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[28th Orchestral Season]
Press Release (2 pages)
April 8, 2005
Chinese plucked string instruments -
from Tang to Now
A conglomeration of virtuosi in Hong Kong
HKCO presents ¡§Chinese Winds and Strings Series - The Plucked Strings¡¨
The Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra has invited The Taipei Liuqin Ensemble to Hong Kong to perform at the concert Chinese Winds and Strings Series - The Plucked Strings, at the Hong Kong City Hall Concert Hall on 6 May (Fri) 8:00pm.
The concert features virtuosi in plucked string music from the Mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong. The Taipei Liuqin Ensemble and five of the recitalists representing different generations in the Chinese music world will be performing a programme of exotic sounds on the liuqin and the ruanxian. Yan Huichang, Artistic Director, and Yuen Shi-chun, Research Development Officer (Musical Instrument) of the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra will be navigating the audience in a highly enlightening concert experience through the time tunnel.
The Taipei Liuqin Ensemble was established in 1993 by Cheng Chui-ping and her students. The aim of the Ensemble is to explore the possibilities of orchestrating Chinese plucked strings instruments to achieve an acoustic breakthrough by using the liuqin and the ruanxian, both played with a plectrum, as the core instruments. They act as a bonding agent for the other plucked string instruments - the daruan, zhongruan, xiaoruan, alto liuqin and soprano liuqin ¡V as well as percussions to create a poignant tone colour that is uniquely Chinese. The bright and splendorous sounds, with their highly flexible and rich tones, create a refreshingly different overall acoustic effect. The versatility of the configuration means it can play a repertoire of music from China and the West. The first half of the programme illustrates that versatility with Anitra¡¦s Dance, the well-known piece from Grieg¡¦s Peer Gynt; a light-hearted French ballad, La Rochelle, played on the xiaoruan; the Hungarian dance music, Czardas, written by Monti and performed by Tai Pei-yao as a liuqin concerto; and the airy, uplifting sounds of Pizzicato Polka by Johann Strauss II and Josef Strauss. There will also be original compositions for the plucked string instruments. One is A Song Without Words by Zhu Lin, and the other is A Cat¡¦s Song Without Words, a lovely piece that portrays feline grace and the rapport between cats and humans, performed by Chen Yi-chien.
Tai Pei-yao, who will be the soloist in the first half of the programme, is currently teaching at the Hwa Kang Arts School in Taiwan. A member of the Taipei Liuqin Ensemble, she has come first in the Liuqin and Pipa Sections of the All Taiwan Music Competition. Chen Yi-chien is currently a full-time lecturer in the Chinese Music Department of the Tainan National College of the Arts, a part-time lecturer in the Chinese Music Department of the Chinese Culture University and a principal of the Taipei Liuqin Chamber Orchestra.
The soloists in the second half of the programme are Yuen Shi-chun and Ho Kang-ming, both Chinese music virtuosi in Hong Kong. Ho was a former full-time musician with the HKCO, and retired from the professional scene in 1982. He is making a special comeback in a collaboration with Yuen to perform Liyun Chunsi. Ho and Yuen will be playing Tang-style ruanxian and Ming-style pipa. Di Yang, who came from the China Conservatory of Music in Beijing and now Liuqin Principal with the HKCO, will be performing two movements from Sketches of Life in the North by Liu Xijin, The Fishermen¡¦s Song and Winte Hunt.
Marking a grand finale of the concert are selections from Symphony No. 3 by Liu Xing, and the final movement of Ode to Peace by Zhao Jiping, performed by the HKCO and the Taipei Liuqin Ensemble.
Tickets for Chinese Winds and Strings Series - The Plucked Strings concert are now available at all URBTIX Outlets at $150, 130, 110 and 90. Half-price tickets are offered for senior citizens, people with disabilities and full-time students. Please refer to the programme leaflet for more details on discount schemes. Enquiries: 3185 1600; Booking Hotline: 2734 9009. Internet Booking: www.urbtix.hk; HKCO website: www.hkco.org
¢w End ¢w
Press Enquiry¡G Ms.Vivian Ip (Public Relation & Publicity Executive)
Tel ¡G3185 1601 / 9553 2244 Fax¡G2815 5615
E-mail¡Gvivianip@hkco.org HKCO Website¡Gwww.hkco.org
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Artists Biography
Yan Huichang Conductor & Host
National Class One Conductor. As a conductor who has worked with all professional Chinese orchestras in Beijing, Shanghai, Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong, Yan has won the acclaim of the music circles in China and abroad for his artistic and conducting talents. Under his baton, and in collaboration with the famous composer Zhao Jiping, the Symphony Orchestra section of the China National Symphony Orchestra made the soundtrack recordings for such award-winning films as Raise the Red Lantern, Ballad of the Yellow River, and Five Girls and a Rope. Yan was awarded the ¡§Cultural Medallion (Music)¡¨ by the National Arts Council of Singapore in September 2001. Since 2004, he has been a Visiting Professor in many music conservatories. Yan was awarded a Bronze Bauhinia Star (BBS) by the Chief Executive of HKSAR in 2004 in recognition of his remarkable achievements in Chinese music as well as his efforts in promoting Chinese music.
Taipei Liuqin Ensemble Guest Artist
The Taipei Liuqin Ensemble was established in 1993 by vocalist of Chinese folk songs and liuqin player Cheng Tsui-pin, who is also its founding director and concertmaster. All its members are young musicians dedicated to the art of liuqin performance. The aim of the Ensemble is to explore the possibilities of orchestrating Chinese plucked strings instruments to achieve breakthroughs and to discover new talents in the field. The acoustic concept of the ensemble is to use the liuqin and the ruanxian, both played with a plectrum, as the core instruments to give consistency in techniques while at the same time, create harmonious and pure tones. The Ensemble is noted for its uniform performance standards, rapport between its members, and brilliant, rounded and richly varied tone colours. This type of configuration for a music ensemble has opened up a new form of performance and sound for modern Chinese music. Since its first establishment, the Ensemble has given more than a hundred performances to critical acclaim. It has toured Guam, Honolulu, Santa Barbara, Las Vegas, Hong Kong, Beijing and Guangzhou. Everywhere it went, it has received critical acclaim.
Yuen Shi-chun Host & Tang-style Ruanxian
Currently the Research Development Officer (Musical Instrument). Yuen joined the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra in 1974.For the past three decades, Yuen has consistently worked on the improvement and design of plucked instruments. In 1992 and 1996 Yuen won the ¡¥Technology Advancement Award¡¦ from the Chinese Ministry of Culture for his liuqin and ruanxian respectively. In 1998, he was given the same award for the consort of ruanxian he made. In 1993, Yuen was appointed a member of the ¡¥Experts of Chinese Musical Instrument Improvement¡¦. In 2003, he received the Award for Arts Achievement by the Hong Kong Arts Development.
Ho Kang-ming Ming-style Pipa
Born and educated in Hong Kong, Ho Kang-ming was a full-time musician with the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra between 1976 and 1980. He is devoted to blazing new trails for Chinese instrumental music. In 1981, he joined hands with Ms Chan Man-chong, a pipa virtuoso in Hong Kong, and the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra in premiering Chan Wing-wah¡¦s Symphony No. 2 for double pipa and orchestra. It was a milestone in the history of Hong Kong music because it was the first time a Chinese traditional instrument shared the stage with a philharmonic orchestra in performing a modern work in Hong Kong. Ho left the music scene in 1982 and has been a businessman since then. He picked up the pipa again in 1998 and formed the ¡§Wind and Silk¡¨ group with his friends, Yuen Shi-chun, Tam Po-shek and Yu Siu-wah, with the aim of revitalizing the authentic timbre of ¡¥silk and bamboo¡¦ and promoting Chinese traditional music.
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