The 36th Macao International Music Festival (MIMF) is slated to take place from October 4 to November 4 under the theme “And the Stars Shine”.
The festival comprises 12 programmes, showcasing the well-known Mariinsky Theatre from Russia under the distinguished classical music conductor Valery Gergiev, alongside jazz icons Herbie Hancock and Wynton Marsalis as its key highlights.
A programme presentation was held yesterday at The Londoner Macao. Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) Director Leong Wai Man said that the budget for this year’s festival was around 33 million patacas.
The festival kicks off with Tosca – Opera in Three Acts by Italian classical composer Giacomo Puccini. According to a statement released at the ceremony, Tosca has been hailed as one of the most famous operas, and it is one of the most frequently performed in the world. The statement noted that the opera will be performed by the Mariinsky Theatre from Russia and acclaimed classical music conductor Valery Gergiev.
The Mariinsky Theatre is a historic opera house in Saint Petersburg, opened in 1860.
Gergiev, 71, is a Russian conductor and opera company director. He is currently general director and artistic director of the Mariinsky Theatre and the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, as well as the artistic director of the White Nights Festival in St. Petersburg.
Gergiev will also lead the orchestra in two symphonic concerts, presenting Russian orchestral music through a repertoire of classics by Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Rachmaninoff.
In the jazz music genre, the festival has invited two American jazz legends – octogenarian Herbie Hancock and trumpeter Wynton Marsalis. The great jazz pianist Herbie Hancock, winner of Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award will be performing with his five-man combo, while Wynton Marsalis, 62, will join the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra.
The closing performance will be presented by the world-renowned Portuguese fado diva Mariza and the Macao Chinese Orchestra (OCHM) under the baton of Shanghai-born Singaporean Tsung Yeh (٨-ءo), blending Western poetry with Chinese melodies. Leong underlined that the fusion of fado and the Macau Chinese Orchestra underscores Macau’s distinctive identity as a meeting point of East and West. She added that one ongoing goal for the bureau during international music festivals is to facilitate interactions between local artists and world-class musicians and ensembles.
This year’s MIMF also includes 16 outreach activities, such as master classes, workshops, and film screenings, with the aim of enhancing musical dialogue and exchange in the community and bringing the public closer to music, according to the statement. Tickets will go on sale on August 18. To purchase tickets and view the schedules of performances, visit https://www.macauticket.com/.
Director of the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) Leong Wai Man presents the 36th Macao International Music Festival (MIMF) at The Londoner Macao yesterday. – Photo: William Chan
