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 meets participants at the airport and 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 peace, 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.
The festival was founded in the hopes of integrating different cultures to advance understanding and tolerances through music and exchange and make a lasting contribution to world peace.
The Yilan International Art Festival organized by the Yilan City Office has now entered its 5th year. We thank the continuous supports and encouragements from our Yilan citizens.
This year our festival is held in the spirit of ‘CARNIVAL’ with the theme being ‘Music World Map’. We invite more performance groups from several countries, including Poland, Russia, Mexico, Japan, Philippines, Hong Kong, Mongolia, Thailand, Spain, Indonesia and the US to participate in the event to perform with our Taiwanese performance groups.
This year we also have young entrepreneurs from the Yilan Innovation Incubation Center join us to create the ‘Yilan Travel Map’ which will allow foreign artists to conduct ‘Store Stay’. Foreign artists will be showcasting their talents in Yilan local stores so as to inspire different creativity and sparks, allowing the music to be enjoyed outside the performance hall.
In order to bring music closer to the daily life of the citizens, in addition to the opening ceremony at Yilan Performing Arts Center, closing ceremony at Yilan Sports Stadium and concerts, we also specially arranged for the teams to hold the ‘Meet You at Diudiudang Music Exchange Concert’ at the Diudiudang Forest Square and the ‘Sharing, Starts from Your Heart’ educational charity tour to many schools and institutions, which not only allows our citizens to enjoy the joyful festival, but also lets arts education take root in Yilan.
In this year's event it is our honor to invite the well-known director, Mr. Hsu Hao-Hsiang, to coordinate the planning activities, and Mr. Huang Shen-Chuan, who had coordinated the lighting and stage designs of the Taipei 2017 Universiade, to be responsible for the stage design for the opening and closing ceremonies of the festival. The famous designer Mr. Hsu Ming-Wen designs the key visual of the festival, and the music director of the 2019 Presidential Office Concert Mr. Blaire Ko to serve as the festival music director, making the 5th edition of the Yilan International Art Festival to proudly present a rich world-class cultural feast, seasoning Yilan’s late autumn.
We hope that the Yilan International Art Festival will not only be the benchmark of artistic and cultural activities in Yilan, but also create more diverse artistic and cultural experiences for every participating guest and artist through the resonance of each country’s performance culture and Yilan's local custom, taking performances from the stage to the local schools and life, and allowing beautiful music to be heard everywhere in Yilan.
Mayor of City Government of Yilan
Chairman of the Festival
Music Needs No Language, and Is Beyond Borders and Races. The holding of The Yilan International Art Festival reaches out to the world through music with welcoming arms. Over the past four years, hundreds of musicians have visited Yilan, contributing to the city’s international experience and cultural accumulation, providing vital nutrients to the rich cultural heritage of the old city’s implementation of creativity, and indirectly facilitating the flourishing development of Yilan’s diverse events.
Each year, various pioneering events are held at the Yilan International Art Festival, such as the French saxophone quartet accompaniment played with Taiwanese opera, hundred-people orchestra, ensemble by ten hand-painted pianos, and so on. This year, in addition to the joint Taiwanese opera performances by the Russian double concerto pianist and Wuyuan Taiwan Opera, the theme-matching “The Traveler’s Song” has been launched, with Hakka themes, combined with traditional stringed and woodwind instruments, the Mongolian Desert, island Okinawa, and the Spanish romance, taking everyone on a wild ride through music and leave behind the memory of the era through creativity.
Lev Tolstoy believes that art can connect with people’s sentiments and inspire empathy through universal human compassion. The Yilan International Art Festival not only is a platform bridging art exchanges among nations, but it also promotes a harmonious world through mutual respect and care, marking the birth of the international Rural Area Service Plan “Art for Better World”. Children from rural areas can engage in learning for free and use art to turn their lives around, making the music festival more meaningful.
The island of Taiwan may be a small place. Yet, we hope the world can get to know us through the hosting of Yilan International Art Festival. Through the International Rural Area Service Plan, we voice out to the world that wherever international humanitarian care is needed, Taiwan will be there!
Vincent Li
