Macao can look forward to a month of music when the 34th Macao International Music Festival (MIMF), themed Song of Tomorrow, kicks off on 25 September.
Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) Director Leong Wai Man said that the budget for this year’s festival, which ends on 29 October, is around MOP 13 million, which is less than previous years.
The programme will include performances from Macao and mainland China, with the festival opening with Peer Gynt by Edvard Grieg, which has an interpretation through 22 characters all performed by actor David Wang based on the script rewritten by music critic Yuan-Pu Chiao. Music will be performed by conductor Zhang Jiemin, soprano Li Xintong, the Macao Orchestra and the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra Chorus.
A range of other performances include In Variations of Jade – The Journey of Tang Poetry, where bass-baritone Shenyang will collaborate with pianist Zhang Yiming and local actor Wong Pak Hou for Tang poetry-inspired songs, and the Bravo Macao! concert by violinist Nina Wong.
As overseas performers are unable to come to Macao due to the pandemic, there will be two special recorded programmes for FIMM-tastic Music and Movie Night. The MIMF Voz e Violão by Portuguese singer António Zambujo will be screened at the Taipa Houses’ Amphitheatre and will present Portuguese fado music. Meanwhile, the English Renaissance Polyphony – a survey by The Tallis Scholars, which is to be screened at St. Dominic’s Church, will present English sacred music. Both screenings are free.
The Cultural Affairs Bureau said that tickets will be available at the Macau Ticketing Network from Sunday at 10 am. In line with Covid-19 pandemic prevention measures, outlet ticketing, and telephone and online booking will simultaneously be available on the first day of ticket sales. Members of the public are advised by the bureau to purchase tickets online and by phone to avoid crowding.
The maximum indoor capacity for the festival’s programmes is limited to 75 per cent, so members of the public must present either proof of completion of two doses of the Covid-19 vaccine for at least 14 days, or a self-paid negative nucleic acid test result issued within 48 hours to be admitted, The Macau Post Daily reported.
