Serge Mostura, Consul-General of France in Hong Kong said in a press kit issued to the media that among this year's highlights, dance and music are featured prominently with a series of brilliant performances by top French artists, among other programs of theater, cinema, exhibitions, and food and wine.

"As it enters the second decade of its existence, Le French May has become an essential component of Hong Kong's cultural scene, contributing significantly to Hong Kong's image as an international city. Le French May has not only proved its relevance as a festival of French arts and culture in Hong Kong, it has also become a fixture of the local cultural calendar.

"In the past few years, Le French May has indeed become an increasingly popular event, attracting diverse audiences from many different backgrounds. This growing success creates high expectations from the public," Mostura said.

In recent years, Le French May has also been developed into intriguing cultural collaborations between French and Hong Kong artists, as witnessed in a number of this year's events.

Tedi Papavrami, a French violinist, will perform with the Hong Kong Sinfonietta in Violin mania to be conducted by Hong Kong Sinfonietta's Music Director and Conductor Yip Wing-sie. They will play, among others, the renowned repertoire of Berlioz's Roman Carnival and Saint-Saen's Violin Concerto N0. 3 in B minor, Op 61.

Besides, 200 treasures and objets d'art chronicling former French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte's life will be featured in an exhibition at the Hong Kong Museum of History managed under the HKSAR Leisure and Culture Services Department (LCSD) from April 30 to June 29.

This year, Hong Kong Science Museum and the French Consulate are joining forces to bring people the lighter and practical side of science as exemplified in the works of the famous French scientist Louis Pasteur, whose surname became the world-famous pasteurization process of sterilizing beverages.

Daniel Raichvarg, a professor at the University Burgundy and director of the Center for Research on Culture and Museum, will follow Pasteur's life and scientific research by staging a one-man theater show covering Pasteur's invention of pasteurization and the discovery of a vaccine against rabies. The show will act out Pasteur's encounters with crystals, yeast and microbes, vinegar, wine and bear, breeders, veterinarians and physicians, physicists, chemists and biologists, academicians and journalists.

Other interesting events include an exhibition on French Modern Design, the French Wine Festival and the French Chamber of Commerce Gala Dinner.

As in the past years, recognized as one Hong Kong's major festivals, Le French May is seeking to bring a significant contribution to the emergence of a vibrant, innovative and international artistic and cultural life reflecting Hong Kong's unique character as the place where "east meets west," just as former consul-general of France in Hong Kong Jerome Pasquier said last year.

HKSAR public sector and private sector organizations taking part in the event include the LCSD, the Hong Kong Arts Center, the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, the Fringe Club and others.

(Xinhua News Agency April 9, 2003)