Israeli cellist Mischa Maisky will perform Chinese composer Zou Ye's Variations on Chinese Melody for Cello and Orchestra.[Photos provided to China Daily]

It's a piece that commemorates the ping-pong diplomacy between the United States and China in the early 1970s which paved the way for then US president Richard Nixon's visit to Beijing. The concerto will feature New York Philharmonic violinist Elizabeth Zeltser and two ping-pong players in real life, Michael Landers and Ariel Hsing.

"Competitive players Michael Landers and Ariel Hsing volleyed along in approximate tempo, first with paddles, then tambourines and wine glasses, and - as a cadenza - against a bass drum and a gong. So riveting was the piece as visual theater that no one seemed to keep score," music critic Ken Smith who attended the premiere in Shanghai wrote in his column for Financial Times.

Other highlights of this year's BMF include two Wagner operas, The Master-Singers of Nuremberg and Tristan and Isolde. Both are productions of Austrian Tirol Festival Erl and both will be performed in China for the first time.

The BMF has held many premieres since it started in 1998. Another China premiere this year will be the closing concert which will have maestro Peter Ruzicka conducting the Estonia National Male Choir, International Choral Academy Lubeck, Shanghai Opera House Choir and Shanghai Symphony Orchestra for Arnold Schoenberg's strange yet fascinating mega-cantata Gurrelieder.

Chinese music and musicians have always been a major element of the BMF. This year, the treat includes performances by cellists Wang Jian and Zhu Yibing, violinist Xu Weilin, pianist Zhu Xiaomei and female musician Liu Suola.