China Launches Brand New Int'l Music Festival Celebrating the Oceans

The Jimo district of the Chinese coastal city Qingdao is due to welcome its first ocean-themed music festival, the Tsingtao International Music Festival August 2-11, with the aim of helping Qingdao to evolve into an even more modern and dynamic international city, and creating a well-known musical event of its own. Tsingtao is how Qingdao used to be spelled in the Wade-Giles system.

Qingdao is probably best known for the Tsingtao Brewery. It is also known as a music city which has hosted a series of international and national music competitions. The city was the Olympic Sailing Center of the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

Centered around the theme of “Top Originality”, “Sound of the Sea·Soul of the City”, the festival will consist of 10 concerts that showcase representative Chinese classical and folk music compositions, works by Western classical masters and other new compositions created by artists especially for Qingdao. The festival will run from Aug 2 to 11 at the Qingdao Yuedu Music Valley that lies in the city's Jimo district.

The 10-day festival include symphony concerts “The Light of Qingdao”, “Ode to the Red Flag”, “The Sound of the Sea”, and traditional Chinese music concert “Lofty Mountains and Flowing Water”, YAN Weiwen and His Students in Folk Vocality Masterclass, JIA Ran Piano Recital, Piano Recital by Dong Fei-Fei and Alvin Zhu, LIANG Danan and Xiaotang TAN “Beethoven Sonata Concert”, and CHENG Haoru Guzheng Concert “Meeting with the Grand Slam Winner”. It surely will bring an unprecedented audio feast to the audiences.

One of the highlights of the festival is the Tsingtao International Music Festival Orchestra which has been formed specifically for the occasion. Comprising some 90 musicians drawn from orchestras based in China and abroad, 70% of who are well established players, concertmasters, and soloists, the orchestra is expected to play a vital role in the festival, as is responsible for all the major performances including both the opening and closing ceremonies. The founding of the festival orchestra will be a powerful guarantee for the long-term artistic vitality of the music festival.

YE Xiaogang, a renowned composer and Artistic Director of Tsingtao International Music Festival, says, "It brings us together and attracts wonderful music from around the globe to the shores of the Yellow Sea - Qingdao. This is where musicians get together to present their performances filled with passion. In this music community, I clearly see every member's professionalism and dedication to music, and I find that the dreams about music are stretching afar from this coastal city."

For more information
http://www.tsingtaoimf.com

Press inquiry
Mr GUO Haiou
tsingtaoimf@126.com

About YE Xiaogang
Artistic Director of Tsingtao International Music Festival
Composer Xiaogang YE is Chairman of the China Musicians Association, Chairman of Artistic Committee Beijing Modern Music Festival, Shenzhen International Music Festival, Tsingtao International Music Festival, International Music Competition Harbin. Regarded as one of the leading composers in China, he has been commissioned to compose works for many international and state-level activities and served as judges for important music competitions at home and abroad. He has received top music awards and honorary titles at China’s most prestigious events, and won many international awards, including the Louis Lane Prize, Howard Hanson Prize, the “Heritage Prize for Excellence in Creativity in Music” from the Li Foundation of San Francisco, an award from the American Society of Composers and Publishers, and 2012 Guggenheim Fellowship Award.