Some of the best music ever written for opera fills the Cultural Centre.
for three nights with performances of  Giuseppe Verdi’s “Il Trovatore”

It is set to be a highlight of this year’s Macau International Music Festival: Giuseppe Verdi’s “Il Trovatore” will close the event in style.

The famous four-act opera is a joint production of the Cultural Affairs Bureau and Opera Australia running across three consecutive nights. Maestro Lü Jia will conduct the Macao Orchestra with an international cast that includes the Slovak National Theatre Chorus.

“Il Trovatore” has been a success since it was first staged in Rome in 1853. For more than 150 years, the work has been firmly among the world’s most popular operas.

Verdi’s favourite themes of destiny and desire are woven through this suspenseful story of a corrupt count, a dashing officer and a gypsy who plots to avenge her mother’s wrongful death.

One of the opera’s most striking features is the music. “Il Trovatore” features a spectacular tenor aria, coupled with a series of intense soprano arias, some unique music for the mezzo-soprano and Verdi’s signature baritone arias. On top of this, there is the famous Anvil Chorus from Act II.

With direction by Elke Neidhardt and featuring striking stage design, “Il Trovatore” is set to come to life at the Macau Cultural Centre Grand Auditorium.

Putting on a show

There will be more to “Il Trovatore” than just the show itself. In the past, the Macau International Music Festival has invested in providing workshops, talks and other activities to accompany its shows, with the aim of stimulating public interest in the arts. With “Il Trovatore”, people will have the chance to peek at what is needed to stage such a grand production.

On October 30, make-up artist Yeung King Hung will give a talk in Cantonese at the School of Theatre of the Macau Conservatory on the role of stage make-up in the production.

For those more interested in understanding the set, Michael Scott-Mitchell, the man responsible for its design, will lead a stage tour on the morning of October 31. This is a unique opportunity to see in detail the settings where the action takes place. The tour will be conducted in English, with Cantonese translation.

Both talks are free but numbers are limited and reservations are required.

More to hear

“Il Trovatore” is just a portion of what this year’s Macau International Music Festival offers. Over the course of its 24-year history, the event has brought renowned artists from all over the world to the city and this year is no different.

Running from October 3 to November 7, there are a wide variety of offerings embracing Western and Chinese opera, symphonic, choral and chamber music and performances in the contemporary, folk, pop, fusion and jazz genres.

Twenty-two diverse programmes – from Germany, Austria, Italy, Slovakia, Norway, the Netherlands, Portugal, the United States, Chile, Australia, Hong Kong, Macau and mainland China – will bathe the city’s stages in ancient and more modern sonic colours. The list features the Gürzenich Orchestra from Cologne, highly-regarded Chinese pianist Yundi Li and the songs of the late Cantopop icon Teresa Teng.

Tickets for the festival are available at Kong Seng Ticketing outlets, online
or through the reservations and inquiries hotline,
(853) 8399 6699.

Il Trovatore

Opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi

Dates: November 5 to 7, 8pm

Venue: Macau Cultural Centre Grand Auditorium

Production: Cultural Affairs Bureau and Opera Australia

Libretto: Salvatore Cammarano

Conductor: Lü Jia

Director: Elke Neidhardt

Set Designer: Michael Scott-Mitchell

Costume Designer: Judith Hoddinott

Lighting Designer: Nick Schlieper

Performing group: Opera Australia, Slovak National

Theatre Chorus, The Macao Orchestra

With subtitles in Chinese, Portuguese and English

Tickets: MOP400, MOP300, MOP200, MOP100, available at all

Kong Seng Ticketing outlets, online and via the hotline, (853) 8399 6699

Plan B, for free

Broke? Is that show you wanted so much to see at the Macau International Music Festival already sold out? Looking for something a little different?

No worries. There are still plenty of options available at the event and for free.

For jazz buffs, the festival presents the Jazz Orchestra of the Concertgebouw. The secret of this versatile big band’s success lies in its 18 jazz musicians from the Netherlands and in its founder and leader, Henk Meutgeert, who has written and arranged countless compositions for this ensemble.

In its 14 years, the group has attracted the attention of and performed with a wide variety of guests, among them Lee Konitz, Chick Corea, Branford Marsalis and Dee Dee Bridgewater. They will play at the Mount Fortress on October 29.

On October 31, acclaimed local rock duo Soler, formed by twin brothers Julio and Dino Acconci, performs with the Italian Omniart Ensemble at the Mount Fortress.

Those who enjoy fusion can add October 30 at the Nam Van Lake to their schedule. In what promises to be a wild concert, Haitian-American Daniel Bernard Roumain, known as DBR, and members of his touring ensemble, DBR and the Mission, perform tracks from his newest release, “Woodbox Beats and Balladry”. The release echoes Roumain’s eclecticism, fusing elements of classical minimalism, dance club beats, traditional ballads and thick distorted noise.

On November 1, the stage at Nam Van Lake will host Blasted Mechanism, a Portuguese electro-rock band famed for its live shows featuring elaborate costumes as a backdrop to their music. Dressed extravagantly in alien-like, tribal, futuristic attire, Blasted Mechanism prove both visually outstanding and melodically sumptuous, combining revolutionary technology with ancestral soundscapes. There will be plenty of sounds from alternative rock, electronic music, reggae, dub and folk to create a truly unique musical style.