At the end of the celebrations to mark the 15th anniversary of the signing of friendly relations between Bonn and Chengdu (People's Republic of China), Deputy Mayor Dr. Ursula Sautter and the Director of the Beethovenfest Bonn, Steven Walter, will travel to Chengdu from 15 to 20 December 2024 at the invitation of the twin city. They will be accompanied by the Head of the Beethovenfest Fellowship Program, Thomas Scheider, and the Head of the Department of International Affairs and Global Sustainability of the City of Bonn, Stefan Wagner.
Bonn pianist Luisa Imorde and composer and percussionist Bernhard Schimpelsberger - Beethovenfest Fellow 2025 - will travel to Chengdu as “cultural ambassadors”. To mark the 15-year partnership, they will give a concert in Chengdu on December 18, 2024 in front of an audience of around 1,000 people. Apart from their own compositions, they will also perform works by Beethoven and Schumann.
In addition to the celebratory concert to mark the 15th anniversary, the program includes talks with official representatives of the city of Chengdu and the German Consulate General. A visit to a school with a German language diploma and various cultural institutions is also planned. Discussions about further projects and collaborations are also taking place.
The visit by the Bonn delegation will mark the end of the anniversary celebrations. As a sign of solidarity, a panda statue with motifs from both cities will be presented to the Mayor of Bonn during the visit and will be exhibited in Bonn in the future. Chengdu is the center of the giant panda population. As panda bears are only found in the wild in China, they are of great importance there.
About the partnership
Chengdu is the capital of the Chinese province of Sichuan. With a population of around 21 million, the city in western China is the economic center of western China alongside Chongqing.
Bonn has maintained project-based contacts with Chengdu since 2000. The framework for this is a partnership between the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and Sichuan. Based on an intensive cultural exchange between the two cities, cooperation was gradually extended to various areas. In a declaration of intent in 2009, the two cities pledged to continue maintaining official relations in the future - with the aim of promoting the sustainable development of both cities in the areas of business, culture, technology, schools, tourism, community development and environmental protection.