Five months on, do you still think of the victims of the Sichuan earthquake? A group of instrumentalists from Italy have not forgotten and are trying to do something for the survivors.

Led by Francesco La Vecchia, artistic director and chief conductor, the Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma will give a charity concert in Dujiangyan, Chengdu, on Oct 15 and donate all the box-office earnings of its China tour, including the concerts in Beijing and Shanghai.

This is the orchestra's debut tour in China, and it is the first performing arts company to tour the area since the earthquake on May 12.

At the special concert in Dujiangyan, they will perform Beethoven's Symphony No 3, known as the Eroica which is Italian for "heroic", and the overture of Verdi's The Sicilian Vespers.

The second movement of Beethoven's Third Symphony, a funerary march, is frequently performed on memorial occasions. Serge Koussevitzky performed it to commemorate the death of US President Franlkin Delano Roosevelt, and Bruno Walter did the same for Arturo Toscanini.

It was also performed at the funeral of Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy in 1847. The second movement was also played by the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra as a funeral dirge during the memorial service following the "Munich massacre" terrorist attacks of the 1972 Summer Olympics.

"We have specially chosen this piece, because we are performing there for two kinds of people. One, the survivors who might have lost family members, and the other, the soldiers, doctors and all those who helped with the rescue operations. They are all heroes. This is the perfect piece for them," Vecchia tells China Daily.

James Kang, CEO of China-Italy Museum League (Beijing) Culture Media Co, Ltd, the company which is presenting the orchestra's China tour, says they planned to tour Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong in spring before the earthquake, but the tour was delayed. When Vecchia and his group came to Beijing to check out the venue they were to perform at, they saw reports of the earthquake on TV and were deeply moved.

"Vecchia could not help going to Sichuan immediately. After discussions, we finally canceled the Hong Kong leg and decided to perform in Dujiangyan. The orchestra also agreed to donate all the box-office revenue to help survivors rebuild their homes," says Kang.

Before they visit Chengdu, the orchestra will first play at Beijing's National Center for the Performing Arts tomorrow and Shanghai's Oriental Arts Center on Oct 17.