The 4th Macao Orchestral Music Festival will be staged in August to give low-income musical lovers a chance to enjoy world-class orchestral performance, government sources announced here Tuesday.

Concerts to be given by over 20 orchestral bands from the Mainland, Hong Kong, Britain and America will cram the agenda of the week-long musical event, which will start on August 1.

On Aug. 2, over 600 artists attending the annual musical gala will voluntarily join in an orchestral parade en route to Macao's most prestigious cultural heritage of the ruins of the St. Paul Cathedral, in front of which they together will form a large concert.

British conductor Eric Banks and American trombone player Adam Ferry will be the spotlight of this year's festival, which dedicated its motto to keeping cultural identities of music.

Financed by the government's funding, most of the concerts put on during the festival will be free of charge.

(Xinhua News Agency July 23, 2003)