In February 2016, the Beijing Music Festival announced its extensive cooperation with the renowned Festival d’Aix en Provence in the next 5 years. Benjamin Britten’s opera “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, the first project after the announcement, will be unveiled at the BMF this year at the Poly Theatre on Oct 15th and 16th.
This unique cultural milestone was conceived by the pioneering KT Wong Foundation, an organisation that has led the way in delivering boundary-pushing cultural, artistic and educational exchanges between China and the West since its launch in 2007. As well as a commitment to promoting cultural relations, the Foundation has also established itself as a leading supporter of young musical talent in China, Europe and the US. Under the leadership of Founder and Chairman Lady Linda Wong Davies, the organisation has been a longtime supporter of both the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence and the Beijing Music Festival, and worked tirelessly over the past three years to bring them together.
In addition the Foundation has been introducing the work of the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence to Chinese audiences since December 2014 with a series of film screenings in Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin of some of the Festival’s previous seminal productions. These extraordinary productions have included Patrice Chéreau’s chilling production of Strauss’ Elektra, The Robert Carsen sparkling revival of A Midsummer Nights Dream and Robert Lepage’s water-filled production of Stravinsky’s The Nightingale.
Lady Davies said: “This is a huge commitment by both the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence and the Beijing Music Festival and is a fine example of the cultural bridges we are helping to build and develop between China and the rest of the world.
“The Foundation are proud to have helped this collaboration, which offers exciting opportunities for audiences and artists, particularly the young artists in China.