2018 Beijing

May 19, 2018 – May 26, 2018
Beijing, China

Festival info

Start: May 19, 2018

End: May 26, 2018

Locations: Beijing, China

Hosting member(s)

WNMD Report

Description
Description

From Contemporaneous Reports of the Festival

“The annual ISCM World Music Days Festival is a sprawling, diverse, and often overwhelming array of concerts, meetings, receptions, installations, and networking. In my twelve years attending this event, it has taken me to such far-flung places as Hong Kong, Lithuania, Poland, Australia, Vancouver, and South Korea (to name a few). It has (directly or indirectly) also introduced me to some of the most fulfilling artistic discoveries, most compelling travel experiences, and most long-lasting friendships of my career. And so it was with great anticipation that I made plans for my first trip to Beijing for the 2018 World Music Days Festival hosted by the Beijing Modern Music Festival.

…

“By my count, this eight-day festival included 21 concerts featuring ensembles from seven countries (China, Germany, Japan, USA, New Zealand, Australia, and Russia). Together, these events presented roughly 144 pieces by composers from nearly 45 countries. … The programming was admirably diverse, and embraced a wide range of styles, genres, ensembles, and artistic approaches.”

— Stephen Lias,
“Sprawling, Diverse, and Often Overwhelming – A Report on the 2018 ISCM World Music Days,”
World New Music Magazine 28 (2018), pp. 50, 51, and 52.

“The success of the Beijing Festival is due to the close cooperation with the Beijing Central Conservatory, the unusual architectural forms of the beautiful, spacious concert hall, and musicians invited from the whole world. A wide range of different genres and styles – from electronic music to solos and duets, from choral music to works of symphonic magnitude – were performed in three concerts every day.”

— Anna Veismane, “Intensivo massimo! – ISCM World New Music Days 2018 (Beijing, China),”
World New Music Magazine 28 (2018), p. 46.

“It seemed to me in this final garden of pleasure, that artistic director’s Ye Xiaogang Confucianist lateral thinking and allowance for Daoist flow outside the mundane pot of life had born much fruit in Beijing. These sound and creative exchange gardens in Beijing had brought composers from over all over the globe together in boundary blurring creativity and cultural understanding between Asian-Pacific aesthetics and world new music cultures.”

— Bruce Crossman,
“Confucian Lateral Thinking and Daoist Flow in the Sonic Fire Gardens of Beijing – ISCM World New Music Days/Beijing Modern Music Festival 2018,” World New Music Magazine 28 (2018), p. 69.

Programme information
Locations