Some 40 artists from the Cape Town Opera Chorus of South Africa, iridescently attired, turned the Poly Theatre stage into Catfish Row, a fictional impoverished African American community in George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, on Saturday and Sunday in Beijing, captivating the Chinese audience with their powerful singing and performances.

The two concerts, featuring the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, closed the 27th Beijing Music Festival. They marked the Chinese premiere of the new semi-staged version of the English-language opera. Co-produced by the festival, the Cape Town Opera, and the KT Wong Foundation, the production gathered talented international artists, including conductor Kazem Abdulla from the US and director Noa Naamat from Israel.

One of the most celebrated American operas of the 20th century, Porgy and Bess, was first performed in Boston in 1935 before it moved to Broadway in New York City. It was adapted from Dorothy Heyward and DuBose Heyward's play Porgy, which is an adaptation of DuBose Heyward's 1925 novel Porgy.