The annually Beijing Modern Music Festival will open at the Concert Hall of National Centre for the Performing Arts on May 19. As the music director of the festival, the famous conductor Hu Yongyan, together with China National Symphony Orchestra, the famous violoncellist Qin Liwei, the pianist Yuan Jie, and the suona performer Zhang Qianyuan, will bring a splendid performance to the audience at the opening ceremony.

The repertoires arranged emphasizes “the exchanges between eastern and western cultures”, covering the works of both western modern and contemporary composers such as Elliot Carter, Gordon Williamson and Ryan Latimer, and eastern composers like Qin Wenchen, Ye Xiaogang and Chen Yi. Among the repertoires, Xingguang (Starlight) is a classic composed by Ye Xiaogang for the 2008 Beijing Olympics at the critical moment, and performed by the pianist Lang Lang at the opening ceremony of the Olympics.

Having been operated for 15 years, Beijing Modern Music Festival has now developed into the largest and the most influential music festival throughout the country, and meanwhile stably ascended to the rank of the world-focused modern and contemporary music festivals. In addition, the annually International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM) World New Music Days will fall on the days during the Beijing Modern Music Festival this year in Beijing from May 19 to 26.

World New Music Days 2018 will be hosted by the Central Conservatory of Music, and undertaken by the Beijing Modern Music Festival Organization Committee, which began to solicit musical works throughout the world from November, 2017. The works contain symphonies, small symphonies, Chinese national orchestras, youth mixed chorus, string quartets, piano trios, quintets, septets, solos, chamber operas, and electronic music works. The organization committee has collected 450 works, among which 318 were submitted by representatives from 54 ISCM member states, and 122 by individuals (45 from home and 77 from abroad). Through the comprehensive examination of the music scores, audios and videos, 63 works finally won the qualification of the music festival, including 23 submitted by representatives of ISCM member states and 10 by individuals.