The Taihu Jazz Festival is held every year in the National Centre for Performing Arts in Beijing. During five days in May, musicians from China and beyond performed to excited crowds in the purpose-built outdoor performance spaces. Over 50 jazz performances took place, including sets from French harmonica master Laurent Maur, jazz trumpeter, Li Xiaochuan, and other Chinese and international musicians, who took to the stage of the Taihu Stage Art Centre to kick off the 2024 Taihu Jazz Festival. Central to each was the power of DiGiCo’s Quantum series, with a Quantum 338 at the front of house position, a Quantum 225 at monitors and an SD10 for broadcast.

The DiGiCo Quantum 338 is a powerful digital mixing console with 128 input channels, 64 aux/subgroups and a 24 x 24 full processing matrix. Based on seventh generation FPGAs the entire system architecture is faster, more efficient and more powerful than previous ranges. The superior mix surface puts everything an engineer needs right where they need it. It was exactly what the team behind the Taihu Jazz Festival needed to keep this complex celebration of jazz, in all its forms, happening across the festival.

This year’s Festival offered guests even more luxurious performing locations. Three free performance stages — the Dance Art Workshop Stage, the Snowflake Stage, and the Instrumental Interactive Stage — were set up by RAC Pro, DiGiCo distributor in China, in addition to the Taihu Outdoor Theatre and the Taihu Theatre at the National Centre for the Performing Arts Centre.

Over 40 up-and-coming jazz ensembles were invited to perform, making this festival the largest of its kind in terms of performances, participants and scale. A joint initiative between the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA), the Jazz Society of the Chinese Musicians’ Association (CMA), and the Beijing Contemporary Music Academy, the festival has grown in size and stature every year.

“DiGiCo consoles offer the flexibility and peace of mind required to ensure the success of every performance,” said Li Qi, RAC Pro system engineer. “The large mixing surfaces and smart key macros ensure that multiple changeovers are smooth and problem free, making this joyful musical journey a thing of beauty for the engineers as well as the audience.”

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