In the golden September, with lush greenery and sparkling hues, the MUSICACOUTICA-HANGZHOU 2024, jointly hosted by Zhejiang Conservatory of Music (ZJCM) and the Hangzhou Municipal Bureau of Commerce, grandly opened at the conservatory on the evening of September 24. This was a musical feast bringing together the forefront of international electroacoustic music development and integrating music with technological innovation. As a featured event of the third Global Digital Trade Expo, the festival, themed "Rushing Towards the Future," actively responded to the national development strategy of promoting "new quality productivity." While fully showcasing the unique charm of electroacoustic music, it deeply explored the new trends of the fusion between music and artificial intelligence.

On the evening, the opening ceremony of the festival was held in the conservatory's concert hall, where renowned experts, scholars, and industry elites from the electroacoustic music field around the world gathered to witness the start of this musical feast.

Wang Rui, president of ZJCM, extended a warm welcome to all guests attending the opening ceremony that night. He stated that electroacoustic music is a product of modern civilization, reflecting and observing contemporary society and people's life states. It is also a new musical form with characteristics of the times. This festival comprehensively showcased the latest achievements and cutting-edge ideas in the international electroacoustic music field. It was not only a grand gathering of art and academia but also a brainstorm where science and art converge and traditional and innovative ideas collide. As a featured project of the third Global Digital Trade Expo, the MUSICACOUTICA-HANGZHOU 2024 will definitely bring the infinite charm of the fusion of art and technology to the expo.

Professor Zhang Xiaofu, artistic director of the festival, introduced the overview and highlights of this year's festival. He said that as a special and meaningful event in the series of activities of the third Global Digital Trade Expo, this festival was ambitious, grounded in reality, rich in content, and future-oriented. The five series of activities each had their unique characteristics, fully demonstrating the festival's forward-thinking and innovative vision and breadth of mind. With everyone's joint efforts, he believed that the MUSICACOUTICA-HANGZHOU 2024 would become a trustworthy and deeply engaging common musical home for musicians worldwide.

Professor Panayotis Kokklas, president of the International Confederation of Electroacoustic Music, and Professor at the Central Conservatory of Music Wu Yuebei, delivered speeches respectively. They highly affirmed the significance of this year's festival and expressed sincere wishes for its successful hosting.

The opening ceremony was hosted by Dong Dejun, vice president of ZJCM.

A signing and launch ceremony for the digital album of award-winning compositions from the Hangzhou International Electroacoustic Music Composition Competition was also held at the scene. President Wang Rui, Artistic Director Zhang Xiaofu, Huang Zhipeng, director of the Audio and Video Center of the People's Music Publishing House, and Yu He, general manager of Kuke Music, jointly marked this important moment.

Subsequently, the opening concert of the MUSICACOUTICA-HANGZHOU 2024, themed "Tracks in the Starry Sky," was grandly staged in the concert hall. Nine works from China, the United States, France, and the United Kingdom were carefully selected for the concert, transforming the concert hall into a large, dreamy space where cutting-edge technology and electroacoustic music were fully integrated, with sound, light, electricity, virtual imagery, and immersive soundscapes intertwining, allowing the audience to fully appreciate the diversity and infinite possibilities of modern electroacoustic music and enjoy an unprecedented audiovisual feast. As the notes danced in the air and interacted with light and shadow, the audience felt like they had traveled to the future, personally experiencing the amazing fusion of music and technology.

Electroacoustic music, as the product of the collision, interaction, and innovative fusion between musical art and science and technology, is a common medium and bridge for musicians to communicate, exchange ideas, and create a new musical era. Next, the festival will deeply focus on the new industry formats of the fusion between music and artificial intelligence. Through five series of activities, including nine electroacoustic music concerts, six international masterclasses, six workshops for emerging musicians, five international electroacoustic music composition competitions, and an annual themed forum, it will comprehensively and multi-anglely showcase the latest developments in international electroacoustic music and the infinite possibilities of the deep fusion between music and AI technology.