You can’t blame Leung Kin-fung for talking up the Macao Youth Symphony Orchestra – he is, after all, their guest conductor. But the man knows plenty about music, having studied at Juilliard, and now serving as first associate concertmaster of the Hong Kong Philharmonic.

“They’re capable of playing anything,” says Leung of his young Macau charges. “Once they put their effort into something, once they really want to do it, the power behind them, it’s something you can’t really imagine.”

No need to imagine, not when we can listen firsthand this fortnight. Under Leung’s baton, the MYSO presents a programme chock-a-block with popular concertos by Vivaldi, Bruch, Mendelssohn, Beethoven, Mozart, Lalo, and Brahms.

Ambitious programmes are nothing new for the MYSO, a group of 100 Macau-based student musicians aged seven to 22. Founded by music teachers in the enclave to encourage home-grown talent, the MYSO have just begun showing their chops overseas. They performed at Wiener Musikverein last year with the Vienna Boys Choir, and toured Australia in 2007.

MYSO association president Hoi Kin-wah asserts that the young group’s musicianship has steadily bloomed since its 1997 debut. “Our first symphony was Schubert’s Unfinished [No. 8] Symphony. We were weak at first, especially in the lower strings. But now all our players are strong, and some have even received scholarships at the APA, in the US and Australia.”

With the Macau government and private sponsors pumping major cash into Macau’s music scene in recent years, maestro Leung has high hopes for the MYSO. “The audience in Macau is used to concerts with international acts and standards,” he says. “Now they’ll see the kids from Macau playing complete concertos. I think this concert will be better than they expect.” Go judge for yourself.

Bong Miquiabas

Macau Cultural Centre, Grand Auditorium, March 14