Macao Chinese Orchestra Macao Chinese Orchestra

Founded in 1987, the Macao Chinese Orchestra – under the Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Macao SAR Government – is a professional traditional music organization.

The Macao Chinese Orchestra has always acted as a cultural ambassador of the Macao SAR, promoting the essence of Macao in the world while serving Macao internally. When abroad or in mainland China, the Orchestra becomes a great cultural name card, promoting the city as a unique East-meets-West melting pot. Locally, the orchestra seeks first to serve the general public by enhancing its ties with the community, associations and schools; secondly, it endeavours to develop itself as a Macao-based ensemble focusing on activities like promoting arts education, arts dissemination and social solidarity through music, as well as promoting Macao’s World Heritage Sites; thirdly, it strives to bring music to every corner of the city, participating in the annual events of Macao International Music Festival, Macau Arts Festival and the Handover Commemoration, in a bid to help enhance the citizens’ cultural level, with its ultimate goal being to create, together with all Macao residents, a sustainable culture in the city.

The Macao Chinese Orchestra frequently brings the distinguished music of the Chinese nation to other parts of the world. Since its first tour performance to Portugal in December 1988, the Orchestra has performed outside almost every year, making concerts in numerous cities including cities in Portugal and Belgium as well as Mumbai and Goa in India, all widely welcomed.

The Macao Chinese Orchestra was invited to tour Portugal in July 2012 to host three concerts respectively in the cities of Guimarães and Coimbra, as well as the Portuguese capital city of Lisbon. The Orchestra tailored performances for this tour. The three concerts included Chinese traditional pieces, as well as works that were full of Portuguese style plus a number of commissioned works first performed by the Orchestra overseas, fully illustrating the musical flavours of Macao.

To celebrate the 35th anniversary of the establishment of Sino-Portuguese diplomatic relations, the Orchestra was invited to tour Portugal again in July 2014, presenting four concerts in Festival ao Largo at the São Carlos National Theatre (Lisbon), Luisa Todi Theatre (Setúbal), Teatro-Cine of Torres Vedras and Quinta das Lágrimas (a World Heritage Site in Coimbra). To comply with the official theme and performance venues, the Orchestra presented pieces mingling Chinese and Western styles. The Orchestra promotes the humanist elegance and musical features of Macao as a “cultural ambassador of Macao SAR”. The four concerts attracted large audiences, constituting a magnificent scene.

The Orchestra has been invited to perform in a number of Chinese cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Wuhan, Xi’an, Guangzhou, Zhongshan, Fuzhou, Xiamen, Quanzhou, Putian, Hangzhou and Nanjing. As the only orchestra representing Macao in a great host of national large-scale commemorative activities, it has performed in the Chongqing Culture and Arts Festival, Meet in Beijing – 2008 Beijing Olympics Activities, The 10th Gugandong Arts Festival, Reporting to Chinese Mainland – Series of Activities in Celebration of the 60th Anniversary of the Founding of the People’s Republic of China by Famous Artists, World Expo 2010 Shanghai China and the 9th China Arts Festival. In March 2011, the Orchestra travelled to Nanjing and Tianjin to participate in the concerts for Macao Week.

In addition to regularly performing music in Macao, the Orchestra frequently performs, by invitation, in local large-scale activities, including joint performances with several renowned Chinese and Portuguese artists at the farewell party to Portugal for the Handover of Macao to China, as well as the Cultural Event in Celebration of the 

Establishment of the MSAR on the Day of Return, expressing the joy of Macao residents’ in returning to China. Every year the Orchestra performs in the Macao International Music Festival, Macao Arts Festival, and various activities in celebration of the Macao Handover like the variety show in celebration of the 15th Anniversary of Macao’s Return to the Motherland.

To facilitate the Macao Chinese Orchestra’s implementation of the cultural policy of the Macao SAR so as to further promote traditional Chinese culture and art education, the Cultural Affairs Bureau began to reform the Orchestra in 2003, engaging, for example, renowned conductor Pang Ka Pang as its Music Director and Principal Director. It also employs full-time musicians, supplemented by part-timers, to form a relatively complete orchestra. June 2004 marked a new artistic development phase for the Orchestra, as it accepted its first batch of young and energetic full-time musicians equipped with comprehensive skills. In recent years, the Macao Chinese Orchestra has made an open recruitment of new instrumentalists using the internet, the press and by sending letters to major conservatories in Asia, which drew numerous candidates from Chinese mainland, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Malaysia. After strict CV examination and evaluation by the Art Committee of the Macao Chinese Orchestra, the most eminent instrumentalists were selected. Since welcoming this “new blood”, the orchestra has constantly enhanced its level of performance and received critical acclaim from the musical circle both inside and outside of China.

The Macao Chinese Orchestra performs both classical and modern musical works. In addition to exploring and developing symphony orchestral traditional Chinese music, it emphasizes on performing works that have elements of Macao culture created by commission. Organically integrating both Chinese and Western cultures, these works are novel, elegant and unique.

Prior to the Handover, commissioned works that the Orchestra premiered included: Hard Separation composed and conducted by He Zhan Hao, Impressions of Mount Tai Hang by Liu Wenjin, Spring River by Xu Jinxin, North of Shaanxi by Cheng Dazhao, Fantasy for Portuguese Guitar by Kuan Nai Chung, and Macau Rhapsody by Simão Barreto. Following the Handover, the Orchestra has also successfully premiered over a dozen commissioned works like the suite Charismatic Ponytail by Kuan Nai Chung, Macao Impressions by Zhao Jiping, Poem of Macao by Tang Jianping and “Macao’s Caprice” by Li Binyang, now part of the repertoire of the Macao Chinese Orchestra already recorded as CDs.

The Orchestra co-operates with numerous soloists (performers and vocalists), including Nancy Loo, Shi Sucheng, Yu Qiwei, Min Huifen, Liu Dehai, Wong On Yuen, Rão Kyao, Dulce Pontes, Rui Veloso, Luís Represas, Jiang Kemei, Wang Guotong, Song Fei, Hu Songhua, Zhang Ye, Wu Yanze, Dai Ya, Qubi Awu, Ma Xianghua, Zhang Gaoxiang, Chen Zuohui, Tang Junqiao, Yan Jiemin, Zhao Jiazhen, Guo Yazhi, Guo Fengnu, Kong Xiang-dong, Pedro Jóia, Pedro Caldeira Cabral, Frances Yip, Kátia Guerreiro, Ala dos Namorados, Yu Hongmei, Paula Tsui, Yu Kuizhi, Adam Cheng, Jenny Tseng, Deng Jiandong, Li Chuanyun, Yin Chengzong, Zhang Qiang, Lily Chen, Miro, Soler, Carlos do Carmo, Custódio Castelo, George Lam, Kong Chaohui, Chen Jun and Lu Wei, etc.

Conductors who have joined hands with the Orchestra include former Music Director of the Orchestra Wong Kin Wai, Wang Zhengping, He Zhanhao, Gu Limin, Gu Guanren, Wang Fujian, Huang Xiaofei, Wang Yongji, Hu Bingxu, Yan Huichang, Kuan Nai Chung, Piao Dongsheng, Bian Zushan, Liu Wenjin, Chen Xieyang, Zhang Lie, Chen Ning Chi and Hong Xia, among others.