Recently, Professor Dai Dingcheng from the School of Innovation Design at our university has secured a research project titled “A Case Study of Macao’s Music through the Lens of Cultural Heritage,” which has been funded by the Macao Foundation. This marks the second consecutive year that Professor Dai has received funding for a research project, following his successful application for an individual academic project with the Macao Foundation last year.

The fund aims to support research projects with significant academic value, particularly those related to local culture. Professor Dai’s research explores the relationship between urban music culture and social structure from the perspective of intangible cultural heritage (ICH), focusing on the shaping of urban music cultural identity and strategies for the inheritance and protection of ICH.

At the same time, Professor Dai Dingcheng’s 2024 funded project and monograph titled A Historical Study of Macao’s Brass Bands have been contracted with the Sanlian Bookstore (Hong Kong) Publishing House, with an expected release within the year. Other upcoming academic achievements of Professor Dai include:The monograph A Study of 20th-Century Macao’s Folklore and Ritual Music, which was funded by the Cultural Bureau’s Academic Award Scheme in 2017, will be typeset and published by another academic publisher in Hong Kong. (His 2013 monograph on the same funding project, 20th-Century Macao Catholic Music: Composers and Works in a Unique Historical Context, has already been published in Chinese, English, and Portuguese editions.)A piano composition textbook contracted by the People’s Music Publishing House, a national-level publisher, with Professor Dai Dingcheng.The national key project of the Ministry of Culture, Anthology of Chinese Folk Songs: Macao Volume, led by Professor Dai Dingcheng, is in its final typesetting stage after a decade of revisions.In terms of teaching, four doctoral dissertations in English, supervised by Professor Dai, have been selected for the 4th International Conference on “China-Portugal Cross-Cultural Dialogue” held in Portugal.

Professor Dai Dingcheng is a senior scholar in the study of early European music. His recent research has filled many gaps in the field of Macao’s music studies, particularly in the area of local music culture.

Written by Wang Haitao, a 2024 doctoral student (Musicology) from the School of Innovation Design.