The 31st Macao International Music Festival (MIMF), organised by the Cultural Affairs Bureau, kicks off on 29 September with Umberto Giordano’s renowned opera in four acts Andrea Chénier. This superb production by the Teatro Regio Torino, featuring a stellar cast, will be performed on 29 September and 1 October, at 8pm, at the Macao Cultural Centre Grand Auditorium, providing music aficionados a rare opportunity not to be missed.
The 31st Macao International Music Festival commemorates the 150th anniversary of the birth of Umberto Giordano by presenting the composer’s opera in four acts Andrea Chénier, one of the pinnacles of verismo, the dominant artistic style of Italian operas at the time. It tells a passionate story of love, conviction and sacrifice. A brilliant improvised verse by the patriotic poet Andrea Chénier ignites the flame of love in Maddalena, the beautiful daughter of the Countess of Coigny. However, the tumultuous times of the French Revolution puts the enamoured pair to the test, when the reactionary poet flees from fierce prosecutors and aristocrats are being hunted one after another. Replete with torrential dramatic music, extreme emotionality and virtuosic arias against the breathtaking French Revolution backdrop, Andrea Chénier is an epic ode to the beauty of life.
This edition of the Festival also features the chamber opera in three acts Orfeo ed Euridice, by Christoph Willibald Gluck, in the open air, on 21 and 22 October, at 8pm, at Mount Fortress, a co-production of the MIMF and Israeli Opera. The Greek myth of Orfeo, narrated in Virgil’s Georgics, inspired several generations of composers – such as Monteverdi and Offenbach, who extracted materials from this poignant love story. The myth of the musician Orfeo, who travels to the underworld to ransom his dead wife, Euridice, explore the deepest issues of desire, anguish and of the power (and limits) of art. German composer Christoph Willibald Gluck, an avid opponent to the excesses of Italian Opera, reconstructs the opera by balancing the music and the dramatic action, making it one of the most important operas of the 18th century.
Limited tickets are available. For more details of the 31st MIMF’s programme, please visit the Festival’s website at www.icm.gov.mo/fimm. Ticketing hotline: 2855 5555. Ticketing website: www.macauticket.com.