Our network of Schools values tradition and one of our favorites is the annual International Music Festival, which started at Carnegie Hall, one of the most famous concert venues in the world, in 2014. Year after year, our student-performers from every Dwight School have convened in New York City to showcase their musical talents, cultures, and traditions.

Today, we alternate hosting these majestic concerts in the home cities of our Schools around the world, affording students ongoing opportunities to visit other campuses and countries — and to come together in an immersive experience over the course of an incredible week of collaboration, rehearsals, and bonding. The concerts, which are the culminating event of the music festival, feature a wide range of performers, from soloists to ensembles and an all-School orchestra; as well as different musical genres, ranging from classical, pop, rock, and jazz to traditional music played on Chinese and Korean instruments. Each year, our global concert has a different theme, which unifies our community and shapes the musical program. 

In 2019, students performed on stage at the beautiful Shanghai Concert Hall, where attendees enjoyed a traditional Chinese dance performance in addition to musical selections from around the world to celebrate the “Music of Spring.” While the pandemic curtailed student travel, it did not prevent Dwight School Seoul from hosting the 2021 concert virtually, with each campus submitting videos of performances filmed on their own campus for “Listen to the Music,” followed by an in-person event, “Souls in Harmony,” at the Lotte Concert Hall in 202l, which celebrated Dwight Seoul’s ten-year anniversary. In 2023, we returned to New York City with student-performers from around the world celebrating “New Horizons” and Dwight’s 150th anniversary at the iconic Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall, with an audience of over 600 community members. 

While these annual performances showcase the multitude of student musical sparks of genius across our global network, nothing is more powerful than the friendships they forge and the memories they create, which will last a lifetime.