Beijing Symphony Announces Line-up for 2nd Taihu Classical Music Festival

The Beijing Symphony Orchestra has announced during a press conference yesterday hosted by Mr Li Changjun, director of BSO, the programme for the 2nd Taihu Classical Music Festival, to be held from 1 to 7 October 2025. Timed to coincide with the National Day holiday, the festival will feature nearly 50 events across Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei under the theme Because of Love.

BSO recently opened its 2025-26 season under the baton of Yang Yang, its newly appointed Music Director.

Launched in 2024 to promote cultural development in Tongzhou district and Taihu Performing Arts Town where the orchestra is headquartered, the festival returns this year with an expanded programme of ten projects. For the first time, both indoor and outdoor stages will be used, including a newly completed open-air venue at the Beitou Taihu Cultural and Performing Arts Park.

The opening concert on 1 October will feature the Beijing Symphony Orchestra’s Youth Symphony conducted by Zhang Bingbing. The performance will include a special arrangement of My Motherland and I, the March of the Steel Torrent and Mozart’s Symphony No. 35 “Haffner.”

From 2 to 6 October, chamber groups from the Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei symphony orchestras will perform seven “Concerts on the Lawn” at the new outdoor stage. Themed programmes will include Sunrise, Sunset, Autumn, Golden Breeze, Radiant Sun and Promenade.

The festival will also screen seven films inspired by classical music under the title Classical Music on Screen. Screenings will run daily at the Taihu Performing Arts Hotel Theatre, with titles including Copying Beethoven, The Conductor and Nodame Cantabile: The Final Score.

Two public forums are scheduled. On 5 October, conductor Xia Xiaotang will join guest speakers for a session on music as a form of dialogue. On 6 October, Beijing Symphony Orchestra director Li Changjun, music critic Rudolph Tang and audience representative Liu Chengqing will discuss circumstances where music and musicians often come under fire by influencers on social media platforms such as Red Note.

Amateur chamber musicians will again be featured in the Capital Citizens’ Concert Hall series, which this year expands to include groups from Tianjin and Hebei. Selected ensembles will perform on 4 October at the Forbidden City Concert Hall.

The Symphony Experience Room, located within the orchestra’s Taihu base, will host a week-long “Symphonic Carnival.” Daily exhibition will range from patriotic repertoire and percussion showcases to film scores, folk-inspired works and crossovers with electronic music, supported by VR and interactive technologies.

The festival will close on 7 October with a 12-hour Percussion Marathon across four venues, including the new outdoor stage and the NCPA’s Taihu Stage. Chinese ensembles, youth groups and international soloists will appear throughout the day. The finale, conducted by Fan Ni with the Beijing Symphony Orchestra, will feature Peter Eötvös’s Speaking Drums and The Colours of Sound by an American percussion duo, joined by guest soloists from the United States and Spain.

By combining professional orchestras, youth performers, amateur musicians and cross-disciplinary projects, the 2nd Taihu Classical Music Festival aims to strengthen cultural exchange in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region and make classical music afforable, accessible and engaging.