Davies serves up art for the tasting

Highlights of the 49th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards

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She recalls that when she first wanted to do it, everybody said no.

"They said 'Don't waste your time, don't bother, just do opera and music. Everybody can understand music and you don't need to translate anything'," Davies recalls. "But I'd seen this masterpiece in the UK and was touched. I think that a country needs a rich and comprehensive cultural life to nourish the soul of its people."

So Davies was delighted, when she presented the production for the first time in China, to find that Danny Boyle, its director, and Benedict Cumberbatch, its leading actor, were already stars in the country because Trainspotting and BBC TV's Sherlock were avidly watched by Internet viewers.

She also plans to bring Shakespeare's plays performed by the National Theater to China this year, after taking a Chinese interpretation of Shakespeare's Coriolanus to the Edinburgh International Festival last year.

The show was directed and produced by one of China's most esteemed theater directors, Lin Zhaohua of the Beijing People's Art Theater. Performed in Mandarin and featuring two of China's leading heavy-metal bands, Miserable Faith and Suffocated, it has sold out twice at Edinburgh.

"I feel that the production has something to say to Chinese audiences. I think we've proved that there is a market for this type of production. Shakespeare doesn't equal boring," she says.

Since the KT Wong Foundation was established, it has put on some unforgettable shows, including Benjamin Britten's Noah's Flood in Belfast Zoo with huge life-size handmade Chinese lanterns.

Davis also commissioned Chinese artist Zhang Huan to direct a baroque opera - Handel's Semele, though the artist had no experience working in theater. Then the production came to Beijing in 2010 as part of the Beijing Music Festival, where it was China's first major staging of a baroque opera.

Creating new work and giving artists opportunities are also important facets of the foundation. In 2014, it will kick off a mini-film festival collaborating with British Film Institute and China Film Archive.

It has also commissioned a new work by renowned musician Chen Qigang, which will be performed by China Philharmonic as the opening of BBC Proms this year.

"Even when we choose something old, we do it in a new way, something more contemporary," Davies says.

"We promote and provide the opportunity for the music to be heard. A painting hangs on the wall, and you can see it every day. For a piece of music, if you don't play it, it will be forgotten."

Related: Q&A with Linda Wong Davis

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