The welcome banquet at Suzhou Culture and Arts Centre (SCAC), SIP on Aug 7 kicked off the 2018 iSING! Suzhou International Young Artists Festival. A total of 37 young artists from 12 countries including the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy, Russia, Poland, Australia, Armenia, Belgium, Serbia, Slovenia, the Czech Republic and China will attend a series of programs and events in the country over the following one month.

The festival is an annual event jointly sponsored by Suzhou New Times Group, operator of SCAC, and Asian Performing Arts Council, a US-based non-profit organization engaged in fostering cultural exchanges between the United States and Asia, particularly China. It aims to nurture young vocalists embracing eastern and western cultures and comprehensive artistic accomplishments.

Following the tradition, this year's event will consist of a series of training programs and performance and exchange events. The training programs will offer courses on Chinese and English language and performance skills, while the events will include a list of concerts, music lectures, a flash mob show, etc.

It is noteworthy that a concert tour themed on "iSING! Music Stories" will take place during the period to commemorate the 40th anniversary of China's reform and opening-up policy. It will debut at SCAC on Aug 31 before touring to Shanghai on Sept 2 and Beijing on Sept 4.