Macao kicks off music festival with gala concert

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-10-09 19:57

MACAO: The 23rd Macao International Music Festival (MIMF) started here on Friday night, as the Macao Orchestra staged the month-long event's first performance.

This year's festival embraces opera, symphonic, choral and chamber music, as well as contemporary, folk, pop, fusion and jazz music, which will be presented by artists from the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, Italy, Portugal, the United States, Chinese mainland, Macao, etc.

Being the festival's opening program, the Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto was presented by the Macao Orchestra, which was joined by Chinese violinist Yu Lina, at the Macao Cultural Centre Grand Auditorium Friday night.

The concerto, drawing on themes from the ancient Chinese tragic romance "The Butterfly Lovers," remains until now China's most representative national symphonic work, enjoying a great reputation both at home and aboard. Violinist Yu Lina, who was the premiere performer of this symphonic work, was invited to play it in Macao 50 years after the concerto was firstly performed in China.

Following Friday night's program, the Academy of Ancient Music (AAM), an orchestra of world-class excellence from the United Kingdom, will stage their performance Saturday with their instruments that were constructed or in use during the very historical period when the music itself was composed.

Organized by Macao's Cultural Affairs Bureau, the festival will last from October 9 to November 8, which will be accompanied by workshops and conferences with the aim of stimulating public interest in the arts.