The annual National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) May Festival is set to kick off on May 1 in Beijing.

Themed "Brighter Future in Music," this year's NCPA May Festival will be held as a carnival of chamber music with renowned artists and orchestras who will "interpret the classics and create new pieces to tap the unlimited potential of chamber music," according to a statement by the NCPA.

The opening concert will feature string music performed by celebrated Chinese string artists including Lyu Siqing, Huang Mengla and Qin Liwei, as well as international musicians namely Anne-Marie Johnson, Kirstin Kenny, Christopher Moore, Rachael Tobin and Wendy Clarke.

It will be followed by 23 more concerts at both the NCPA and the Beijing Performing Arts Centre featuring eminent international groups such as I Musici, Concerto Copenhagen and the Austrian-Hungarian Haydn Philharmonic, as well as the internationally acclaimed violinist Pinchas Zukerman, who will put on a special solo concert on May 12.

Prominent domestic orchestras including the China Philharmonic Orchestra, the China National Symphony Orchestra and Hangzhou Philharmonic Orchestra will also go on the stages during the festival.

The first NCPA May Festival was held in 2009.