BEIJING, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) -- A new production of Puccini's opera "La Fanciulla del West" will hit the stage of the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) in Beijing from Aug. 20 to 25.

The NCPA production will have the rising American opera director Thaddeus Strassberger as the director and set designer and Andrea Battistoni, the youngest conductor to appear at the Teatro alla Scala, as the conductor, according to the NCPA website.

Adapted from David Belasco's drama "The Girl of the Golden West," the opera is set in California in the Gold Rush era and tells a love story between the hostess of a bar and a Mexican bandit.

The opera is known for including American Indian music and American ballads as well as various elements to the genre of Western films such as burglary, manhunts, fiery women and combative men.

The performing cast will be made up of international and Chinese singers, including Italian singers Amarilli Nizza, Marco Berti and Claudio Sgura.