The 24th Macao International Music Festival (MIMF) will be held from Oct. 3 to Nov. 7 this year, Macao's Cultural Affairs Bureau announced on Monday.

This year's festival boasts a diverse schedule embracing Western and Chinese opera, symphonic, choral and chamber music and performances in the contemporary, folk, pop, fusion and jazz genres, according to the Cultural Affairs Bureau, the organizer of the festival.

The music festival will present a total of 22 high quality programs and passionate performances by leading troupes and superstars in the musical firmament from a dozen countries and regions around the world, said Ung Vai Meng, president of the Bureau.

Inaugurating this year's festival is the Gurzenich-Orchestra Cologne, a nearly two-century-old German ensemble now touring Asia with chief conductor Markus Stenz at the helm.

As 2010 marks the 200th birthday of one of history's most notable pianists and composers, Fryderyk Chopin, the MIMF will host the internationally acclaimed young Chinese pianist Li Yundi in recital, celebrating the event.

Meanwhile, Cantonese opera, which was inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2009, occupies a special place in this year's festival.

The organizer invites top stars from the Hong Kong opera scene to bring to life two of the most moving love stories of the Yueju repertoire, the Purple Hairpin and the Moon Pavilion.

Aside from musical programs, the organizer said that the festival has invested renewed effort to provide workshops, talks and other activities to accompany its events with the aim of stimulating public interest in the arts.