Chinese music, with thousands of years of history, is an important part of Chinese culture. Unfortunately, it is generally less popular than western music, given limited exposure to it in our daily lives. 

Following on the GEG Arts & Culture Initiative when the Foundation launched its first cultural exhibition, the Foundation is taking a further step into promotional efforts in the performing arts sector, striving to create a more inclusive artistic world in Macau.  By various forms of collaborations, it is the Foundation’s wish that Chinese Music can be popularised and cultivated, especially amongst young people in Macau, given their unfamiliarity with Chinese music.

Macao Chinese Orchestra (2021-22 Season, 2020-21 Season)

Macao Youth Chinese Orchestra (2021-22 Season)

Hulu Culture Promotion Association (2020-21 Season)

The Macao Chinese Orchestra, established in 1987, is a professional orchestra under the auspices of the Cultural Affairs Bureau of Macao Special Administrative Region Government.  Upholding the tenet "Based in Macao while embracing the world and promoting culture with East-meets-West repertoire", the Orchestra has been presenting traditional Chinese music reflecting the spirit of the times, bringing excellent works to Macao fans, and allowing the public to access the genre at ease while also promoting Macao’s positive image to the world.

To encourage and promote the inheritance and development of traditional Chinese music in Macao, in particular to popularize the genre among the younger generations, the Orchestra has strived to boost the popularity and local development of traditional Chinese music by promoting music education among students and the public and by fostering young musicians through musical engagements in schools and communities.  With our music we show care to the community, support non-governmental associations, and stage performances in world heritage sites, museums, libraries, parks and gardens, to enhance the artistic atmosphere of almost every corner of Macao.

Website: www.icm.gov.mo/ochm

Facebook page: www.facebook.com/MacaoChineseOrchestra

The Macao Youth Chinese Orchestra is made up of local young musicians from Macau, who are keen to perform, and provide opportunities to students to perform in a formal orchestra.  Since its establishment in 2004, the Orchestra had played over 300 performances, themed on both Chinese and Western music, from tradition to fusion, in order to attract more young audience and popularize Chinese music in the community.

Website: myco.macaueric.net

Facebook page: www.facebook.com/MacauYouthChineseOrchestra

The Foundation will once again join the Macao Chinese Orchestra as “Special Art Patron” for its 2021-2022 season.  Three select performances will again be performed at the Broadway Theatre at Galaxy Macau™ in 2022, with two extension programmes for which the Foundation will be inviting local students to participate. 

The Foundation will take further steps to cultivate and promote Chinese music by engaging the Macao Youth Chinese Orchestra in hosting a guided concert for young people, to take place in early 2022 at the Broadway Theatre, with local students again invited to be in the audience.  This event will not only continue to expose young people to Chinese Music, but will also avail young performers of the youth orchestra an opportunity to perform at Broadway Macau.

Macao Chinese Orchestra Concert Series, Broadway Macau

The following three concerts from their 2021-22 season will be performed at Broadway Theatre:

11 February 2022:     Valentine's Day Concert “A Romantic Date”

19 March 2022:         Enchanting Tunes from the Screen 3

29 May 2022:             Family Musical Theatre Concert "Musical Magic Wand" (Winds Concert)

Macao Chinese Orchestra Open Rehearsal Sessions

The Orchestra will earmark two concerts with open rehearsal sessions before the actual concert, which the Foundation will invite local students learning Chinese music to attend:

16 January 2022:    Open rehearsal of “Feeling of Spring”

31 July 2022:           Open rehearsal of 2021-22 Season Closing Concert “Echoes in the Soul”

Guided Concert for Young People, Broadway Macau

The Macao Youth Chinese Orchestra will curate a concert, specially programmed to offer young people a glimpse into Chinese musical knowledge and skills, aiming to promote their understanding and appreciation ability in traditional Chinese music. The concert will also provide young musicians with the opportunity to perform in front of an audience in a formal setting fit for a professional orchestra.

19 February 2022:    “Chinese Music 101” Young People’s Concert

It is the Foundation’s interest in promoted Chinese Music in Macau and, in particular, audience development focused on young people.  This is what led the Foundation to launch the “GEG Chinese Music Promotion Scheme”, joined the Macao Chinese Orchestra as "Special Art Patron" for its 2020-21 season.  

Three select performances when the orchestra were performed at the Broadway Theatre, Galaxy Macau.  Furthermore, “extension programmes” attached to three other concerts were also held, with the support of Hulu Culture Promotion Association, the Foundation’s collaborator on the GEG Intangible Cultural Heritage Scheme.

GEG Chinese Music Concert Series, Broadway Macau

The following three concerts from their 2020-21 season had been performed at Broadway Theatre:

14 November 2020:     Enchanting Tunes from the Screen 2

6 June 2021:                  Musical Magic Wand Prequel

17 July 2021:                  Xian Drum Music

GEG Chinese Music Concert Extension Series on Intangible Cultural Heritage

In addition to the three concerts performed at the Broadway Theatre, Hulu Culture Promotion Association participated in co-organising extension programmes for certain of the orchestra’s concerts during their 2020-21 season, to provide a richer offering of activities in addition to the performances themselves.  A selection of three concerts where the repertoire relates to intangible cultural heritage had therefore been included in the GEG Chinese Music Promotion Scheme:

31 October 2020:    Taoist Music

17 April 2021:        Naamyam 

17 July 2021:         Xi'an Drum Music 

These extension programmes were open free to the public.

Expanding on the GEG Chinese Music Promotion Scheme, the Foundation participated in the 31st Macao Arts Festival as venue sponsor for its “Dialogue Between the East and the West” concert on Sunday 9th May 2021.  The Macao Chinese Orchestra performed at the Broadway Theatre and presented a concert with music performed with Chinese and Western instruments, “opening an East-West dialogue through the fusion of Chinese and Western music”. 

Furthermore, the Foundation had invited over 200 students from 7 local schools to attend the rehearsal session the day before the actual concert.  Both students and teachers treasured the unique experience of exploring how a professional orchestra rehearsed and prepared for a concert.

Inscribed as an intangible cultural heritage in both the National List and the UNESCO’s Representative List, Xian drum music is one of the most important musical varieties in traditional Chinese music and is one type of traditional Chinese “wind and percussion music”. Originated from the Tang Dynasty, Xian drum music is classified as “wind and percussion music”, and can be performed sitting or marching.

In collaboration with the Xi'an Drum Music Ensemble, the Macao Chinese Orchestra hosted a concert and a related workshop at the Broadway Theatre on July 17, 2021, as part of the “GEG Chinese Music Promotion Scheme”. Professor Cheng Tianjian, introduced the characteristics of Xian drum music to the audience in a simple and profound way, allowing the audience to better feel the local cultures.

The Foundation had also invited young students from local schools to enjoy the concert and the workshop as part of the Scheme, aiming to introduce different forms of Chinese music, as well the importance of conservation, to young people in Macau.

As part of the “GEG Chinese Music Promotion Scheme”, the family musical theatre concert “Musical Magic Wand Prequel”, performed by the Macao Chinese Orchestra at the Broadway Theatre, was held on June 6, 2021.  In collaboration with the Big Mouse Kids Drama Group, the Orchestra performed a programme to introduce to the audience the four “voices” of Chinese music.  Parents and children enjoyed the interesting story and ear-catching songs, including a “shake-along” with their souvenir rattles to the beat of the music.  The Foundation had invited young students from local schools to enjoy the show with their parents as part of the Scheme.

As part of the Foundation’s sponsorship of the Macao’s Chinese Orchestra’s concert “Dialogue Between the East and the West” at the 31st Macao Arts Festival on May 9, 2021, the Foundation's "GEG Chinese Music Promotion Scheme" invited local students to a rare “behind-the-scenes” experience with the orchestra.

Over 200 students from 7 local Chinese school orchestras were invited to attend a rehearsal session the day before the actual concert.  Both students and teachers treasured the unique experience of exploring how a professional orchestra rehearsed and prepared for a concert.

With Chinese music being an important part of Chinese culture, it is the Foundation’s wish that Chinese Music can be cultivated and popularized, especially amongst young people in Macau.

The first of the three-concert series performed by the Macau Chinese Orchestra as part of the GEG Chinese Music Promotion Scheme, was held at the Broadway Theatre on the evening of 14th November 2020.

150 students and teachers from Colégio de Santa Rosa de Lima (Secção Chinesa), being a collaborating school with another of the Foundation’s initiative, were invited to enjoy the evening concert.  With Chinese music being an important part of Chinese culture, it is the Foundation’s wish that Chinese Music can be popularised and cultivated, especially amongst young people in Macau.

Naamyan is performed in the narrative singing tradition in the Cantonese dialect, a form of “spoken word music” inscribed on the list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Macau.

As part of its ongoing promotion of Macao’s intangible cultural heritage, The Macao Chinese Orchestra held a Naamyam concert on April 17 featuring Master Au Kuan Cheong, the only master of Naamyam in Hong Kong and Macao. The concert was followed by a talk on Naamyam led by Master Au, an extension programme that is part of the Foundation’s GEG Chinese Music Promotion Scheme. The Foundation’s collaborator on its GEG Intangible Cultural Heritage Scheme, Hulu Culture, coordinated the talk for a packed audience at the Mandarin’s House.

Taoist music is the ceremonial music of Taoism.  Music has long played an integral part in religious ceremonies, and the importance of music in Taoist ceremony is demonstrated by revealing how central beliefs are reflected through elements of music such as instrumentation and rhythm.  Expression of spiritual beliefs through music enables followers of Taoism to enhance their path to enlightenment.

As part of the “Music in World Heritage” concert series of the Macao Chinese Orchestra’s 2020-21 season, a well-attended extension programme – a talk on Taoist music hosted by Taoist Priest Ng – was conducted at the Mandarin House.  Taoist Priest Ng shared with the audience the history and evolvement of Taoist ritual music, the uniqueness of the music, and efforts through various generations of his family to maintain and preserve this important intangible cultural heritage.

“Macao Taoist Ritual Music” was inscribed by the Macao SAR Government into the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Macao in 2009.

In an effort to promote Chinese music to the general public, and in particular the younger generation, the Foundation initiated the “GEG Chinese Music Promotion Scheme”, joining The Macao Chinese Orchestra for its 2020-21 season as “Special Art Patron” with three concerts performed at the Broadway Theatre, together with a series of extension programmes related to various of its concerts in the upcoming season.