Combining vocal and instrumental elements with a wide range of musical styles, the opera took the composer seven years to finish. In 2017, Du won the Pulitzer Prize for Music for Angel's Bone, making her only the second Chinese composer to win the prestigious prize after Zhou Long in 2011 for his Beijing Music Festival-commissioned opera, Madame White Snake.

The second composer making their debut at the Beijing festival was Zhou Tian, who was nominated for his work Concerto for Orchestra in the best classical contemporary composition category at the 60th Grammy Awards, the first Chinese composer to do so in that category.

On Oct 25, Zhou Tian's musical pieces, Rhyme for Cello Solo, and Reading an Anthology of Chinese Poems, for narrator, flute, viola and harp, were performed by the Mahler Chamber Orchestra under the baton of conductor Vicente Alberola. Du's work, A Cockroach's Tarantella, was also staged during the concert.

Titled Thriving Artistry of Contemporary Music, A Celebration of Chinese & Western New Compositions, the concert was a celebration of modern music showcasing the work of the next generation of domestic and overseas composers.