Jaap and Jieni unveil music festival in Hainan of China

Jaap van Zweden unveiled the inaugural Hainan Island International Music Festival last night by conducting the festival's orchestra in an all Beethoven programme at the vividly lit Haikou Bay Performance Centre.

Jieni Wan, pianist and founding artistic director, was the soloist in Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3, a piece sandwiched by Egmont Overture and Symphony No. 5. There was no intermission.

Bearing the slogan "Resonance of the Waves" and under the auspices of the Bureau of Publicity of Hainan, the Festival runs from 10-24 December, presenting 12 major concerts and dozens of flash mobs all over the scenery spots in Haikou, Hainan's provincial capital, signalling mounting effort in cultural spending by the island otherwise known for duty free shopping, tropical weather and coconut tree which inspires the Festival logo.

The roster, echoing its classical, crossover and jazz line-up each presented over a weekend, include bass-baritone Shen Yang, violinist Lü Siqing and Major Ensemble, cellist Wang Jian, Richard Bona Trio, The Lobby Botts, and feat. Susie Wu. 

Ideas of a winter festival in Hainan, China's second largest island, first occured to Jieni in 2020 when she returned to China after finishing her postgraduate studies in Munich and Yale. It takes Jieni, who stays in Hainan for winter retreat during the Lunar New Year, three years to lobby the authority, and, leading a production team of 50 staff members, another three months to prepare for the launch on December 10.

The 27-year-old Wan, arguably one of the youngest directors of a music festival, handpicked the 80-member Festival orchestra. Foreign musicians of the orchestra, including American, Korean, Czech, Russian, German, Spanish and Greek working in China, primarily come from three municipal orchestras: Suzhou Symphony, Straits Symphony of Fuzhou and Ningbo Symphony Orchestra. She flew to visit Jaap multiple times in a bid to snatch him for the Festival debut.

Tickets to all the events, including indoor and open-air ones, are distributed free of charge to whoever makes an online reservation.