The 3rd Cambridge Chinese Music & Culture Festival will come to the city from 21–27 August 2026, featuring distinguished artists and scholars.
It will bring together distinguished artists and scholars from China, Japan and the UK, using music as a bridge for cultural exchange. The Festival is jointly presented by the Cambridge Qin Society, the Cambridge University Chinese Orchestra Society, and the Cambridge Chinese Community Centre.
A highlight of the Festival will be the Cambridge Concert Celebrating 70 Years of Guqin Artistry by Mr Wu Wenguang and the Yushan Wu School, to be held at Trinity College Chapel, University of Cambridge. The concert will honour Professor Wu’s remarkable contributions to guqin performance, composition, education and cultural heritage. This follows the successful week-long celebration of Professor Wu Wenguang’s 70 Years of Guqin Artistry in Beijing this April. Young artists of the Yushan Wu School—Zhai Li, Wang Guanglei, Ma Yunfeng and Lei Xiaoli—will also travel to Cambridge for Mr Wu Wenguang’s commemorative concert.
Professor Wu will also present two special lectures, The Guqin Through Time: From Jianzipu Notation to Symphony, at the Trinity Hall, University of Cambridge and the Royal Academy of Music, London. Drawing on decades of artistic practice and research, he will explore the evolution, innovation and global development of the guqin tradition.
Many more distinguished artists will also give performances. Professor Zhao Jiazhen, President of the China Guqin Association and one of China’s leading guqin performers, will lead a group of young musicians, including Gong Xiaoning, Sun Haopeng, Ye Jinqi and Zhu Xiaojie, to the Festival.
They will be joined by Deng Lizhu, Zhou Zijing and Liu Bin, representatives of Chengdu’s Shu School tradition, as well as Zhang Chi from Japan. The Festival will also feature an outstanding line-up of UK-based musicians, including acclaimed composer and classical guitarist Adam Pounds, flautist and former Mayor of Cambridge, Dinah Pounds, pianists Professor Li Jinfeng, Bingbing Jiang and Guo Xinyi, dizi and xiao performer Bai Xue, violinist Wang Lingyun, accordionist Liang Ce, together with the Cambridge Qin Society and the Cambridge University Chinese Orchestra Society.
The Festival is also delighted to welcome the acclaimed UK-based soprano Chen Wang, who will present her solo recital, Boundless Voice: From the Silk Road to European Opera. Through a programme spanning cultures, eras and musical landscapes, she will take audiences on a journey from the Silk Road to the world of European opera.
Together, they will present a vibrant celebration of artistic dialogue and cultural exchange between China and the West.
Alongside its concert programme, the Festival will present academic lectures, such as the one from Professor Wu, the China–UK Music Forum, artistic workshops and cultural experiences, offering audiences opportunities to engage with distinguished artists and discover both the rich heritage and contemporary vitality of Chinese musical culture.
Now in its third year, the Cambridge Chinese Music & Culture Festival has become an established platform for presenting Chinese music and fostering cultural dialogue between China and the UK. Through sustained international collaboration, it celebrates the richness of Chinese musical traditions while encouraging artistic exchange, mutual understanding and new creative partnerships across cultures.
The 3rd Cambridge Chinese Music & Culture Festival will come to the city from 21–27 August 2026, at locations across the city of Cambridge. For tickets and more information, see here.
If you like this article, why not read: August Chinese Events in London Roundup
