The annual Macao Chinese Orchestra Concert Season will be launched on September 1, staging 14 programmes directed by National Class One Conductor Zhang Lie at the Macau Cultural Centre (CCM) through July 26 next year.
The Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) hosted a press conference yesterday at the CCM Conference Room in Nape about the Macao Chinese Orchestra 2024-25 Concert Season, during which IC President Deland Leong Wai Man – also president of Board of Directors of Macao Orchestra Company, Limited – and Zhang signed an employment contract, marking the appointment of Zhang as the Music Director and Principal Conductor of the Macao Chinese Orchestra (OCHM).
Zhang is a National Class One Conductor and renowned composer. He is currently the Music Director and Principal Conductor of the Nanjing Chinese Orchestra and Henan Chinese Orchestra and has served as a “Top Performer” appointed by the Ministry of Culture in Beijing, and he was the music director and conductor of several Chinese orchestras in the mainland, as well as being employed by various music institutions and organisations, according to an IC statement released during the press conference.
Delivering a speech during the press conference, Leong said that as a professional orchestra with a rich legacy – established in 1987 and which upholds the tenet “Based in Macau while embracing the world and promoting culture with an East-meets-West repertoire”, the Macao Chinese Orchestra has been a unique cultural business card of Macau and an example of the in-depth integration of Chinese and Western cultures. Leong pledged that the Macao Chinese Orchestra will continue to give full play to its strengths and make concerted efforts to strengthen Macau’s cultural heritage as a “One Base” including ethnic music, disseminating Macau’s unique blend of Chinese and Western cultures while enabling local residents and visitors alike to appreciate the high quality of Chinese music and to enhance their understanding and love for Chinese culture.
According to Leong, the OCHM had organised 70 concerts in the past season.
“In the new season, we will bring a variety of concerts from traditional music to works with regional artistic characteristics, presenting the diversity of ethnic music to you,” Zhang said during the press conference.
According to the statement, the new season will kick off at 8 p.m. on September 1 with “Splendour of the Strings”.
Tickets for the Macao Chinese Orchestra 2024-25 Concert Season are on sale through the Macau Ticketing Network from 10 a.m. next Tuesday.
Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) President Deland Leong Wai Man (right) and National Class One Conductor Zhang Lie sign an employment contract appointing Zhang as the Macao Chinese Orchestra’s (OCHM) music director and principal conductor, during yesterday’s press conference about the Macao Chinese Orchestra 2024-25 Concert Season at the Macau Cultural Centre (CCM) in Nape. – Photos: Yuki Lei
Members of the Macao Chinese Orchestra perform during yesterday’s press conference.
