first charity concert in Milan

MILAN, Italy, Jan. 27 (Xinhua) -- Chinese soprano and Friendship Ambassador of Chinese Culture Year Lu Wei will perform the first charity concert promoted in Italy by the local Chinese community, Milan authorities announced at a press conference on Thursday.

Part of the events celebrating the ongoing Chinese Culture Year in Italy, the concert, titled "China red xizi venus," will be held in the famous Arcimboldi theater in Milan on Feb. 6, offering local spectators a true taste of China's Spring Festival celebrations, which start on Feb. 3 this year.

Lu, together with a few Italian opera singers, will perform traditional and modern Chinese music as well as some of the most famous Italian opera arias, including "Nessun Dorma" by Giacomo Puccini, and popular songs as Neapolitan "O sole mio" and "O surdato 'nnammurato."

Conducted by Chinese director Lu Jia, who started his flourishing career at a young age in Italy, the concert will be broadcast in China and more than 100 other countries all over the world.

"In quality of Culture Councilor, I am giving much importance to cultural exchanges between Italy and China, as I am convinced that the Chinese Culture Year is a unique opportunity to further enhance mutual friendship," said Milan Municipality's Culture Councilor Massimiliano Finazzer Flory in the presence of Chinese Consul-general to Milan Liang Hui and other officials.

Finazzer Flory told Xinhua that he is personally very interested in the Chinese culture, in particular Confucianism, which he finds very useful to understand the deepest principles of human nature.

The profits of the concert will be used to fund the research on cardiovascular diseases through Milan's "San Raffaele del Monte Tabor" Foundation.

The Foundation's operative director of research, Maurizio Savi, told Xinhua that he was grateful to Milan's Chinese community, which has some 18,000 members, for their great efforts to make the concert possible.