The 21st Macau Arts Festival kicks off in May: From Latin music to Chinese Opera

(left) Akram Khan Company’s bahok (right) The Macau General Association of Chinese Opera and Music will perform “The Red Silk Romance”, while the Macau Kaifong Chinese Opera Children’s Troupe presents “The Double Spear of Luk Man Long”.

This year’s Macau Arts Festival (FAM) “is like a garden, because it includes different kinds of flowers,” president of the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC), Ung Vai Meng, told reporters yesterday at the programme announcement. The event runs from May 1-29 and brings to Macau a lot of theatre, music and dance performances, as well as some multidisciplinary performing arts, from 20 different countries.
The 21st FAM features over 70 performances by 25 groups from Portugal, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain, Finland, Peru, Cuba, the United States, Canada and Australia. Performers from Macau are also included on the calendar, as one of the events’ objectives is to support local talents.
The programme schedules eight theatre performances, as well as puppets, installation and multimedia shows. From Portugal, the theatre company A Barraca brings a musical show called “August: Tales of Emigration”. Some highlights are Gaia Teatro from Peru presenting a mime show called “The Worlds of Fingerman” and the Bootworks Theatre Collective from the UK performing “The Black Box: Little Box of Horrors/Une Boite Andalouse”.
The music programme comprises soul music and tap dance performed by the Movin’ Melvin Brown (US), “Classic Ennio Morricone Music” by the Spaghetti Western Orchestra from Australia and the Portuguese group Musicalmente presenting “Concerts for Babies”. The Macau Orchestra will play jazz this year.
Performers from the UK, Germany and Brazil, and Cuba will present three different dance shows of contemporary dance, hip hop and Latin dance, respectively. The 21st FAM also includes circus performances and two exhibitions.
According to the IC president, “Traveller’s Home: Master Works of George Chinnery” will showcase paintings that have never been seen before in Macau.
This year the selection is extends to include Cantonese opera, officially inscribed on the UNESCO “List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity” in 2009. The Macau General Association of Chinese Opera and Music will perform “The Red Silk Romance”, while the Macau Kaifong Chinese Opera Children’s Troupe presents “The Double Spear of Luk Man Long”.
Local drama group Doci Papiaçam will also debut a new play spoken in Patua, the Macanese dialect. The group director, Miguel Senna Fernandes, said yesterday that “Yummy, It’s Good!” [Sabroso nunca?] will transport the audience to the culinary world and all that happens inside it, spiced with a lot of humour and irony.
The Macanese group is facing a new challenge this year, as for the first time they will give three performances at the Cultural Centre Auditorium’s stage.
Ung Vai Meng said the diverse performing arts programme is meant to be enjoyed by people of all ages. This year’s budget is of MOP 18.5 million, which means an increase of MOP 500,000 compared to last year.
Tickets will be available from 10 am on March 21 at all Kong Seng Ticketing outlets. Telephone and online bookings will also be available from 1 pm on the same day.
Prices range from MOP 15 to 150 and some performances have free admission.

Festival will close with Havana Rakatan by Cuban Ballet Rakatan