The 38th Macao International Music Festival (MIMF) will be held from October 2 to November 29, featuring 10 programmes presented by world-renowned musicians and emerging young talents, one piano camp, and 12 “Floating Notes Across the City” activities, including Chinese opera, Western opera, contemporary masterpieces, and symphonic concerts, Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) President Deland Leong Wai Man announced in a press conference on Friday.
The press conference for the month-long music festival was held at the Macao Cultural Centre (MCC) in Nape.
Tickets will go on sale through Enjoy Macao Ticketing from 10:00 a.m. on September 13. Various discounts are available for this year’s MIMF.
Leong noted that the total budget for the festival is 31 million patacas, which is a similar amount to previous years.
This edition of the festival kicks off with “My Grand View Garden” – Yue Opera*. Led by first-class mainland Chinese actress Chen Lijun, this production combines delicate, melodious singing with modern stage design, according to an IC statement.
Marking the centenary of its world premiere, the festival will present “Turandot – Three-Act Italian Opera”** by Giacomo Puccini, directed by international actor Jackie Chan of Hong Kong in his directorial debut, the statement said.
In order to further leverage the festival in developing musical talents, two young local string musicians, Nina Wong and Hoi Yan Lok, will collaborate with internationally acclaimed composer and conductor, Chinese-born American Tan Dun, in Mozart’s double concerto for violin and viola; and the joint performance of young local pianist Chan Chon Teng and musicians from the Macao Orchestra in the concert “Bravo Macao!”, showcasing the vitality of the new generation, the statement said.
The statement noted that marking 2026 as the China-Brazil Cultural Year, the concert “Brazilian Body Beats” by Barbatuques will showcase creative body percussion by transforming heartbeats, clapping, stamping, and vocals into a surging rhythm. In addition, the Lisboa String Trio and Sofia Vitória from Portugal will present the concert “Concrete Songs and Other Stories”.
Meanwhile, renowned Shenyang piano maestro Lang Lang will present the concert Lang Lang in Recital: Iberian Rhapsody, offering the audience a magnificent musical feast, and British-born New Zealand Oscar-winning visual artist Sir Richard Taylor will engage in a cross-disciplinary dialogue with Lang Lang, the statement said, adding that Laurence Cummings, a highly acclaimed British conductor, will join hands with the Macao Orchestra and Iranian-Canadian countertenor Cameron Shahbazi to present the ethereal sonority of the Baroque era.
* Yue Opera (越劇) is the second most popular Chinese opera genre after Beijing Opera. Originating in Shengzhou (Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province) in the early 20th century, it expanded rapidly through Shanghai to become one of the nation’s premier regional art forms. – Gemini
**Turandot is Giacomo Puccini’s final, unfinished masterpiece – a dramatic three-act Italian opera set in a mythical, ancient China. Premiered at La Scala in Milan in 1926 (completed after Puccini’s death by Franco Alfano), it is renowned for its grand orchestral scale and intense emotional power. – Gemini
Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) Deland Leong Wai Man (centre) and other representatives look on during Friday’s press conference about the 38th Macao International Music Festival (MIMF) at the Macao Cultural Centre (MCC) in Nape.
This poster provided by the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) on Friday shows a scene from ‘Turandot – Three Act Italian Opera’.
