The 2026 Beijing Traditional Music Festival opened on Oct 13 at the China Conservatory of Music (CCM), bringing together folk song bearers, representative singers, outstanding young vocalists and established artists from across the country.

Artists deliver a performance at the event. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Organized by the Beijing Municipal Education Commission and hosted by the CCM and the Beijing Musicians Association, this year's festival is themed "bringing folk songs to life" and comprises four strands: themed performances, touring promotion, transmission workshops and thematic forums.

Wang Xudong reviews the festival's development. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

At the opening ceremony, Wang Xudong, secretary of the CPC CCM Committee, reviewed the festival's development since its founding in 2009. Folk songs come from the people and from life, he said, and carry rich regional culture and emotional memory. He hoped that more of these rare songs would reach the contemporary stage, and that young people would come to know Chinese music more deeply through study and practice.

Zhou Lin delivers a speech at the event. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Zhou Lin, deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Education Commission, described fine traditional Chinese music as a valuable resource for aesthetic education in universities, and called on the conservatory to build on its professional strengths, deepen the integration of artistic and educational resources, and expand platforms for high-level artistic practice and cultural exchange.

The concert was conducted by Xu Zhijun, professor at the CCM, leading the Chinese Orchestra of the China Conservatory of Music, with Wu Bixia, Lei Jia, Gong Linna, Lyu Jihong and Wang Lida among the performers.

Twenty performances brought folk songs of widely different regional styles onto one stage, from the Hubei song The Moon Sets in the West (Yue Er Luo Xi Xia) and pieces from Henan province, Northeast China, the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region and Yunnan province to the By Qingshui River (Tan Qing Shui He) from Beijing.

Artists deliver performances at the event. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The programs also brought together promising young singers trained at the conservatory, prize winners of major competitions and vocal teachers active in the classroom, alongside folk song bearers from local communities.

Upcoming events include a series of folk choral concerts, touring promotion, transmission workshops and high-level forums.