2017
An Exciting Musical Journey Around Myanmar
It is with great excitement and joy that we welcome you to the fourth edition of the Myanmar Music Festival. Since 2014, the festival has been blessed to receive numerous support from people across various sectors, ranging from civil society, diplomatic community, private and public sectors. This support has shaped our journey with music and culture in Myanmar leading this year to a Myanmar Music Festival Tour under the auspicious recognition of the Ministry of Culture and Religious Affairs. Together, we will be touring five cities in Myanmar: Sittwe, Myitkyina, Nay Pyi Taw, Mandalay, and Yangon, with the aim to keep bringing music to a wider and more diverse audience every year. On each of these concerts, we are honored to premiere seven new and interesting compositions, commissioned for this occasion. These seven new compositions were written by composers from the United States, Peru, Taiwan, and Myanmar, including Ministry of Culture's very own U Hlaing Win Maung. These pieces, all explore the idiomatic languages of both Myanmar traditional and western instruments. Traditional instruments such as Myanmar Flute, Circle Drum, Myanmar Harp and Myanmar Xylophone will be performed by the musicians of the Ministry of Culture and the Western instruments by Malaysian Mezzo Soprano Singer Yiling Chaing for her second year with us and for the first time, Taiwanese cellist Yuwen Wang and Thai violinist Chalat Limpisiri. Additionally, the festival also features young aspiring talents.
The festival will take place from June 1 to 18, 2017. Starting from Yangon, the festival troupe will first gather at the Khayay School for rehearsals ahead of the concerts in the various cities across Myanmar. There will also be a few events in Yangon as well, so we encourage you to check out the dates of the events in the booklet. You are all invited to attend, the admission to every concert held during the tour is free and aims to gather as many of you who are interested in embracing this moment of conviviality and joy! Please feel free to come and talk to us at the end of each event as we are always happy to meet with our audience.
This year, the festival is in its fourth season. In the past years, the work of the team creating the event within and outside of Myanmar has succeeded in enlarging the audience and the partnerships surrounding the making of this event. The 2017 edition will take the musicians on a tour across Myanmar with the aim of reaching a more diverse audience outside of Yangon. The Festival will also hold concerts in Sittwe, Myitkyina, Naypyidaw and Mandalay this year.
On this fourth edition, under the recognition of the Ministry of Culture and Religious Affairs, MMF 2017’s focus is to highlight Western Myanmar Music collaborations by commissioning different works, blending Western and Myanmar instruments. We will work in collaboration with Myanmar traditional artists and artists from the South-East Asian and East Asian regions. The festival will also feature returning students such as Kevin Yang, who is a recipient of a full scholarship as a piano student at Missouri Western State University. This fourth edition also aims to be a preparation for the 5th anniversary of our festival in 2018.
The festival will take place from the 1st to the 18th of June 2017. Starting from Yangon, the Festival troupe will first gather at the Khayay School for rehearsals ahead of the concerts in the various cities across Myanmar. The tour aims to fulfill the festival’s goal to bring people from different socio-economic backgrounds with different cultural backgrounds altogether to join this cultural celebration.
The festival will take place from June 1 to 18, 2017. Starting from Yangon, the festival troupe will first gather at the Khayay School for rehearsals ahead of the concerts in the various cities across Myanmar. There will also be a few events in Yangon as well, so we encourage you to check out the dates of the events in the booklet. You are all invited to attend, the admission to every concert held during the tour is free and aims to gather as many of you who are interested in embracing this moment of conviviality and joy! Please feel free to come and talk to us at the end of each event as we are always happy to meet with our audience.
This year, the festival is in its fourth season. In the past years, the work of the team creating the event within and outside of Myanmar has succeeded in enlarging the audience and the partnerships surrounding the making of this event. The 2017 edition will take the musicians on a tour across Myanmar with the aim of reaching a more diverse audience outside of Yangon. The Festival will also hold concerts in Sittwe, Myitkyina, Naypyidaw and Mandalay this year.
On this fourth edition, under the recognition of the Ministry of Culture and Religious Affairs, MMF 2017’s focus is to highlight Western Myanmar Music collaborations by commissioning different works, blending Western and Myanmar instruments. We will work in collaboration with Myanmar traditional artists and artists from the South-East Asian and East Asian regions. The festival will also feature returning students such as Kevin Yang, who is a recipient of a full scholarship as a piano student at Missouri Western State University. This fourth edition also aims to be a preparation for the 5th anniversary of our festival in 2018.
The festival will take place from the 1st to the 18th of June 2017. Starting from Yangon, the Festival troupe will first gather at the Khayay School for rehearsals ahead of the concerts in the various cities across Myanmar. The tour aims to fulfill the festival’s goal to bring people from different socio-economic backgrounds with different cultural backgrounds altogether to join this cultural celebration.
Sittwe, Rakhine State
The festival will go on an exploratory trip on May 26 to 29 to Sittwe and perform at the U Ottama Hall. There will be a series of workshops and discussions associated with the concert during the artists' stay there.
Myitkyina, Kachin State
The second stop will be Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State, the northernmost state of Myanmar. Many students who previously participated in the festival come from this region of Myanmar. In 2015 this connection has gone forward with the inclusion in the festival events of a performance in the Kachin Institute of Theology. This year we will re-enact the collaboration with the same Institute, moving the performance to a more prominent public venue, the City Hall on the 9th of June.
The festival will go on an exploratory trip on May 26 to 29 to Sittwe and perform at the U Ottama Hall. There will be a series of workshops and discussions associated with the concert during the artists' stay there.
Myitkyina, Kachin State
The second stop will be Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State, the northernmost state of Myanmar. Many students who previously participated in the festival come from this region of Myanmar. In 2015 this connection has gone forward with the inclusion in the festival events of a performance in the Kachin Institute of Theology. This year we will re-enact the collaboration with the same Institute, moving the performance to a more prominent public venue, the City Hall on the 9th of June.
Naypyitaw
Naypyitaw is the capital state of Myanmar. Designated in 2006, much of the planned city development has been largely built in the subsequent 6 years. Its construction rose in a greenfield 3 km north of Pyinmana. The concert will be on the 11th of June in the Myanmar International Conference Centre-2 with the collaboration of the Ministry of Culture and Religious Affairs.
Naypyitaw is the capital state of Myanmar. Designated in 2006, much of the planned city development has been largely built in the subsequent 6 years. Its construction rose in a greenfield 3 km north of Pyinmana. The concert will be on the 11th of June in the Myanmar International Conference Centre-2 with the collaboration of the Ministry of Culture and Religious Affairs.
Mandalay
Mandalay is the second most populated city in Myanmar, located in the north centre, it is the economic cultural and political centre of the homonymous region. Furthermore, the city is considered the centre of Burmese culture across the centuries. It is home of the Imperial Palace of the last King and Queen of the Myanmar kingdom. The location for the festival’s performances will be the National Theatre on the 13th of June.
Mandalay is the second most populated city in Myanmar, located in the north centre, it is the economic cultural and political centre of the homonymous region. Furthermore, the city is considered the centre of Burmese culture across the centuries. It is home of the Imperial Palace of the last King and Queen of the Myanmar kingdom. The location for the festival’s performances will be the National Theatre on the 13th of June.
Yangon
Yangon was the capital of Myanmar until 2006. The city counts the highest population and hosts the biggest economic centre of the State. The urban planning of the city was largely developed under the British after their victory in the Second Anglo- Burmese war of 1852, to become the capital of the country in 1885, once the rest of the country was assembled under the colonial rule.
The historical importance of the city, and it being the historical location for the Festival’s conduction are the main reasons for the choice of Yangon as the final stop of the Festival troupe. The final concert will take place in the National Theatre on the 18th of June. The concert will be attended by a diverse audience spanning from civil people to the diplomatic community.
Yangon was the capital of Myanmar until 2006. The city counts the highest population and hosts the biggest economic centre of the State. The urban planning of the city was largely developed under the British after their victory in the Second Anglo- Burmese war of 1852, to become the capital of the country in 1885, once the rest of the country was assembled under the colonial rule.
The historical importance of the city, and it being the historical location for the Festival’s conduction are the main reasons for the choice of Yangon as the final stop of the Festival troupe. The final concert will take place in the National Theatre on the 18th of June. The concert will be attended by a diverse audience spanning from civil people to the diplomatic community.
