A concert by Beijing Symphony Orchestra and conductor Tan Lihua was held on Sunday at the Forbidden City Concert Hall, kicking off the annual Gateway to Arts 2023 Summer Festival.

Fourteen-year-old pianist Du Peida played Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No 1 before the concert, a children's choir performed under the baton of conductor Su Danna. They will return to the venue on July 15, giving a concert as part of the festival.

Having established itself as one of Beijing's biggest arts festivals for children during the summer vacation since 1995, the annual Gateway to Arts Summer Festival takes place at the Forbidden City Concert Hall in the capital from July 2 to Aug 31.

More than 70 performances from classical music, dance to traditional Chinese operas and guqin, will be staged.

Twelve mini summer camps will also be held, appealing to amateurs, who will be trained to study a variety of programs, such as pipa, percussion, vocal performance and pop music composition.

According to Xu Jian, organizer of the festival, so far, over 40,000 tickets were sold out.

"Every summer, the festival attracted more than 1,000 artists and 80,000 audiences annually," Xu says.

For the first time, the festival will go outside Beijing by launching programs in six cities nearby the capital, such as Tianjin, Tangshan and Baoding.