The Beijing Music Festival, endorsed by the Ministry of Culture of the People’s Republic of China and the Beijing Municipal Government, was founded in 1998 by conductor Long Yu who had been its Artistic Director from 1998 to 2004 and President of the Festival Arts Foundation from 2005. Now the festival has become one of the most significant and creative cultural events in the world. Annually in the golden Autumn, internationally renowned musicians and orchestras like Christoph Eschenbach, Lorin Maazel, Daniel Barenboim, Sir Simon Rattle, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Valery Gergiev, Jose Carreras, Martha Argerich, Maurizio Pollini, Lang Lang, Mischa Maisky, Augustin Dumay, Yo-Yo Ma, Jian Wang, the Berlin Philharmonic, the New York Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Teatro la Fenice, Venice, just to name a few, give some thirty performances including operas, symphonic and chamber music concerts, musicals, and even jazz performances.
The Beijing Music festival presented many performances with historic significance, including the sensational China premieres of Mahler’s “Symphony of Thousand” in 2002 and Wagner’s complete Ring cycle in 2005.
What makes the Beijing Music Festival unique among other international music festivals is its spirit of encouraging both western and Chinese contemporary music. The Festival has been always active in commissioning and giving premieres of new works from such composers as Krzysztof Penderecki, Philip Glass, John Corigliano, Chen Qigang , Tan Dun and Guo Wenjing.
The Beijing Music Festival also emphasizes music education. Each year the Festival offers free children's and students' concerts. Collaborating with the Education Department of the Central Conservatory of Music, the Festival has held ten cycles of master classes each year and won praises from all walks of life.
