MUSIC FESTIVAL | Gulbenkian Choir plays today at St. Dominic’s Church

Jorge Matta (left), Michel Corboz and Coro Gulbenkian coordinator Mariana Portas

Does it take a venue like a church to provide a sacred feeling for religious music concerts? According to maestro Michel Corboz: not really. He and fellow maestro Jorge Matta will be conducting the concerts “Sacred Music from High Baroque to French Romanticism” and “Portuguese Music from the 17th and 20th Centuries” respectively, with members from Lisbon’s Gulbenkian Choir.
The two concerts, which will take place tonight at St Dominic’s Church and at the Macau Cultural Centre Grand Auditorium on Thursday evening, are parts of the programs of the 28th Macau International Music Festival. For the first presentation, according to the organizers, all tickets have been distributed.
While he said that a church environment does help to enhance the audience’s experience, it is more important for the performers to have the “imagination” to deliver the music regardless of the venue.
“Religious music is conceived to perform in churches. They were conceived when thinking [about] every stone with which the church was built,” he said.
He suggested that the church acoustics and the prayer environment in the building do give a strong authenticity to the performance. However, he pointed out that he has also performed religious music in concert halls where the performers would not be given the “help” from the atmosphere. “You have to use your imagination. And your imagination has to make you travel to the original concept of the music,” he said.
Maestro Corboz expressed that in performances in auditoriums and concert halls the pieces he conducted have been able to touch the audience so that they were “elevated in a way like they are inside a church”. “It is more a question of feeling than an idea of the scenery,” he added.
In the concert tonight conducted by Michel Corboz, there will be classical music composed by Portuguese and French composers F. A. de Almeida and Gabriel Fauré, as well as two motets by Johann Sebastian Bach.
While Michel Corboz will lead the audience into a journey of religious music, maestro Jorge Matta will be delivering music from Portuguese-speaking countries, including Portugal, Angola, Mozambique and Brazil, as well as music in the villancico style.
When asked about how to further promote classical music in Asia, Maestro Matta said that it is not the promotion but the quality of the music that matters. If the music is good enough and is created with sincerity, he said, there would always be audiences who are attracted to it.
Nevertheless, he still suggested that one way to promote classical music is to collaborate with musicians from the modern genres such as pop or rock or even rap.
Moreover, Jorge Matta believes that there can also be adjustments made in the manner of performance. Instead of merely singing as a choir, performers can also illustrate the music through physical performance.