Music Festival opens with opera today

The 31st Macau International Music Festival (MIMF), organized by the Cultural Affairs Bureau, kicks off with “Andrea Chénier”,  Umberto Giordano’s opera in four acts.   The opening ceremony will be held on Friday at 7.40 p.m. at the lobby of the Macau Cultural Centre.

The Festival’s opening performance, ‘Andrea Chénier’, narrates the reality of different social classes during the French Revolution through a passionate love story between the protagonist Andrea Chénier, and a noblewoman, Maddalena.

A series of outreach activities will be organized from September 28 to October 1 to familiarize the public with the opera’s heritage. In the talk, “Andrea Chénier – Poet Guillotined for Love”, renowned theatre critic Chow Fan Fu will explore the opera’s plot and analyze its characteristics. A backstage tour will allow participants to appreciate the production’s sets and wardrobe, hair accessories and other props, as well as providing participants with the opportunity to enjoy the excellent production work behind the scenes.

In mid-October, the festival also presents local chamber opera “A Fragrant Dream.” This opera premiered at the festival last year, therefore returning to the stage this year. Besides inviting local playwright Lawrence Lei, composer Liu Chenchen and poet Un Sio San, the organiser also invited the Macao Orchestra, the Shanghai Opera House Chorus and tenor Han Peng and soprano Xu Lei from the Shanghai Opera House, to participate in this production.

Tickets for the 31st MIMF are on sale at the Macau Ticketing Network. However, only a limited number of tickets are still available, the Cultural Affairs Bureau informed.