On August 13th, Karlovac International Piano Festival was opened at the Concert Hall of Museum Mimara in Zagreb, capital of Croatia. More than ten pianists, cellists and violinists from USA, Russia, China and other countries held several recitals. Liu Shikun, famous Chinese pianist, presented the music White-Haired Girl and his own adaptation of Carmen at the opening ceremony.

During the interview, Liu Shikun remarked that though the piano was a western musical instrument more and more Chinese came to learn it. This time, he brought more than one hundred young learners of piano from the mainland and Hong Kong. They would give a tour performance in Croatia, Italy and Greece where they would exchange with local young learners of piano. It would enable them to sense musical traditions of different countries and promote musical exchange between China and other countries.