The National Center for the Performing Arts (NCPA) will produce Rossini's comic opera La Cenerentola, with an international cast drawn from six countries.

The three-act opera will be staged from Oct 20 to 23, and is directed by Romanian director Petrika Ionesco, who has worked with the world's leading opera houses, including Metropolitan and La Scala. Ionesco is also the stage and lighting designer for NCPA's La Cenerentola.

Adapted from the fairy tale of Cinderella in 1817, Rossini's La Cenerentola satirizes money worship and is best known for its complex coloratura.

All the seven Chinese actors and actresses in this work were selected from NCPA's 2011 opera audition.