Top singers to grace Games opening

Sarah Brightman

CHINA’S Liu Huan and British singer Sarah Brightman will sing at tomorrow’s opening ceremony for the Olympic Games at the Bird’s Nest in Beijing, organizers said yesterday.

Liu, one of the most renowned male pop singers in China, will sing with Brightman, best known for her appearances in shows in London’s West End including “The Phantom of the Opera,” a specially commissioned theme song which will make up part of the three-and-a-half-hour ceremony.

The entertainment will begin at 5:45 p.m. and the ceremony proper, featuring 15,000 participants, will follow from 8 p.m. The ceremony will close with the lighting of the Olympic flame but the organizers gave no clue as to the identity of the final torchbearer.

A fireworks show will feature the firing of 29,000 shells — 15,000 inside the stadium and 14,000 in the vicinity.

(SD-Xinhua)