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The Immortal Sounds of Pipa

Featuring three top pipa artists from
China and Hong Kong

Programme Highlights:

This is an impressive programme that showcases the outstanding features of three different types of pipa music.  It comprises the “civil” category (Song of the Frontier, Da-Lang-Tao-Sa, Chen Xu and Dragon Boat), the “military” category (King Chu Doffs His Armour and Ambush from All Sides), and the “modern” category (Ink Spirit, The Story of the Lute), completed with 3 other pieces:  Swan, Ballade and The Heart’s Pouring.  It is a juxtaposition of the lyrical with the powerful, the traditional with the modern. You can listen to the varied tone colours of the pipa down the ages and see how composers of today can achieve continuous breakthroughs on this ancient instrument.

Know your Chinese music:

Pipa – It’s easier heard than played 

The pipa is the most expressive of all Chinese plucked-string instruments.  While its sounds may be lovely to the ear, its technical demands often pose high hurdles for the player, novice or veteran alike.  An outstanding pipa recitalist would need to have stamina and an indomitable spirit to scale new heights. 

The long history of the instrument has yielded a rich and varied repertoire, diverse provenances and ways of interpretation, and different musical as well as artistic forms in application.  It is one of the rare instruments that have won the favour of the highbrow and the lowbrow, the intellectual and the man in the street.  Therefore, stories related to the lute abound in Chinese history and fiction, adding a legendary touch to the instrument.  

Talking about stories, perhaps you would like to hear more about the “trainer” and the “trained”.  The concerts’ navigator, Chan Ming-chi, will be conducting a ‘meet-the-artists’ session at the concerts.  Will he be able to persuade Wong Ching, Yang Jing and Zhang Hongyan to tell some of the interesting anecdotes between them and their mentors that took place during their training? You can certainly look forward to it.


 Purchase Discount

For every purchase of standard tickets for "The Immortal Sounds of Pipa" and "The French Connection" – 20% off.

 


Programme

25.5.2004(Tue)

Pipa and Bowed-string
Song of the Frontier Ancient Melody Orch. by Gao Weijie

Pipa solo Ambush from All Sides
Ancient Melody

Pipa and Bowed-string Swan Liu Dehai
Orch. by Yang Qing
Pipa: Yang Jing

Pipa and Strings Ink Spirit
Law Wing-fai
Pipa: Wong Ching

Pipa solo Dragon Boat Folk Melody Compiled by Lin Shicheng

Pipa and String Quartet Ballade Wen Deqing

Pipa solo King Chu Doffs His Armour Ancient Melody Compiled by Lin Shicheng
Pipa: Zhang Hongyan

3 Pipa and the Orchestra Annals of Chinese Melodies Tang Jianping
Pipa: Yang Jing, Zhang Hongyan, Wong Ching


26.5.2004(Wed)

Pipa solo As the Waves Wash the Sands
(Major Key) Hua Yanjun

Pipa solo The Heart's Pouring Wu Houyuan

Pipa solo Ambush from All Sides
Ancient Melody
from the notation of Shen Haochu Compiled by Lin Shichang
Pipa: Zhang Hongyan

Recitation and Pipa The Story of the Lute
Poem by Bai Juyi Gu Guanren
Pipa: Wong Ching Recitation: Zhang Miaoyang

Pipa solo Chen Sui Ancient Melody

Pipa solo King Chu Doffs His Armour Ancient Melody

Pipa and Bowed-string Swan Liu Dehai
Orch. by Yang Qing
Pipa: Yang Jing

3 Pipa and the Orchestra Annals of
Chinese Melodies Tang Jianping
Pipa: Yang Jing, Zhang Hongyan, Wong Ching

Date: 25-26.5.04
Time: 7:45 pm
Venue:
Hong Kong City Hall Concert Hall
$150, $130, $110, $90


Yang Jing / Pipa

  • Pipa recitalist Yang Jing is currently an Associate Professor at the China Conservatory of Music.
  • Her pipa performance is recognized for her natural form and totally engrossed interpretations between the player and the music. She is able to inject a strong artistic ethos into her playing, whether in the traditional or modern repertoire.

Zhang Hongyan / Pipa

  • Pipa recitalist Zhang Hongyan is currently an Associate Professor at the Central Conservatory of Music.
  • Zhang's exposure to both western and eastern music cultures has helped her to acquire a wide concert repertoire. She is recognized for her superb techniques and her dedicated efforts in amalgamating Chinese folk music with western music for further development.

Wong Ching / Pipa

Interview and Demonstration of Wong Ching

  • Currently, Wong is the Section Leader of Plucked-strings and Pipa Principal of the Orchestra.
  • Wong is a versatile pipa artist with a rich repertoire that comprises works by different composers, in different styles and at different times.

Zhang Miaoyang / Recitation

  • Zhang Miaoyang is currently a voice-over artist of Phoenix TV and Chairman of The Hong Kong Society for the Recitation and Study of Putonghua Verse. Since the launch of the Phoenix TV Chinese Channel more than ten years ago, Zhang has been the signature voice behind its trailers.

  • Endowed with a richly resounding voice that is impressive and at the same time highly versatile - robust, sonorous, soaring and in perfect control - Zhang is able to create different personae through the microphone.