On October 12, the seventh New York Chinese Contemporary Music Festival kicked off at Carnegie Hall in New York City. This year’s festival introduced artificial intelligence (AI) technology for the first time, with the theme “Composing the Future” to explore innovations in music creation.

Aligning with the festival’s forward-looking theme, the organizers invited the Central Conservatory of Music’s Department of Music AI and Music Information Technology to present compositions created by their AI composing system, including “Overture: Welcome” and “Landscape of a Thousand Miles” during the opening concert. Additionally, in “A Night of Scattered Stars,” composed by Sun Yuming, guzheng artist Xia Jing collaborated with AI from the stage, accomplishing several complex operations that are typically challenging in standard performances.

That evening’s concert also featured symphonic works such as “The Performance of the Li Lun” by Professor Qin Wencheng from the Central Conservatory of Music, and “Gardening” by Yao Chen. Highlights included the choral piece “We Are,” composed by Li Xiaobing, as well as compositions like “The Hundred-Headed Beast” by Du Yun and “Symphony No. 10: Peking Opera” by composer and pianist Gong Tianpeng.

Artistic director Cai Jindong remarked that some composers are exploring the rapidly advancing field of AI technologies, making this year’s festival a focal point for discussions on cutting-edge areas related to music. He emphasized, however, that despite AI’s introduction of new musical expressions, the core of music creation must still stem from human creativity and imagination.

The festival will run until October 19, culminating in a concert that fuses Eastern and Western musical traditions. The main event will be the concert version of “Seven Days,” a sci-fi opera composed by Hao Weiya with lyrics by Wang Yuanfei. Unlike the opening concert’s embrace of AI, “Seven Days” tells the story of an artist grappling with the challenges posed by AI in daily life, prompting deeper reflections and discussions on contemporary realities.