Macau International Music Festival
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MIMF ticket sales reached 90%
The 29th Macao International Music Festival (MIMF), organized by the Cultural Affairs Bureau, came to a close on 1 November, featuring, throughout a month, 23 remarkable shows with over 60 performances and outreach activities. 90% of MIMF tickets were sold. This edition of the MIMF used the theme as “Soundmazing” and included shows of all genres, many of which were performed in venues filled to capacity, such as the concert Gustav Mahler - Symphony No. 3, Mozart and Salieri - Opera in 1 Act by Rimsky-Korsakov, the vocal concert Over the Moon, the fado concert by Danças Ocultas and Pedro Moutinho, the classical music concerts Symphony No. 9 “The Great” by Schubert and Enigma Variations by Edward Elgar, the jazz concert Great Ladies of Song, the a capella concert by O-Kai Singers from Taiwan and Charatay from Hong Kong, concerts by the Stradivari Quartett and musician Ólafur Arnalds, the concert Loess Ballads and the opera in five acts Faust. Tickets for all five free admission shows at St. Dominic’s Church were fully distributed. The special concerts Bravo Macao! aimed to offer a stage for local promising musicians and received positive feedback. The MIMF also included an outreach programme divided into six main categories, namely seminars, master classes, workshops, backstage tours, children’s corner and community promotion, which had over thousands of people participated. This outreach programme included four session of backstage tours to “Faust – Opera in 5 Acts by Charles Gounod”, which led participants to the production’s backstage and allowed them to have close contact with scene settings, props and costumes. This increased the participants’ enthusiasm. The Festival further invited local cultural and creative entity GUGUMELO Studio to design a series of ‘Gugumelo x 29FIMM’ illustrated products, namely a tote bag and a pocket notebook, and launched the ‘Postcards to the Future’ free activity at performing venues for the audience to write or draw their wishes for next year's 30th MIMF. This edition of the MIMF is supported by the Macau Government Tourist Office, TDM – Teledifusão de Macao, Air Macau, The Venetian Macao® and the Bank of China (Macao Branch) together with the partnership of four credit cards and seven media partners. In order to promote its shows, the MIMF held promotional activities and set up ticket sales points at the University of Macau, the Institute for Tourism Studies, the Macau Science and Technology University and in gaming entities. Additionally, the Cultural Affairs Bureau organized Festival tour for consuls accredited in Hong Kong and Macao, in order to experience diversified culture in Macao. Media outlets and art critics from Mainland China, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Taiwan were also invited to attend the MIMF’s performances. China National Radio broadcast live excerpts of some concerts and Taiwan CTI TV reported on the Festival, thereby contributing to raise its reputation. For celebrating the 30th edition of the MIMF next year, more high quality performances will be launched and audience should not be missed!
Consular Corps in Hong Kong & Macao enjoyed the music festival tour and learned the diversified local culture
On the occasion of the 29th Macao International Music Festival (MIMF), the Macao S.A.R. Government invited consuls of various countries accredited in Hong Kong and Macao to participate in a tour organized by the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) on 24 October 2015. The delegation visited Cinematheque．Passion, then to the Woodcraft Works of Master Lu Ban Exhibition Room and to the Heritage Exhibition of a Traditional Pawnshop Business. After that, they headed to Mount Fortress where one of the MIMF programme, the concert “O-Kai Singers and Charatay” was held. They were deeply impressed by the diversified local culture. The delegation first visited Cinematheque．Passion, where they watched the short film “The Tricycle Thief” filmed in Macao. The story told about the adventures of a rickshaw driver in a night and the film was nominated for Best International Short Film in the “2014 Toronto International Film Festival” and was granted with the Gold Award in the “2015 KODAK Student Scholarship Programme”. The delegation was accompanied by Acting Chief of the Department for the Promotion of Cultural and Creative Industries of IC, Ho Ka Weng, and were introduced about the film production by the director of “The Tricycle Thief”, Maxim Bessmertny. After that, they visited the Woodcraft Works of Master Lu Ban Exhibition Room and the Heritage Exhibition of a Traditional Pawnshop Business, where they learned more about the traditional carpentry techniques and wisdom as well as the history of pawnshop businesses. The Bureau then hosted an evening reception for the delegation. Led by the Vice-President of IC, Leong Hio Ming, and the Chief of Cultural Events Department, Kent Ieong, they headed to Mount Fortress and attended the extraordinary a capella concert by ensembles O-Kai Singers (Taiwan) and Charatay (Hong Kong S.A.R.). The delegation expressed their satisfaction of this cultural tour.
29th Macao International Music Festival pre-opening concerts Young local musicians reveal their talent
In order to encourage local talents and prepare the stars of the future, the Cultural Affairs Bureau organizes, as a part of the 29th Macao International Music Festival, two concerts titled “Bravo Macau”, to be held on 25 and 26 September (Friday and Saturday), at the Dom Pedro V Theatre. The concerts feature performances by local young musicians, namely violinist Sophia Feinga Su, saxophonist Hugo Loi, pianist Ray Long and violist Katy Ho. These four musicians have been winning awards from a young age and have been admitted to top-notch institutions where they have honed their skills, unleashing their natural talent. 14-year old Sophia Feinga Su currently attends world prestigious The Juilliard School of Music in the U.S.A., and was the youngest ever participant in the Macao Young Musicians Competition to be awarded the Cultural Affairs Bureau Prize, in 2008, which lead the media to proclaim her “Macao’s Violin Prodigy”. Hugo Loi is dedicated to music training, teaching at the Macao Conservatory, the Macau Band Directors Association and several schools in the Territory, becoming, the first representative of the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague to perform abroad solo and conduct exchange sessions with students at the University of Ghana, in Africa in 2013. Ray Long graduated with first class honours at the Royal College of Music in the United Kingdom, and conquered the second prize and the Brighton Fund Prize award at UK’s Springboard – Brighton and Hove Performing Arts Festival as well as the awards for Best Performance and Concerto at the IBLA Grand Prize in Italy, amongst other important awards. Katy Ho also graduated and completed a master’s degree at The Juilliard School of Music in the U.S.A., and was awarded a scholarship by the same school last year and assigned to teach music courses at public schools in New York. Tickets for these concerts are now limited and all interested members of the public are advised to make their purchases as soon as possible. Ticketing hotline: 2855 5555. For more information on these performances, please visit the webpage www.icm.gov.mo/fimm or call IC through tel. 8399 6699, during office hours.
Knowledge Graph
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1 The 29th Macao International Music Festival (MIMF), organised by the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC, from the Portuguese acronym), opens on 4 October (Friday), with the concert Gustav Mahler - Symphony No. 3, by the Macao Orchestra, the China NCPA Orchestra and Choir and the Macao Youth Choir, at 8:00pm, at the Macao Cultural Centre Grand Auditorium.
2 This MIMF edition includes several highlights, such as the highly sought after opening concert Gustav Mahler － Symphony No. 3 and the closing performance Faust – Opera in 5 Acts by Charles Gounod, among other already sold out performances.
3 The 29th Macao International Music Festival continues to present brilliant performances. Icelandic musician Ólafur Arnalds presents his first performance in Macao that is highly anticipated by audience; while renowned opera Faust brings the audience to the golden age of French opera.