The University of Porto hosted, in early October, a concert of Chinese music presented by artists and academics from the Macao University of Science and Technology (MUST). Promoted by the Confucius Institute at the University of Porto (ICUP), the concert took place in the Grand Auditorium of the Abel Salazar Building, to a full house. 

The programme combined instrumental music and vocal performance, featuring traditional Chinese instruments such as the guqin, the guzheng, the sheng and the xiao. It was also inspired by different sections of the Book of Songs (Shijing), one of the oldest collections of Chinese poetry.

The concert formed part of an international tour by MUST inspired by the historic Maritime Silk Road and constituted an opportunity for cultural exchange between Portugal and China.

Before the performance, the ICUP received a MUST delegation led by Zhang Zhiqing, Director of the Faculty of Humanities and Arts. The meeting was attended by the two Directors of the ICUP, José Varejão also Vice-Rector of the University of Porto for Culture, Relations with Society, Alumni and Communication and Yi Zongyong. The two sides exchanged ideas on cultural exchange and academic cooperation and explored possibilities for collaboration between the two institutions.

With the Porto concert, MUST concluded its tour of Portugal. The delegation then headed to Spain for the next leg of the tour. 

(Source: University of Porto, 9 October)