The Macao Orchestra (OM) 2024-2025 Concert Season will open on August 31, a spokeswoman for the Macao Orchestra Company announced during a press conference yesterday at the Macau Cultural Centre (CCM) in Nape.
Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) President Deland Leong Wai Man, who also chairs the Board of Directors of Macao Orchestra Company, Limited, attended the conference along with representatives from Macau’s six gaming concessionaires and the Bank of China Macau Branch.
During the press conference, the orchestra’s Music Director and Principal Conductor Lio Kuok Man performed a piano solo of Brahms, as well as the German composer’s famous Hungarian Dance No. 5 as a duet with pianist Niu Niu. Niu, described in an OM brochure as “one of the most beloved young Chinese virtuosos today,” will perform Brahms Concerto No. 1 with guest conductor Christian Arming next March, highlighting this concert season’s two-week “Tribute to Brahms” series.
Christian Arming, born in Vienna in 1971, is an Austrian conductor.
According to the niuniumusic.com website, Niu Niu is the stage name of Zhang Shengliang.
Leong said that “Creating Infinity” is the upcoming concert season’s theme. She underlined the company’s commitment to the tenet “blending Chinese and Western cultures, interpreting traditional and modern classics”.
Meanwhile, Lio announced the continuation of the “A Medley of Chinese Works” series, in which the OM’s music aims to blend with Tang poetry texts for the upcoming season’s concert “iSING! Echoes of Ancient Tang Poems”.
The press conference also highlighted the collaboration with Grammy-winning jazz pianist HIROMI (Hiromi Uehara), who performed at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics opening ceremony. Additionally, the OM will be launching the “Crossover Creation” series, which aims to “break through the boundaries of classical music” by “integrating” it with other art forms.
Highlights from this series include a collaboration with the Hong Kong Ballet in which the new “The Butterfly Lovers” ballet will be presented at the CCM in November one month after its world premiere in Hong Kong, together with “Starry Symphony at the Lawn”, during which the audience can enjoy the outdoor concert on the lawn.
According to Leong, the OM organised 74 concerts and outreach events in the past season. Leong underlined that the OM will further contribute to the development of Macau as a “City of Performing Arts” while advancing the diversification of Macau’s industries.
The new concert season will commence at 8 p.m. on August 31 with Mendelssohn’s “A Midsummer’s Night Dream” with Taiwan’s award-winning actress Sylvia Chang (張艾嘉) as narrator of Shakespeare’s romantic comedy, accompanied by the Hong Kong Philharmonic Chorus.
Tickets are on sale from 12 p.m. today on www.macauticket.com.
Chinese pianist Niu Niu (left) and Macao Orchestra (OM) Music Director and Principal Conductor Lio Kuok Man perform a piano duet on the sidelines of yesterday afternoon’s press conference at the Macau Cultural Centre (CCM) in Nape. – Photo: Leong Ian Kio
