Remarkable Talents

 

 

Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 is one of the most extensive works in music history. In this magnum opus Mahler skillfully expresses his deep affection for nature, humanity and God and celebrates, in the finale, the supreme status to which God and man conjoin. The lengthiest of all of Mahler’s symphonies, hence posing a huge challenge to the conductor and orchestra, the work requires a large-scale ensemble of more than one hundred musicians alongside nearly a hundred female singers and a children chorus. The 29th MIMF opening concert features the collaboration of many impressive performers: world-renowned mezzo-soprano Charlotte Hellekant singing the beautiful solo parts of this great symphony; the Macao Orchestra, under the baton of its Music Director and Principal Conductor, Lü Jia; the China NCPA Orchestra and Choir; and the Macao Youth Choir.

 

4/10 | Sunday | 8pm 

Macao Cultural Centre 

Grand Auditorium

MOP 300, 250, 200

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gidon Kremer is considered one of the most original and compelling violinists of his generation. A winner of the Queen Elizabeth, Paganini and Tchaikovsky International Competitions, he has released an astonishing 120 CD albums ranging from the early Baroque to contemporary masterpieces.  Kremer founded the Kremerata Baltica in 1997 as an educational project with a long-term vision. Over the past 18 years, this highly talented group of musicians has established itself as one of the best international chamber orchestras in the world, touring over 50 countries, 600 cities and playing over 1000 concerts in Europe alone. Masks and Faces features the world-famous Fratres by Arvo Pärt, the Concertino for Violin and Strings by Mieczyslaw Weinberg and excerpts from The Art of Instrumentation. However, its main attraction is a joint video project Russia: Masks and Faces. Bringing together contemporary music and visual arts, the work speaks a highly emotional language that reflects our troubled political times and current social attitudes. The programme of their second concert at the 29th MIMF, entitled New Seasons, ranges from new interpretations of Vivaldi and Piazzolla to the Asian premiere of Philip Glass’s Violin Concerto No. 2.

 

12/10 | Monday | 8pm 

Macao Cultural Centre Grand Auditorium

MOP 300, 250, 200

 

13/10 | Tuesday | 8pm 

Macao Cultural Centre 

Grand Auditorium

MOP 300, 250, 200

 

 

 

 

 

 

With his opera Faust, Charles Gounod created an extraordinary fusion of sublime melody, vocal challenge, and dramatic power. The drama centres on a disillusioned scholar who offers his soul to the devil in exchange for youth and the love of a beautiful girl. It quickly attracted audiences worldwide, and the addition of a complete ballet near the beginning of Act Five – frequently omitted in performances today – propelled Faust to its position of unchallenged popularity in France. In the best tradition of French grand opera, the work combines strongly defined aria forms with lyricism and expressive orchestration. The Macao Orchestra, under the direction of Lü Jia, joins forces with the Coro Lirico Siciliano and Lyric Opera of Chicago in a lavish and stunning production.  Performed in French, with Chinese, Portuguese and English surtitles.

 

30/10 – 1/11 | Friday to Sunday | 7:30pm 

Macao Cultural Centre 

Grand Auditorium

MOP 600, 500, 400, 300, 200

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hailed as a true international musical ambassador, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra (MCO) brings its artistic mastery and refined musicianship to the 29th Macao International Music Festival. Established with support from Claudio Abbado in 1997, the MCO has developed into one of the most artistically inspiring and successful ensembles on the international classical music scene. The ensemble has made 28 CD recordings and its members hail from 20 different countries. Award-winning conductor and composer Esa-Pekka Salonen, currently the Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor for the London Philharmonia Orchestra and Conductor Laureate of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, makes his long-awaited debut in Macao. Featuring the music of Jean Sibelius and Magnus Lindberg, the concert programme also includes one of Salonen’s very own compositions, the highly virtuosic and colourful Mania for cello solo and chamber orchestra.

 

7/10 Wednesday | 8pm 

Macao Cultural Centre 

Grand Auditorium

MOP 300, 250, 200

 

 

 

 

 

 

Xian Xinghai was born in Macao in 1905 and composed several stirring musical works. One of his most famous pieces, The Yellow River Cantata , upon which The Yellow River Piano Concerto is based, is a paean of praise to the long history of the Chinese nation and the unyielding spirit of the Chinese people during the Anti-Japanese War. Liu Tianhua, who made a remarkable historical contribution to the inheritance and development of Chinese traditional music in modern history, is regarded as one of the representatives of Chinese traditional music. 

Celebrating the 110th anniversary of the birth of Xian Xinghai, and the 120th anniversary of the birth of Liu Tianhua, the Macao Chinese Orchestra and other traditional ensembles from the two sides of the Strait present the Xian Xinghai and Liu Tianhua Commemorative Concert, under the baton of conductors from all four regions. 

 

15/10 | Thursday | 8pm 

Macao Cultural Centre 

Grand Auditorium

MOP 200, 150, 100

 

 

 

 

 

 

Danças Ocultas propose a unique approach to the accordion: a purely instrumental quartet using the diatonic accordion to create music that evokes tradition and folk influences while being of its own time. The diatonic accordion (named as ‘concertina’ in Portugal) is an instrument created in the first half of the 19th century. Created in May 1989 to take the concertina away from folk music ways by writing new music for it, Danças Ocultas has been collaborating with different performers, becoming a creativity nucleus with its own musical grammar. Pedro Moutinho is a remarkable singer who hails from what is probably the first family of contemporary Portuguese Fado. With three studio albums into his career and one Amália Award under his belt, Pedro Moutinho conquered the profound admiration of the media and the public, while also introducing his own tangents to the genre by recording either new material or cover versions usually not connected to Fado. 

 

16/10 | Friday | 8pm 

Mount Fortress

MOP 100