On the evening of April 30, the 2024 Jing’an Music Festival (formerly known as the JZ Spring Music Festival) kicked off in Jing’an Park. Long Wanli, Deputy District Mayor of Jing’an District, and Xiao Yeying, Deputy Director of the Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture and Tourism, together with Alex To Duk Wai, a renowned Chinese pop musician, and Anne Evenou, a distinguished French soprano, opened this city-wide music event.
High-quality positioning for a city-wide music festival
On the evening of that day, the “Prince of Love Songs”, Alex To, and the super-pop band, Ajitai Band, delivered a wonderful performance as guest performers of the opening ceremony, marking the grand opening of the first Jing’an Music Festival.
According to the Jing’an District Bureau of Culture and Tourism, the 2024 Jing’an Music Festival focuses on the brand concept of people’s festivals for citywide participation and shared experiences. Centering on the theme “Music Makes Life Better”, this festival lasts from April 30 to May 5. The event will invite over 200 artists from home and abroad to give 50 performances in the two main venues: Jing’an Park and the Paramount Ballroom, two landmarks, as well as four sub-venues in representative business districts: HKRI Taikoo Hui, MOHO Mall, Suzhou Creek MixC World, and Daning Life Hub. These venues cover the southern, central, and northern parts of Jing’an District. Notably, renowned trombone player Saunders Sernons will be on the stage in Jing’an Park, becoming the first Grammy Award-winning international artist to give an outdoor public welfare performance in Jing’an District.
This year’s music festival features diversified music styles, spanning pop, Traditional Chinese style, folk, jazz and more. Additionally, the festival also highlights the distinct identity of Jing’an District through the choice of performance venues. It hosts performances on the iconic lawns of Jing’an Park and the Paramount Ballroom, Shanghai’s classic cultural landmark.
The main stage of this festival has specially adopted an upgraded sound system that features sound reinforcement and perfect pull-down sound images for front-row spectators, ensuring a clear and layered ultimate audio experience for all attendees. The stage structure has been thoroughly upgraded, featuring a high-definition LED background screen, a large light console, and advanced stage musical instruments. The service facilities in the audience area will be arranged with passages based on the calculation of on-site visitor flow, ensuring a high-quality and more comfortable outdoor music festival audio-visual experience for the audience.
Creating a distinctive Jing’an name card through music in Shanghai
The Paramount Ballroom, renowned as the cradle of jazz music in China, has witnessed the popularity of a variety of Chinese and foreign classical jazz music and popular music. Since its inception in 2007, the JZ Spring Music Festival has pioneered China’s jazz festival and has been honored with the title of “Top 10 Special Activities of Shanghai Culture”. The first batch of licensed buskers in Shanghai and even China began performing at Jing’an Park, evolving into a musical symbol of the area in the new era, embodying the concept of a “People’s City Shared by All”. In Jing’an District, the highly distinct music culture has been deeply integrated into the lifeblood of this city, shaping a shared cultural memory.
At the opening ceremony performance, Alex To shared his inexplicable bond with Jing’an District with the audience. His mother Zhang Lu was a Mandarin female singer hailed as “China’s Song Queen” in the 1940s. Her song performance, “Give Me a Kiss” at the Paramount Ballroom, helped her garner global acclaim. In celebration of this wonderful connection originating from music, Alex To sang this classic of his mother together with the audience on the spot.
The 2024 Jing’an Music Festival will also make its debut in the Paramount Ballroom with four special performances within three days, including French soprano Anne Evenou’s jazz quartet and “Swing on the Sea” as a tribute to Haipai classics. Buskers, symbolizing the musical identity of Jing’an District, will also step on the professional stage at Jing’an Park as a musical group for the first time to express their most sincere feelings towards Shanghai and Jing’an District with music.
Creating a distinct Jing’an cultural example through the integration of culture, business, and tourism
The 2024 Jing’an Music Festival merges with the Shanghai · Jing’an Modern Drama Valley and the Shanghai Jing’an World Coffee Culture Festival again, creating a synergetic platform for resource cooperation and sharing across drama, music, coffee, and cross-border brands.
During the event, the music festival will create an innovative fusion of “cultural tourism + commerce” to enhance the Jing’an cultural brand through deep integration with commercial brands and marketing activities in various business districts. It will join hands with the Paramount Ballroom to reinforce the urban cultural landmarks with cultural brands and stimulate cultural tourism consumption through cooperation in cultural, business, and tourism projects. For the first time, it cooperates with Love Radio 103.7 of Radio Shanghai, offering a range of benefits such as opening ceremony tickets, limited edition T-shirts, and vouchers for customized ice cream to listeners through real-time interaction with them during the live broadcast. These strategies will open up new channels for brand cooperation.
The organizer especially reminded the public that according to relevant regulations, all performances at Jing’an Park this year require reservations through the WeChat official account or mini-program of “Jing’an Cultural Tourism”. With the QR code for successful reservation, visitors can enter the venue orderly following the instructions of on-site staff. For performance-related information, please pay close attention to the activities released on the day.
The 2024 Jing’an Music Festival is hosted by the Jing’an District Bureau of Culture and Tourism, supported by the Jing’an Landscaping & City Appearance Administrative Bureau. This event is organized by Shanghai Shizhi Cultural Art Consulting Co., Ltd. and co-organized by Jing’an Park and Paramount Culture Entertainment Co., Ltd.