Deutsche Grammophon Announces First DG Music Festival
The November festival will bring Chinese and international artists to Xinghai Concert Hall for concerts, exhibitions and public events.
Deutsche Grammophon and Xinghai Concert Hall will present the inaugural DG Music Festival in Guangzhou from November 15 to 18. The event marks the label’s first officially presented in-person music festival in its nearly 130-year history, with violinist Daniel Hope serving as curator and guest artistic director.
The festival’s three headline concerts will run November 16 to 18, with a wider program of exhibitions and public events across the four days. Ahead of those performances, DG artist Yuja Wang is scheduled to appear at the venue with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, opening the celebration. The headline program brings together cellist Jian Wang, pianists Yingjia Xue and Xiaofu Ju, guzheng artist Yang Yang, vocalist Linna Gong and the AIR Ensemble.
The November 16 concert, “Salut d’Amour,” pairs Jian Wang and Xue in works by Schumann, Saint-Saëns, Fauré, Tchaikovsky, Piazzolla and Elgar, as well as Chinese composer Liu Rongfa’s “Pastoral Song.” Hope will make a special appearance. On November 17, Hope and Jian Wang join Zurich Chamber Orchestra principal cellist Nicola Mosca, Ju and Yang for “Music in Harmony,” a program combining works by Tan Dun and Mendelssohn with arrangements of Dowland and Mozart, Yang’s original “Tianmu Yin,” and music by Ludovico Einaudi and Astor Piazzolla.
The final concert, “A Night of Brilliance,” features Hope, the AIR Ensemble and Linna Gong in music spanning Renaissance and Baroque Europe, Ireland and China. Alongside works by Ortiz, Corelli, Purcell and Vivaldi, the program includes arrangements of “Jasmine Flower,” “Colourful Clouds Chasing the Moon” and “The Moon Reflected in Erquan.”
The festival also includes exhibitions on DG STAGE+, the label’s album-cover design and recording history, and official merchandise. Public events will include a Shostakovich anniversary talk, artist conversations, music-sharing salons, a concert-etiquette session, city walks, signings and an after-party. DG China, launched in 2025 to support Chinese artists and bring their work to international audiences, is developing the festival as a continuing initiative with Xinghai Concert Hall. “Music’s most precious power is not to show us how different we are, but to remind us to share, understand and discover together,” Hope said.
Find out more about the festival here.
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