The 33rd Macao Arts Festival (MAF), organised by the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC, from the Portuguese acronym), will be held from 28 April to 28 May, with many programmes having seen favourable responses since tickets went on sale. Due to the public’s overwhelming responses, the IC will offer some additional seats for the grand opening programme Rite of Spring and On Substance of Time. Tickets for the additional seats will be on sale simultaneously through the Macau Ticketing Network outlets, online and telephone booking from 10am on 7 April.
To give the MAF a grand opening, the renowned dance artist Yang Liping will present the production Rite of Spring. After three years of refining, this version reverses the original narrative from an Oriental perspective. Integrating Oriental philosophy, symbols and aesthetics, the creative team will present a bold and innovative interpretation of the piece, impressing the audience with spectacular stage effects. For the production On Substance of Time by the Portuguese Contemporary Dance Company, internationally acclaimed choreographers Vasco Wellenkamp and Miguel Ramalho have transformed the verses of Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen into dance routines, making lives and souls sparkle through the dancers’ body movements.
Moreover, an array of local productions will also be staged at the MAF. Innovating on traditional opera, the Zhen Hua Sing Cantonese Opera Association has turned the painful memory of the super typhoon Hato into the Multimedia Full-length Cantonese Opera Bonds of Hato. With Chu Chan Wa as the executive producer and the national first-class actress Lai Qiongxia as one of the main cast members, the production combines the quintessence of traditional Cantonese opera and multimedia technology in modern theatre, and takes an ingenious artistic approach to celebrate the noble sentiments of Macao people who love the city and the country alike with selfless dedication. Stella & Artists, a local dance company dedicated to contemporary dance, will join hands with the celebrated choreographer Nir de Volff and bring together dancers from Berlin and Macao to present Club Loneliness to explore love and loneliness that transcend geographical and cultural differences. Born and raised in Israel and currently living in Berlin, choreographer Nir de Volff co-produced works with a number of artists including Falk Richter who is a prominent playwright, former director-in-residence at the Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz in Berlin, and the major creator of Trust, the closing programme at the 26th MAF. Following the well-received production On the Other Side of Macao – A Magical Adventure in 2021, the local multimedia artist Bernardo Amorim will once again take children and adults on a new fantastic journey On This Side of Macao – The Quest for Verónica at this year’s MAF through the integration of puppet shows and projection mapping. Cantonese and Portuguese sessions are available for this programme. To give people of different backgrounds an opportunity to enjoy barrier-free access to artistic performances, arts accessibility services are available for this programme, with an easy guidebook in Chinese provided.
For more information about the programmes, ticket purchase and discounts, please visit the MAF website (www.icm.gov.mo/fam), follow the MAF page on Facebook (search for ‘Macao Arts Festival’), or subscribe to the official IC WeChat account (‘IC_Art_Macao’). Ticketing hotline: 2855 5555; ticketing website: www.macauticket.com.