Showtime in Macau
Like the sleeves of a master magician, the Macau Music Festival, which runs from October 12 to October 27, is filled with hidden baubles, objects which suddenly glitter and dark shadows which shroud lights and mirrors.
Most visitors from Hong Kong have gone for the past nine years to sample wines, the food and big productions, and this year should be no exception.
While the enclave has changed dramatically over the past decade, the restaurants are still cheap and tasty, the Portuguese wines, if not always vintage, have the richness of friendly vineyards, and the service, by Portuguese, Macanese, Filipinos and Chinese, is honestly accommodating.
Visitors are also going for the big shows. These include the ballet Spartacus, to music by Khatchaturian, which should attract a huge audience since the dancers and orchestra come from Russia.
The same group will be performing Swan Lake, as well as a Tchaikovsky concert.
The second Puccini opera of the autumn - Tosca in Macau follows Hong Kong's Turandot by a month - as always will sell out.
And, of course, what would the festival be without a work in one of Macau's churches - in this case Haydn's Santa Cecilia Mass in the Cathedral - that will undoubtedly be packed. Not simply because it is free, but because it is grand.
By far, though, the largest crowds will come in for two Chinese music recitals, and the youth concert held by the ruins of St Paul's.
But what of those hidden treasures? The glowworms hiding behind the spotlights? Ah, these little treasures will attract a different crowd, due to their uncommon nature.
A chamber music concert on October 16 will have two, 20th-century works. But both Holst's St Paul's Suite (and why did they not stage this in front of St Paul's?) and Bartok's Divertimento for String Orchestra are hoary classics.
Not so the following evening. The Moscow Piano Quartet is not only widely acclaimed in Russia but in European trips abroad.
Here they will start with Prokofiev's bristling First Violin Sonata, continuing with the most astonishing composer to come out of Russia, Alfred Schnittke.
Barely 20 years ago, Schnittke had never heard his own music played. Today this music - a remarkable blend of the ancient and modern - is only played in Asia, but in the West is unceasingly praised.
After this, is another 20th-century piece, a Piano Quartet by composer Naprivnik, obviously from Russia. Two nights later, the same group will play two 19th-century quartets, by Schumann and Brahms. But the prize may well be a quartet written by Numo Leal incorporating styles, themes and variations by Mahler.
On October 24, soprano Elvira Ferreira will sing 20th-century lieder.
The De Falla songs are well-known, having been arranged for several instruments. But the romantic (and archaic) songs of Respighi - better known for his grand orchestral tapestries - are much less frequently played, and the Macau Festival will provide a rare opportunity to hear them.
The songs by Respighi's near-contemporary, G F Ghedini again takes old Italian forms but dresses them up with unusual metres and melodies.
The result for this festival is two weeks of diversity, with spectacle, ethnicity and a few truly rare gems. For tickets call 7171-7171 or the hotline on 7171-0888
