As the box office opened Sunday for this year’s music festival, boasting a true international line up for the first time in three years, tickets do not appear to be selling as fast as the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) claimed in a statement yesterday.
Celebrating its 35th edition this year, the Macao International Music Festival will feature musicians from Japan, Portugal, the US and the UK, among other locations, with the limelight mostly on US jazz singer Stacey Kent, Portuguese Fado singer Gisela João and Japanese maestro Joe Hisaishi.
Furthermore, opera is also making a glamorous return this year, with not just a single title but two, which is uncommon for the festival.
Yesterday, the IC issued a statement attesting that the festival has thus far proved popular among audiences. It specifically mentioned that the opera “The Barber of Seville,” the concert “Echoes of Life,” the a cappella concert “The Movies,” the Fado concert “AuRora,” the concert “Legacies,” and the Chinese orchestral concert “Song of the Ch’in” are enjoying great popularity, suggesting tickets to these events are selling fast.
However, real-time seating plans on the ticketing channel MacauTicket.com appear to tell a different story.
Taking the example of “The Barber of Seville,” which is set to perform in the Grand Auditorium of the Macao Cultural Centre, the IC is not offering seats on the upper floor and with a side view for sale. A few rows of seats in the center-back are also blocked for the control panels, in addition to the four front rows blocked to facilitate the orchestra pit. With a full house equating to 1,080 audience members, this means there are about 800 tickets are on sale per show.
As of yesterday, both the afternoon and evening shows on Oct. 8 of the opera have sold about 20% of available tickets. The evening shows on both Oct. 6 and Oct. 7 saw better box offices yesterday, but many seats on both sides of the theater were still available.
The opera is an opening show for the festival.
The debut shows in Macau of Hisaishi have received over 40,000 registrations for ticket raffles as of yesterday, the IC disclosed. The IC has pledged all tickets for the three shows will be sold by random draw.
