The global performing arts industry is interconnected and shares a common destiny. On November 13, the 2023 World Association for Performing Arts & Beijing Forum for Symphonic Music was inaugurated at the National Center for the Performing Arts (NCPA), officially unveiling the World Association for Performing Arts (WAPA).
In 2019, the NCPA hosted the "2019 Beijing Forum for Performing Arts" and proposed for the first time a communication and cooperation mechanism for the Beijing Forum for Performing Arts. It explored to set up the WAPA and received wide support and response from colleagues. Over the past four years, association members have achieved fruitful results in areas such as artistic production, popularization of the arts, exchange visits, and international forums through various collaborations. On November 12, the WAPA General Assembly and Council Meeting were held at the NCPA, where participating council organizations had in-depth discussions and reached consensus on enhancing the operational capacity of the association, improving brand activities to promote communication and cooperation among member organizations, and promoting the integration of technology and art.
At the opening ceremony, Wang Ning, president of the WAPA and the NCPA, said, "As the initiator of the World Association for Performing Arts, the NCPA will continue to work together with the global art institutions to fully support the development of the association and organize relevant activities, jointly weaving a spiritual bond of the global performing arts and revitalizing the strong and lasting spiritual power of human civilization." Cormac Simms, Administrative Director of The Royal Opera and a representative of the participating organizations, highly praised the initiative, saying, "Music and art play an extremely important role in human development and serve as an important link for communication between different countries. We are delighted to be a member of the association and work together to make progress in the future." It is reported that the headquarters of the World Association for Performing Arts will be located in Beijing, with the secretariat located at the NCPA.
"Now, the World Association for Performing Arts has embarked on a new journey. We will be firm in our cultural self-confidence, make innovations based on traditions, and persist in inclusiveness and openness, promoting the construction of modern civilization of the Chinese nation and the world’s multicultural exchanges and mutual understanding," said Zhu Jing, vice president of the WAPA and the NCPA. The association is already on the way to action. In April this year, the NCPA visited Brazil's São Paulo Concert Hall and Argentina’s Cento Cultural Kirchner and Cologne Theatre, to exchange visits of association members. Not long ago, Lakmé, an opera co-produced by the NCPA, Oman's Royal Opera House Muscat, and other agencies, was staged in Beijing, highlighting the fruitful cooperation of the members of the association. Soon, the NCPA will tour Singapore and Malaysia with two operas to promote more contributions from the members of the association in terms of artistic exchanges and personnel exchanges.
As one of the three major forums under the framework of the WAPA, the 2023 Beijing Forum for Symphonic Music, with the theme of "Reaching for Innovation, Sharing for Prosperity", was opened after the inauguration ceremony of the association, bringing together representatives of 187 international arts organizations from 30 countries and regions around the world. During the keynote speeches, Wang Ning, president of the NCPA, Martin Engstroem, founder and director of Verbier Festival, Yu Feng, president of the Central Conservatory of Music, as well as other representatives from international orchestras and music festivals, shared insightful views.
"In 1973, the Philadelphia Orchestra visited China and became the first symphony orchestra to China." The executive director for The Kimmel Center and The Philadelphia Orchestra said that 50 years later, this friendship forged by music still shines. "Now, we are all facing an era full of changes, and music always has the power to lead us."
On November 14, three parallel sub-forums of the 2023 Beijing Forum for Symphonic Music discussed the topics of "Music Aesthetics and Audience Expansion", "New Forces, New Works - Contemporary Vision of Symphony", and "Creating an Artistic Platform for Co-creation and Increment." The closing ceremony of the forum will form the "Beijing Consensus."
Translator: LI Xiaochun
Editor: ZHOU Huilin
