WASHINGTON, Sept. 26 (Xinhua) -- Dozens of young Chinese and U.S. musicians held a virtual concert on Saturday to celebrate China's traditional Mid-Autumn Festival.

The about two-hour event, live streamed on YouTube Saturday evening, is part of the online celebration week hosted by the Chinese embassy in the United States to mark the Mid-Autumn Festival, which falls on Oct. 1 this year, coinciding with China's National Day.

"Each of tonight's programs will be jointly completed by Chinese and American musicians. This kind of East-West cultural fusion makes this concert an impressionist painting of ink, elegant and full of color changes," Bo Gao, who has just received his doctoral degree in piano performance at the Catholic University of America (CUA), told Xinhua before the concert started.

"It's a good occasion for Chinese students to express their yearning for the homeland, and American friends to show their appreciation about Chinese culture," said Gao, who helped put together the concert since mid-July. "Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, it's also a nice opportunity for us to continue with what we love."

In addition to Gao's peers and teachers from CUA, the event also featured music students and professors from the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami, Northern Texas University, Duke University, Manhattan School of Music, Shenandoah University and University of Rochester.

The Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival, is generally regarded as one of the most important traditional festivals in China and falls on the 15th day of the eighth month on the Chinese lunar calendar.