Great Wall Forest Festival

The Great Wall Forest Festival (GWFF) is an outdoor music festival held every spring and summer at the New Great Wall Retreat near the Shuiguan section of the Great Wall in China’s Yanqing District, 50 kilometers north of downtown Beijing. Held on up to four weekends from May to September, the festival consists includes concerts, featuring symphonic music, Western and Chinese opera, chamber music, choral music, musical theater, contemporary music, jazz, international and traditional Chinese folk and popular music.
GWFF was founded and is managed by the IDG Media Fund, part of IDG Capital and one of the first and most influential venture capital firms in China. IDG’s goal was to create a major outdoor cultural festival, one of the first in China, and also to promote Chinese culture through music, dance and drama. The decision to launch the festival was inspired, in part, by success of other major international outdoor festivals like the Tanglewood Music Festival, the Aspen Music Festival and the Edinburgh Art Festival.
In addition to its musical offerings, GWWF also attracts visitors from all over China because of its pristine natural setting. The venue is situated in a 15-square-kilometer forest surrounded by mountains and close to the Great Wall. In 2014, GWFF erected a year-round concert stage at the site. The stage, designed by world-renowned architect Yung Ho Chang,overlooks an open field, which accommodates 20,000 visitors per event.
Previous Events
In its founding year in 2010, GWFF attracted more than 30,000 visitors over three weekends - quickly establishing itself as one of the leading outdoor music festivals in China. That year the festival featured Lo Ta-Yu, one of Taiwan’s most foremost folk singers.
In 2012, the festival enlarged its scale continually to 2 weekends by the new name of Beijing Forest Music Festival. The four-day festival consisted of a series of concerts including symphonic, percussion and string music .
The Great Wall Forest Festival name was chosen in 2014. Prior to that, the concert series was also called the Beijing Forest Music Festival and the Great Wall Tanglewood Forest Music Festival.
In 2015, the GWFF also introduced “GWFF For Kids: A Forest Fairy Tale,” a series of 20 interactive events at the site for families with young children. These events featured 40 performance artists and groups.
Performers at past GWFF events have included
2010
Lo Ta-Yu
2011
Peter Buffet
2013
Tsai Chin
Chu Yibing
2014
Chang Chen-yue
Pu Shu
Zheng Jun
2016
Cowboy Junkies
China National Traditional Orchestra

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