Daegu

Daegu is located in the southeastern region of South Korea and has a population of 2.5 million. It serves as an artistic and cultural city for the region, holding modern and contemporary cultures of Korea.

Centering on its music, Daegu is highly competitive in musical and opera performances converging arts, literature, and design, and organized a number of international music events in gukak (traditional Korean music), classical music and contemporary music.

The Daegu International Opera Festival (DIOF) held since 2003 is the largest of its scale in Asia with its focus on newly created operas. Until now, it has carried out close networking activities, such as joint opera productions and exchange performances, with 24 opera theatres and groups from the homes of opera such as Bologna, Italy and Seville, Spain.

The Daegu International Musical Festival (DIMF) is the only Asian musical festival. Held in June every year since 2007, it has attracted 1.4 million attendees to 219 musicals over the past 10 years. It is recognized as an art market for Korean and foreign musicals.

The World Orchestra Festival (WOF) held in November every year is Asia’s only orchestra festival. Korean and foreign orchestras perform and give workshops and symposia. The festival is attended annually by ca. 10,000 people, including both performers or conductors and classical music lovers.

We are making various efforts to forge global cultural networks centered on Daegu. Each year, the city hosts the UNESCO Creative City of Music Daegu Global Forum and actively engages in cultural and artistic exchanges with other creative cities of music.

Partnerships with other creative cities have helped Daegu offer diversified, great performances. The ultimate goal of the UNESCO Creative City of Music Daegu is to build a platform that acts as a
bridge between Daegu and the global stage.