MPI’s Bachelor of Arts in Music programme hosted a graduation concert featuring its class of 2017 students on the evening of 12 May. This concert showcases the talents and achievements of the programme’s graduating students and demonstrates the Institute’s outstanding quality of music teaching. Over 40 students and their teachers performed that evening, staging a superb concert for over 200 enthusiastic music lovers who responded with repeated rounds of applause.

The concert incorporated the following performances: percussion, string quartet, soprano and mezzo-soprano solo, trombone-piano trio, piano four hands and six hands, serenades for violin, clarinet and piano, oboe-viola-piano trio and a grand vocal cycle. According to Dr Dai Baisheng, Coordinator of the Music Programme, students of this programme may choose to specialise in either music education or music performance according to their interests and capabilities. Students following the performance stream are required to host a recital or solo concert while those of the education stream must submit a thesis and pass an oral defense. In addition each graduating student will stage a performance during the graduation concert to showcase their artistry.

In recent years, the Music programme has seen continuous enhancement of management and teaching through successful academic accreditation. Students specialising in music education are required to take piano and voice courses to learn basic performance skills needed to become music teachers. Capable students who have completed the required lecture hours are also encouraged to pursue advanced studies in any music instrument (including piano) or vocal technique. ‘Music performance skill’ is a core course of the programme which employs a ‘one-on-one’ teaching mode, and in which renowned maestros locally and from abroad are invited on campus every year to hold masterclasses and workshops, in addition to serving as external examiners. These pedagogical arrangements are made to improve the students’ music performance skills.

Studying on MPI’s music programme is a starting point for students’ music dreams to take off. The programme provides the best learning environment and exchange opportunities, and students have ample chances to showcase their talents at performances. Students have performed in Portugal, Chinese Mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan, and have received numerous awards at international competitions. In addition to performances staged in Hong Kong, Chengdu and Hebei, they have also made appearances in the Macao Art Festival and the Macao International Music Festival. In 2014, the Music programme successfully passed a programme validation exercise by the Higher Education Evaluation & Accreditation Council of Taiwan, becoming the first academically recognised programme of its kind in Macao. MPI’s music programme has made important contributions to the art and music sectors of Macao, Chinese Mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan, nurturing many outstanding music talents who now excel in their own fields.

Music students of the class of 2017 perform the song ‘Joshua Fought the Battle of Jericho’ conducted by Associate Professor Maria Vanessa Leão at the graduation concert

Sio Sin In, graduating student of MPI’s music programme, performs at her piano recital

MPI’s Bachelor of Arts in Music students of the class of 2017 pose for a photo with several teachers after their graduation concert