The Beijing Music Festival (BMF) Arts Foundation announced a three-year cooperation project with French opera company Opéra Comique on Monday. According to BMF artistic director Zou Shuang, the project will kick off with their new collaborative opera Carmen, directed by Andreas Homoki. 

The opera will make its world debut in Paris in September 2020 and then tour later that year to BMF, where the music will be conducted by Yu Long and performed by the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra. Additionally, BMF and the company will also work together to bring composer Zhou Long's Pulitzer Prize-winning opera Madame White Snake back to the stage at BMF in 2022. 

Educational and cultural exchanges are also an important part of the project, which aims to promote co-productions and talent exchanges.