BEIJING, April 7 (Xinhua) -- Italian art -- ranging from opera, concerts to exhibitions -- will be the subject of a month-long festival in Beijing.

The government-sponsored annual "Meet in Beijing" art festival, to be held between April 27 and May 31 this year, is in its 18th year and will feature Italy as the guest of honor, said the organizers, which include the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the State Administration of Radio and Television.

Italian composer and conductor Andrea Molino will lead the opening concert with his Chinese counterpart Tan Lihua. Chinese and Italian musicians will perform classical pieces of the two countries.

During the festival, Italian pianist Robert Prosseda will play a duet with a robot pianist. An exhibition will feature the cultural life of the Italian Renaissance.

Besides the Italian art, the festival will bring in dramas, puppet shows, circuits, dances and other performances by arts from Poland, France, Britain, Greece, Hungary, and Cambodia.

The closing show will be the Chinese dance drama "Confucius" by China National Opera and Dance Theater. The drama won wide recognition when it was staged at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington and the Lincoln Center in New York.