BEIJING, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- A new version of Puccini's opera "La Fanciulla del West" premiered at the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) in Beijing Tuesday.

The NCPA production has 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.

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, performed by singers from China and Italy, 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.