[Photo provided to China Daily]

The University of Birmingham's China Institute has marked the Chinese New Year with the help of a trio of world-renowned musicians on Jan 20.

Pianist Di Xiao, cellist Jiaxin Lloyd Webber and harpist Eleanor Turner performed in the Elgar Concert Hall.

The artists combined piano, cello and harp to perform Western and Eastern repertoires, as well as their own compositions and arrangements.

They were joined by Poppy Weng playing the 3,000 year-old traditional Chinese string instrument guzheng to deliver her interpretation of Adele's Rolling in the Deep.

Birmingham's relationship with China dates back to the foundation of the university. In fact, the first Chinese student began classes at the university in 1907 and there are now more than 14,000 Chinese alumni. There is also a strong musical connection with China, as the first original Chinese violin composition was Difficult Road (Xinglu Nan), composed in 1919 by Birmingham’s famous geology alumnus Li Siguang.

The university sponsored the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra's recent New Year tour of China, which saw the world-famous orchestra perform five concerts in four Chinese cities — Beijing, Changsha, Guangzhou and Shanghai.