2023 Shenzhen Belt and Road International Music Festival successfully held

The colors intermingle and shine, and the instruments are played in harmony, finally coming together as one. 

General Secretary Xi Jinping said at the Third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation that the Silk Road Spirit, namely peace and cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, mutual learning and mutual appreciation, as well as mutual benefit and win-win result, is the most important force for the joint development of the Belt and Road Initiative. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out, "What made the ancient Silk Road immortalized in history was not war horses or spears, but camel caravans and good intentions; not aggressive ships or sharp cannons, but treasure ships and friendship."

On the evening of Oct. 31, with the last note of Bright March being played by the Macao Orchestra and flowing at the performance hall, the Guangming Culture and Art Center was filled with endless applause. The 2023 Shenzhen Belt & Road International Music Festival came to a close with the audience in awe.

2023 Shenzhen Belt & Road International Music Festival

During the nearly two-month music festival, Eastern and Western music was played together, stirring civilization exchanges and communion. The festival presented the elegance of Shenzhen as the first demonstration zone of socialism with Chinese characteristics. It highlighted the ethos of Shenzhen in openness, inclusiveness, innovation, and vitality, and reflected the mission and responsibility of Shenzhen as a pioneer of Sino-foreign cultural exchanges. It further nourished the humanistic and artistic spirit of Shenzhen. It has positively helped Shenzhen to accelerate the building of a more globally influential economic center and modern international metropolis and to present a modern urban civilization with a prosperous socialist culture. 

Tchaikovsky's Complete Symphonies Concert by Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra I, II, III

In 54 days, 35 plays, totaling 59 performances, were staged one after another; 24 outstanding art groups, 41 soloists and pop singers, and over 1,000 artists from more than 30 countries and regions, such as Russia, Austria, Italy, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Iran, the United Kingdom, and France, participated in contributing art feasts another and yet another for Pengcheng (namely Shenzhen) audience.

2023 Shenzhen Belt & Road International Music Festival Just at the Right Time 

The Silk Road stretches along with the melodious sound of camel bells. More than 2,000 years ago, China opened up the ancient Silk Road across the East and the West, traversing different time and space, crossing different civilizations, and creating a road of mutual understanding of civilizations.

"Ancient Sounds of the Silk Road" Concert of Gurdjieff Ensemble

On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative, the 2023 Shenzhen Belt & Road International Music Festival is coming as scheduled. Music enhances the exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations, thus upholding the beauty of each civilization and the diversity of civilizations in the world. 

Shenzhen Belt & Road International Music Festival is a national brand activity approved by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. It is designed to echo the Belt and Road Initiative, create a broad platform for convergence, integration, exchange and interaction, and showcase the musical art of the countries and regions along the Belt and Road. 

Arabian Fantastic Drift - Concert of the MAias ALyamani & Arabic MAqam Ensemble

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative, while the musical art along with Silk Road is once again reunited with Shenzhen. Shenzhen Belt & Road International Music Festival returned this September with a blockbuster after a four-year absence. The 2023 Shenzhen Belt & Road International Music Festival provides a stage for the culture and art of different countries and weaves a bond for the exchanges and mutual learning between different civilizations.

Vadim Repin and Svetlana Smolina Violin Concert

The 2023 Shenzhen Belt & Road International Music Festival has been followed and covered consistently by national and local mainstream media such as People's Daily, Xinhua News Agency, CCTV, Guangming Daily, Belt and Road Portal, CNR News, Shenzhen Satellite TV, Nanfang Metropolis Daily and the Paper, etc. Guangming Daily, CCTV-3 Culture Spotlight, Shenzhen Satellite TV Bay Area Parlor, and many other media launched special reports. The brand influence and popularity of the Shenzhen Belt & Road International Music Festival have been further enhanced.

International Top Art Feast Amazing Pengcheng (Shenzhen)

This year's music festival is full of highlights and excitement.

A wide range of performances in a variety of genres

The festival not only encompasses a rich array of musical forms ranging from symphonies, instrumental solos, vocal solos, choruses, national operas, and world music, but also boasts a variety of other art forms, including classical ballet, contemporary ballet, modern dance, and musical.

Debut line-up

Solo recital debut of Angela Gheorghiu, a world-renowned soprano, in Shenzhen. Solo recital debut of African superstar Fatoumata Diawara with Memory of Mali in China. Béjart Ballet Lausanne, Gurdjieff Ensemble, Arabic MAqam Ensemble, talented dancer Aakash Odedra, etc. came to Shenzhen for the first time.

Memory of Mali – Concert By Fatoumata Diawara

International maestros

Sir Stephen Hough, the first classical musician ever to receive a MacArthur Fellows Program, Gerhard Oppitz, a German piano maestro, MiloŠ, a classical guitarist, Vadim Repin, a violin virtuoso, Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra, and Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra have come to China with concerts.

Gerhard Oppitz Piano Recital

Telling China's stories & highlighting Shenzhen's voices

The National Ballet of China staged the symphonic version of the ballet A Dream of Red Mansions, for the first time in Shenzhen. Guangdong Cantonese Opera Institute sang on stage in Shenzhen with Madam Xian and The Legend of Liu Yi. 

Wing Chun restaged in Shenzhen for its 100th performance

After a successful debut in Singapore, Wing Chun, a dance drama that originated in Shenzhen, ushers in its 100th performance in Shenzhen, which is of great significance. It is in line with the 2023 Shenzhen Belt & Road International Music Festival, enabling and enriching each other mutually. Wing Chun, standing on the new starting point of its 100th performance, is riding the waves of the music festival to sail towards the future of "double success at the box office and public praise, a new chapter both at home and abroad".

The 100th Performance of Dance Drama Wing Chun 2023

Artistic exchanges and mutual appreciation between Shenzhen and the world

Numerous international artists joined forces with the local Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra for the opening concert. For the first time, the famous Béjart Ballet Lausanne, came to Shenzhen to perform its representative piece Boléro joined by 18 dancers, all from the Department of Dance, School of Music and Dance, Faculty of Arts, Shenzhen University. Aakash Odedra, an Indian-British choreographer, performed Samsara, a duet of modern dance, jointly with Hu Shenyuan, a resident artist in Shenzhen. Wiener Sängerknaben, Austria's prestigious choir, sings together with the Shenzhen Children's Choir. Furthermore, five public performances were staged at the festival, including the Bay Area Maritime Silk Road Concert, and an outdoor public performance by the Macao Orchestra and the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra. Numerous star artists and famous troupes carry out more than ten public welfare activities with various forms and colorful themes, such as master classes, lectures, pre-performance guided appreciation, backstage visits, public rehearsals, etc. in Shenzhen. They further art share with the Shenzhen public, and thus giving the public opportunities to contact with music masters and feel the unique charm of art.

Starring Sharing Session of Samsara

Rehearsal observation and explanation on the ice of classic ballets Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty by Saint Petersburg State Ballet on Ice, Russia

2023 Shenzhen Belt & Road International Music Festival Wins Great Praise

Angela Gheorghiu, a world-renowned soprano from Romania, believes that the high standard of the Shenzhen Belt & Road International Music Festival can be radiated to the rest of the world, making Shenzhen Belt & Road International Music Festival blossom everywhere.

Angela Gheorghiu Recital

Karen Kocharyan, an Armenian cellist, said that the festival was as moving and exciting as ever and that it is a great feast and honor to meet so many internationally renowned musicians there.

Sahib Pashazade, an Azerbaijani Tar player, said he was thrilled to come to Shenzhen and perform with the excellent Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra. "Music needs no words. Instead of talking, just listen and you can understand every culture and every kinds of music." The Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan in China sent a letter of thanks to the music festival, praising its role in enhancing humanistic exchanges and cultural integration between the two countries. 

When Béjart Ballet Lausanne made its debut in Shenzhen with Boléro, Mr. Philippe Praz, Consul-general of the Consulate General of Switzerland in Guangzhou, made a point of coming to support. He said Shenzhen, as an open, international and innovative city, attracts people from all over the world, making Shenzhen culture unique. On the other hand, Shenzhen's urban atmosphere especially appeals to international art groups.

Béjart Ballet Lausanne

Quite a number of Shenzhen residents said that the Shenzhen Belt & Road International Music Festival allows everyone to enjoy international top art feasts without leaving Shenzhen. Shenzhen, one of the first-tier cities in China, should benchmark itself against top-notch culture and art domestically and internationally. 

Mr. Lin Daye, music director of Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra, hopes that through the Shenzhen Belt & Road International Music Festival, Shenzhen will continue to build up its cultural soft power to be noticed throughout the country and even the world. "Not only do we want to incorporate more world cultures, but at the same time, we want to bring our works to the countries along the Belt and Road, and to the whole world, making more people know about China and Shenzhen."

Azerbaijani Tar player Sahib Pashazade and Lin Daye, music director of Shenzhen Symphony Orchestr

Zhou Siming, director of the Theory Committee, Committee on Innovative Work Development of Chinese Telling and Singing Art Society, believes that such a brand as Shenzhen Belt & Road International Music Festival is of great significance for China to better integrate into international cultural exchanges and cooperation.

Guangdong Cantonese Opera Institute The legend of Liu Yi

Music Enhances Exchange and Mutual Appreciation of Civilizations

History has taught us that only through exchanges and mutual learning can a civilization be full of vitality.

Shenzhen Belt & Road International Music Festival has been successfully held for three times since 2017 with the theme of "Connecting China to the World". Thousands of artists and nearly 100 music groups from the Belt and Road countries and even around the globe have set foot in Shenzhen, and have staged more than 100 wonderful performances and exchange activities in the young city, which represents the achievements of China's reform and opening up and its openness to the world.

A Dream of Red Mansions

Shenzhen Belt & Road International Music Festival has not only become one of the important platforms to tell the stories of Shenzhen, Guangdong, the Bay Area and China, but also a bridge for the communication and integration of Eastern and Western musical culture.

On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative in 2023, this year's event, building on the success of the previous pursuit of internationality, ethnicity, and artistry, highlights the innovation, leadership and contemporaneity, showing the breadth and depth of the Silk Road civilizations cultural exchanges and mutual understanding.

In the opinion of Han Wangxi, second-grade inspector of Shenzhen Municipal Party Committee Publicity Department, this year's music festival has three major highlights. The first is the exceptionally high level, which is aligned with the world's most high-end artistic standards, with often sold-out attendance. The second is the variety of art forms, including classical, modern, eastern, and western art forms from various countries, which fully demonstrate the inclusiveness and beauty of Chinese civilization. The third is that the music festival in effect enhanced the international reputation of Shenzhen. Artists of the Belt and Road experienced the artistic taste and humanistic feelings of Shenzhen during the music festival, where the city brand and art brand benefit each other in both shining more brilliantly. In this Music Festival, world's top artists and troupes have been working with Shenzhen's local artists on the same stage. Visiting artists such as soprano Angela Georgiou, gifted dancer Aakash Odedra, Béjart Ballet Lausanne and Wiener Sängerknaben, etc., were full of praise for Shenzhen's local artistic power. "The music festival presents the best of Chinese civilization to the world while being able to attract the world's best works to perform in Shenzhen. This is the 'diversity of civilizations in the world'."

Famous sopranos Zhang Liping and Guo Sen, tenors Wang Kang and Zhang Long perform representative opera pieces with Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra

Xiaogang Ye, director of Organizing Committee of the Shenzhen Belt & Road International Music Festival, chairman of the China Musicians Association, and Dean of the School of Music at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, said that from next year onwards, the Organizing Committee will comprehensively introduce top international and domestic music and dance arts groups to bring classic or original programs, aiming to reflect the characteristics of the Belt and Road, the openness and inclusiveness of Shenzhen, as well as emancipation and bold innovation in aesthetics.

Xiaogang Ye, director of Organizing Committee of the Shenzhen Belt & Road International Music Festival, chairman of the China Musicians Association, and Dean of the School of Music of The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen

Civilizations are enriched by exchanges and mutual learning. Shenzhen carries forward the spirit of the Silk Road to facilitate mutual learning among civilizations with the Belt & Road International Music Festival. Let's look forward to the 2024 Shenzhen Belt & Road International Music Festival!