The China Philharmonic Orchestra held a concert in Odeon of Herodes Atticus as the last leg of its 2015 Silk Road Concert Tour held in Athens, capital of Greece, Aug 19, drawing to a successful close of the 18-day and six-country concert tour.

Performances included Alexander Borodin's "Polovtsian Dances" from the opera "Prince Igor", Antonin Dvorak's "New World" Symphony and He Zhanhao and Chen Gang's "Butterfly Lovers' Violin Concerto", or in Chinese, Liangzhu, which combines gracefully elements of Chinese folk tales, Chinese Shaoxing opera, and Western classic music.

Chinese ambassador to Greece Zou Xiaoli gave an address before the concert, highlighting Sino-Greek cooperation in the spirit of the Silk Road.

Greek Deputy Foreign Minister Ioannis Amanatidis as well as an audience of thousands watched the performance.

Nichezaki, a Greek musician who attended the concert, said it was the first time for her to watch performances by Chinese musicians, and that she could not tear her eyes from the performers throughout the concert. "Music becomes the lingua franca connecting people around the globe, especially when Greece is in economic peril," she said.

During its 18-day Silk Road concert tour, the China Philharmonic, led by its founding director Long Yu, visited six cities along the Silk Road economic belt: Dushanbe, capital of Tajikistan; Bishkek, capital of Kyrgyzstan; Astana, the largest city in Kazakhstan; Tehran, capital of Iran; Istanbul, the largest city in Turkey and Athens, capital of Greece.