Paul Mauriat Orchestra promises some old favorites

The world-class light music orchestra from France, Paul Mauriat's Orchestra, will return to Beijing for a performance at the Beijing Exhibition Hall, after their previous appearances in the capital in 2000 and 2002.

This time, the orchestra is led by French conductor Paul Mauriat's son Paul Justafre, and will play a variety of hits from the past four decades.

After Mauriat died in 2006 at the age of 81, his son took over and has been injecting new ideas while keeping the traditions from his father's time.

The program includes such pieces as I Will Always Love You, Prlude From La Traviata, Love is Blue and the Chinese song Descendant of the Dragon.

Born into a family of classical musicians in France, in 1925, Mauriat originally planned to follow in the family's footsteps and began to learn classical music at the age of 4 and enrolled in the Paris Conservatory when he was 10.

As a teenager, however, he became infatuated with jazz and pop music.

At the age of 17, he formed an orchestra and began touring concert halls throughout Europe.

Mauriat's career as a composer and arranger started in 1962 when he scored the song Chariot. It became a big hit in Europe.

His 1968 Love is Blue and I Will Follow Him topped the United States charts.

He left the stage in 1998 after his final appearance in Japan but his orchestra continued to perform in Asia with new leaders.

He also arranged and wrote a few pop songs for Chinese singers, such as Olive Tree for Taiwan singer Chyi Yu in 1984.

For 2002's Beijing performance, the orchestra also played a few Chinese songs such as Jasmine Flowers and Descendant of the Dragon.