Musicians from across China and the world will perform at the 2013 Beijing Modern Music Festival, which kicks off at the National Center for the Performing Arts on May 18 with a concert titled Wing of the Dream.

Under the baton of Hu Yongyan, Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra will perform Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho's Wing of the Dream, and Chinese composer Ye Xiaogang's Songs of Sorrow and Relief, which was inspired by Buddhist master Li Shutong's four poems.

Cutting-edge new music performers from New York, Bang on a Can, led by veteran violinist Todd Reynolds, will join forces with the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra to perform David Lang's Pierced, Michael Gordon's Rewriting, Beethoven's Seventh Symphony, and a world premiere arrangement of Julia Wolfe's Big Beautiful Dark and Scary, composed for six soloists and an orchestra.