The Macao Youth Symphony Orchestra (MYSO) announced in a statement recently that it is celebrating its 25th anniversary.
According to the statement, the Macao Youth Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1997, and since then it has been striving to provide musical training and performing opportunities for local musicians and to offer a forum for people to develop friendships and promote Macau through music.
The statement said the MYSO has given more than 900 performances in a series of major annual events such as the Anniversary Concerts, the New Generation Musicians’ Concerts, International Concert Tours, the Macau New Year’s Concerts, MYSO Music Festival and Exchange Concerts.
The statement said that the organisation consists of a symphony orchestra, a junior symphony orchestra and a wind ensemble. The players come from local universities, secondary and primary schools, the statement said, adding that over 70 players have decided to pursue their careers in music and have grown into the first generation local musicians.
According to the statement, the organisation previously invited local conductors Oswaldo Veiga Jardim and Lio Kuok Man to lead their orchestras. The statement added that conductors Leung Kin Fung, Stanley Dodds, Martyn Brabbins, Mário Venzago, Enrique Batiz, Patrick Lange, Xavier Delette, Yu Feng, Lin Daye, Xia Xiaotang, Huang Yi and Chen Tscheng-Hsiung were invited before to perform with the orchestras.
The statement said that in the past 22 years, the orchestra has also collaborated regularly with numerous internationally renowned musicians and ensembles including Michael Ma, Ray Wang, Yiu Song Lam, Ho Wing, Xie Nan, Fan Lei, Lio Kuok-wai, Li Chuanyun, Mengla Huang, Wei Lu, Liang Wang, Yao Zhao, Bin Huang, Raphael Severe, Sergei Dogadin, Jean-Philippe Collard, American String Quartet, Great Wall String Quartet, Cheang Chan Pong, Zhu Xiongzhen, Cheang Wai Ling, Wang Yi, Boris Kuschnir, and Alan Cumberland.
The statement pointed out that since 2007 the MYSO has actively participated in music exchange tours for 12 consecutive years, in more than 30 cities in mainland China, Australia, Austria, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Portugal, Thailand, Singapore, and the United States.
In 2017, the MYSO was invited to participate in the Festival Young Concerts in Neubrandenburg, Germany and held concerts in Berlin, Dresden and Eisenach, the statement said, adding that the German tour was honoured to be included in the German-Chinese Cultural Programme 2017 by the Ministry of Culture in Beijing to celebrate the 45th anniversary of Sino-German diplomatic relations.
According to the statement, in July 2019 the orchestra travelled to Beijing and then to Portugal to attend 11th Festival ao Largo, 11th Festival das Artes and 6th Festival Internacional de Música de Marvão. The statement underlined that the tour was announced by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in Beijing as one of the cultural exchanges with Hong Kong and Macau to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Macau’s return to the motherland.
The statement said that during the pandemic the orchestral members have been practising diligently. The organisation asked the public to attend their performances after Macau has recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic. For more information, visit https://www.facebook.com/MacaoYouthSymphonyOrchestra.
“The Macao Youth Symphony Orchestra today should not be regarded as an orchestra only. To some extent, it witnesses the development of music education and culture in Macau,” the statement quoted an article published in 2010 in the People’s Daily newspaper.
The MYSO performs together with Neubrandenburg’s youth orchestra in Marienkirche, Neubrandenburg during its German tour in the summer of 2017, with Stanley Dodds conducting. - Photos provided by MYSO
The MYSO poses in Spain during its Beijing-Portugal Tour in the summer of 2019.
The MYSO performs with Macau conductor Oswaldo Veiga Jardim at the Konzerthaus Berlin in Germany during the European Tour in 2010
The MYSO performs at its founding concert in 1997 at Macau Forum in Zape.
