Yilan City boasts culture and Yilan International art Festival (YIAF). The festival, the brainchild of Mayor Tsung-yuan Chiang was held for the first time in 2015 to build bridges of cooperation with the countries of the world and make Yilan’s dream of becoming an international cultural capital come true, all through an exchange of musical art.
The festival offers them a platform for cooperation and interaction with artistic groups and musicians from around the world. Participating groups got a chance not just to meet but also to get to know one another through exchange. They have subsequently taken the friendships they made to other corners of the world.
The two missions of the festival are 1) to build bridges of world communication with music, 2) to bring the world to Taiwan and Taiwan to the world. In the service of these two missions, or core values, we hope that the festival can serve a platform of exchange for musicians and arts groups of different nationalities.
The festival is planned and executed by the Formosa Melody Music Center, which invites contemporary musicians and administrative personnel to cooperate in the hopes of generating international energy for local musical groups, cultivating the professional artists, not to mention professional administrative teams, that Yilan needs for international events and sustainable development.
Yilan is blessed with rich heritage and history. Looking back on the past of Yilan, our soil has been fertile ground, on which great traditions and deep culture have grown. Artistic events bring with them the growth of new cultural ideas and concepts, further enriching the cultural landscape. Yilan is a place where we can lead diverse lives, while creating the seeds of new ideas. This is our shared dream, and what we look forward to together.
This is the Yilan International Art Festival’s eighth year. The Festival has created a space in which people from different walks of life, different artistic tastes, different cultural backgrounds, and different countries can come together to share, gain inspiration, and create. In Yilan, we set art free from its boundaries. The Festival has helped people from many nations to experience the wonders of Yilan, this cultural capital.
Part of this year’s Festival will be held at Dongshan River Eco Ark, so close to both the river and the train station that share the Dongshan name. May the Festival create a beautiful musical trio with the delightful sounds of birds and trains! The Festival will also partly be held along the Wai’ao portion of the Northeast Coast, complementing the music with wonderful breeze and views of Turtle Island. Strings soothe as the ocean grows smooth; waves crash as cymbals clash! And to add to it all, this year, we are presenting the new work Looking Forward. It combines classical Baroque and Taiwanese opera performance, telling a tale of Turtle Island while creating an exciting new fusion of Western and Eastern culture.
Truly, “Culture Is Life”! Culture informs and enriches every part of our lives. We at the Yilan City Office are dedicating ourselves to preserving extant cultural traditions, while also creating new ones. Looking back on our efforts encourages us to look forward – to look forward to the day when Yilan is an international center of art. The Yilan International Art Festival is helping bring a touch of art into every life, a taste of music into every day, a bit of culture into every space. The Festival is helping create the growing symphony of Yilan, weaving the story of this land into every note. This autumn, we invite all friends, whether from next door or far away, to join in the Yilan International Art Festival. Soak in the beauty of Yilan; bask in the beautiful sounds of the Festival. And look forward to the next year, and the next, when we can yet again share the beautiful sounds of Yilan with the world.
Mayor of City Government of Yilan
Chairman of the Festival
After a lot of hard work, "Yilan International Art Festival" has become a platform for the exchange of international musicians.This year, with the theme of "See Taiwan, hear Yilan", we continued the original intention of "bringing the world to Taiwan and promoting Taiwan to the world" from the very beginning.
However, the growth of wisdom and development needs time and cannot be achieved overnight. With hope, the good and beautiful energy of art can penetrate into people’s lives.Every year, "YIAF" launches new creative works, because we firmly believe that creation is the most important driving force for the survival of art.Every year, "YIAF" launches new creative works, because we firmly believe that continuous creation of new work and ideas is the most important driving force for the survival of art.This year, we once again invited Mr. Ke Zhihao, who has won numerous awards and served as the concert director of the Presidential Palace, and Spanish artist Adolfo Timuat, an honorary citizen of Yilan City, to work together to create "Yilan Music Map"From their perspective, we will interpret the style of the twelve townships in Yilan.I am hoping to promote Gezi opera to the international stage with the familiar chamber music tones of our foreign friends.
Even though the pandemic is still raging, we call on more musicians to soothe people's hearts through art and make our world more beautiful for tomorrow.
Vincent Li
