Sydney, April 3 (People’s Daily Online Australia) -- Eleven heads of the leading tertiary music schools from the Asia Pacific region are meeting in Sydney this week for an augural music summit. The 2014 Asia Pacific Music Summit, which runs from 2-5 April, will create closer ties between the music conservatories and build the region as a driving force behind music education and culture globally.

The initiative is the brainchild of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music at the University of Sydney and Beijing Central Conservatory of Music, which are the joint hosts of the summit that will take place at the Sydney Opera House.

The leaders of 11 pre-eminent music institutions will represent the tertiary education interests of Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore, Japan, the United States, New Zealand and Australia. A group of 35 students from conservatories in Beijing, Shanghai, Melbourne and Sydney will also take part and prepare for an orchestral recital for the summit finale at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music on Saturday 5 April.

Sydney Conservatorium of Music’s Dean Dr Karl Kramer said: “This is a unique opportunity to meet face to face with our peers from the region’s top conservatoriums and discuss best practices in music education and performance.

“Whilst we all assume the western music tradition of teaching, each institution is mutually exclusively in terms of how it operates. We are eleven unique case studies, each with different expertise to share.

“The summit is a starting point to forming stronger human connections between the institutions to encourage greater and more regular dialogue across the region,” said Dr Kramer.