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[28th Orchestral Season]
Press Release (2 pages)
April 16, 2005
It¡¦s music from plucked-string instruments that
sweeps you off your feet and immerses you in soothing notes!
HKCO presents ¡§Flowing Music¡¨
On May 7, the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra (HKCO) is holding a selection of the plucked-string instruments pieces concert, Flowing Music at 8pm, at the Hong Kong City Hall Concert Hall.
Unlike the western orchestra, in which the plucked strings are excluded from the standard configuration, the Chinese orchestra places considerable weight on the plucked string instruments. While the bowed string instruments produce linear notes and therefore are perfect for ensemble effects, plucked string instruments produce granular notes that make it difficult for a harmonious ensemble effect. But with their flowing melodic lyricism, they have an exotic quality that is charming and at the same time unique.
For this concert, we have invited the Taipei Liuqin Ensemble from Taiwan, formed by Cheng Tsui-pin and her students more than twelve years ago, to perform for us. They will be joined by the plucked-string ensemble of the HKCO for a programme that is beautifully conceived: the first half will be five robust ¡¥winds¡¦ and the second half, four lyrical ¡¥flowing melodies¡¦. There will be special lighting effects and installations for each item on the programme to highlight the music. Be prepared for a world of Chinese poetry in music, and sounds that would enrapture you!
The first half of the programme is Feng, or ¡¥Wind¡¦, and it blows from five directions:
| 1. | Scenes of Yili is the wind that blows from China¡¦s northwest, by the river of Yili in exotic Xinjiang; |
| 2. | Two arrangements by Gu Guanren of Shanghai -Moon over Guanshan and Liquormania ¡V represent the winds from antiquity; |
| 3. | Tan Dun¡¦s Water and Earth are winds swept from pristine earth: |
| 4. | The wind that rises from our own city is Flying with the Wind, composed by Clarence Mak and performed by guzhengs from Hong Kong. |
| 5. | And the charming Bring in the Wine by the local composer, Mui Kwong-chiu, gives us a taste of the whirlwind rhythms and sounds of the Tang poet, Li Bai. |
The second half of the programme is a meeting of streams that flow from four places:
| 1. | There is the flow of the seasons from the Shanghai ¡¥odd ball¡¦ composer, Liu Xing, in the ever-changing month of April; |
| 2. | From the Beijing composer Gao Weijie comes the glimmering Adagio, an arrangement based on Barber¡¦s famous piece; |
| 3. | From the ancients comes the sound of the running brook, Flowing Water, performed on guqin solo; |
| 4. | And from our very own spring source comes Feng Liu, the latest work by local composer Law Wing-fai that gives the inspiration for this concert and gives us the spectacle of a flowing river down the history of Time. |
This concert is a rare gem of Chinese music because there is only one show in this year¡¦s series, and if you miss it, you won¡¦t have a second chance to go back for it.
Tickets for Flowing Music 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
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.
Tse Chun-yan Qin
Born and brought up in Hong Kong, Tse Chun-yan was first interested in European music. In the 1980s, he started learning the qin under Kwan Sheng-yau, Lau Chor-wah and Madame Tsai Teh-yun, a grand master of the Fan Chuan School. Tse has composed a number of qin pieces and has given many public performances as a qin soloist in Hong Kong. He has also performed in Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing and London. His solo CD recording of qin music, The Oil-Lamp Flickered, was released in July, 2001. Other than this, his compositions are also included in the CD collection, The Art of Qin Music and Qin Music on Antique Instruments. Tse Chun-yan is a medical doctor by profession
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