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Press Release
GODIVA
Chocolatier Sweetly Presents:
Love Awaits – 2005 Valentine Concert Series
Our Valentine concerts
in the last seven years have created many romantic episodes. The concert series
have therefore become a ‘hallmark’ and one of the most popular programmes of the
Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra. In the last few years, many people –lovers, married
couples, friends and relatives – have made it a date to enjoy a candlelight
dinner at the New World Renaissance Hotel and the Mandarin Oriental Hotel before
walking over to the concert hall for the concert. It has become a special
occasion that many look forward to every year.
This year, the romance continues, when the HKCO shares the stage with two very
talented artists – Yao Jue and Guo Yazhi in a romantic interpretation of Do You
Know I Am Waiting For You? The programme also includes themes from the hit
Japanese and Korean television series on love. So mark the date, and make it a
day to remember for you and your love!
A romantic moment to remember: When the concert was
almost over, you took out a bunch of red roses, all one hundred of them, which
you had prepared beforehand and hidden somewhere, and gave them to me. I was so
happily surprised that I was in tears. The cheers and applause of the audience
in the concert hall have remained in my mind always!
Love can do the strangest thing: At that
Valentine’s Day concert, when the conductor turned to take his bow and threw the
rose in his hand to the audience, imagine my surprise when you dashed forward to
catch it and then went down on your knee to present it to me! You are normally
such a shy person, and this act of love has really melted my heart!
Yao Jue and Guo Yazhi in a romantic interpretation of Do You Know I Am Waiting
For You? |
My choice |
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For the next orchestral season’s concerts by the HKCO, there are
quite a few that I want to attend, and top of that list is the Valentine’s
Concert featuring Jue Yao, the famous violinist. Yao is the only female
violinist listed in the Famous Chinese Women published by the International
Women’s Day, Beijing, 1995. She is dedicated to her music, having appeared in
concerts around the world introducing the violin music of China and the west.
The Chinese music she plays has been popularly received in China and Taiwan.
Koi Ming Fai
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Ensemble A Beautiful Night Liu Tianhua
Arr. By Yan Huichang
Violin and Orchestra
Festive Joy of the New Year
Mao Yuan Arr. by Yan Huichang
Song of the
Homebound Fisherman
Ancient Melody Arr. by Yan
Love Story
(Theme from Love Story)
Francis Lai
Arr. by Joshua
Chan Violin: Jue Yao
Saxophone and Orchestra
Jasmine
Jiangsu Folk Song Kenny G Arr. by Guo Yazhi Orch. by Chew
Hee-chiat
Saxophone: Guo Yazhi
Suona
and Orchestra
Nine
Hundred and Ninety-nine Roses
Lyrics by
Lin Linan Tai Cheng-hsiao
Arr. by Lee Ying
Suona: Guo Yazhi
Violin and Orchestra
Salut d'amor
Elgar Arr. by Cao Peng
Serenado Toselli
Arr. by Cao Peng
Violin: Jue Yao
Ensemble Love Without End Wang Fook Ling
Arr. by Huang Xiaofei
Ensemble Prayer ( Theme from
Autumn in My Heart )
Arr. By Chen Ningchi (
Arrangement commissioned by HKCO / Premiere )
Saxophone and Orchestra
Unchained Melody
(Theme from Ghost) Arr. by Wang Peng
( Arrangement commissioned by HKCO / Premiere )
Saxophone: Guo Yazhi
Suona and Orchestra
Chelsea Morning
Joni Mitchell
Arr. by Liu Wenjin
Suona:
Guo Yazhi
Ensemble
A Medley of Popular Songs from the West
Arr. by Liu Xijin
Saxophone, Violin and Orchestra
When Love Becomes a
Memory Music and
Lyrics by Jonathan Lee
Arr. by
Ng Cheuk-yin
Do You Know I am Waiting
for You? Music and
Lyrics by
Chang Hung-liang
Arr. by Mui Kwong-chiu
Violin: Jue Yao Saxophone: Guo Yazhi
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29.1.2005 (Sat)
In the Mood of Love package HK$1,100
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Candle-light dinner for two at New World Renaissance Hotel Panorama
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Two $200 concert tickets to Love Awaits Concert
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Prestigious skin care gift from Institut Estherderm
Sweet Surprise package HK$600
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Dinner Buffet for two at Concerto, TST
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Two $130 concert tickets to Love Awaits Concert
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Prestigious skin care gift from Institut Estherderm
Deadline of booking : 31.12.2004
Enquiry and
booking : 3168 1612
Booking Form
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Patron will receive a complimentary Chocolate Gift Pack from GODIVA
Chocolatier

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| Date:28-29.1.2005
Time: 8:00 pm | |
Venue:
Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall | |
$200,
180, 130, 100 |
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Yan Huichang
Conductor |
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Yan Huichang was conferred the title of
National Class One Conductor at the First Professional Appraisal of China
in 1987. He was appointed Music Director of the Hong Kong Chinese
Orchestra in June 1997 and was re-titled Artistic Director and Principal
Conductor in October 2003. as a conductor, he has worked with all
professional Chinese orchestras in Beijing, Shanghai, Taiwan, Singapore
and Hong Kong. In collaboration with renowned directors Zhang Yimou, Teng
Wenji, the famous composer Zhao Jiping and the Symphony Orchestra section
of the Central Philharmonic Orchestra of China, Yan had made soundtrack
recordings for such award winning films as Raise the Red Lantern, Ballad
of Yellow River, and Five Girls and a Rope.
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Yan is actively engaged in composition.
His representative works include the symphonic poem The Sound of Water
which won a Class One Prize in the Composition Contest of the Shanghai
Conservatory of Music and Class Two Prize in the Third National Music
Composition Competition; and the pipa solo work Nostalgia which won a
Class One Award at the First National Pipa Contest of Contributing Works.
Yan was awarded the "Cultural Medallion (Music)" by the National Arts
Council of Singapore in September 2001.
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Born in Shanghai, China
violin virtuoso Jue Yao studied violin at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music
Middle School under Shuzhen Tan and continued her studies with full
scholarship at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music under Zaven Melikian.
She graduated from the Juilliard School of New York where she studied under
Dorothy DeLay before embarking on an impressive professional career
characterized with widely acclaimed performances in Asia, Europe, and the
United States and appearances on radio and television in China and the US,
including telecast live concerts in Los Angeles, Beijing, Hong Kong and
Taiwan.
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Yao made her New York recital
debut before a standing room only audience at Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall
in 1993 and has performed in major international festivals such as the
Ravinia Music Festival, the Aspen Music Festival, the Yachats Music Festival
and Macau International Music Festival and in such prestigious halls such as
The Avery Fisher Hall and The Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, The Herbst
Theater and The Tchaikovsky Hall.
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Orchestra with which she has
performed include Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra, Russia Philharmonic
Orchestra, Brooklyn Chamber Orchestra, Prague Chamber Orchestra, Suk Chamber
Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba, Honolulu Symphony Orchestra,
Century Symphony Orchestra of Japan, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, china
National Symphony, Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra, Hong Kong Sinfonietta
and Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra. Yao was the featured soloist with the China
National Symphony Orchestra on their triumphant Mexico tour in 2000.
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Yao was appointed by the Hong
Kong Government to be the Council Member of the Hong Kong Academy for
Performing Arts. And she is also a member of the Programme Committee of the
Hong Kong Arts Festival society. Yao is the founder of the ‘Yao Jue Music
Academy’ and the ‘Hong Kong Children’s Chamber Orchestra in Hong Kong’. Her
achievements and dedication to music education has won her numerous
accolades over the years, including the ‘Outstanding Violinist Rado Timeless
Award’ in 2002 and ‘Ten Outstanding Young Persons’ in Hong Kong in 2004.
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This season Yao’s performance
schedule takes her to Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Philippines, Prague,
Singapore and Austria.
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Guo Yazhi
Suona / Guanzi
/ Saxophone |
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Formerly on the teaching staff of the Central Conservatory of
Music in China, Guo is currently the Suona Principal of the HKCO.
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He
stuns the music world with his performance of the modernistic
suona concerto, played on the improvised removable reed suona. He
participated in the International Pro Musicis Competition held in
New York in 1998, and won the only Grand Prize in the Finals. In
the same year, he was selected by the Ministry of Culture of China
as one of the most outstanding musicians in
China.
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