Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra will be entering its 30^th Anniversary this September. A Season Launch Press Conference was being held on 16 June to announce the programme in the coming orchestral season.

    Mr Yan Huichang, the HKCO Artistic Director, expressed the feelings towards the 30^th Anniversary of HKCO, "…. My colleagues and I meet it with mixed feelings, for on the one hand, we are delighted that the Orchestra has come to a stage when it can rise to another plane, to see wider, to go further afield, with enhanced vision and mission. But on the other, we have some trepidation as we are aware that there is rising expectation from our audiences in Hong Kong and around the world. They are constantly looking for Chinese music of better and better quality. Also, with the Orchestra’s frequent overseas tours as a Cultural Ambassador of Hong Kong and the increasingly popular demand for our digital audio and video products, there is obviously augmented interest in Chinese music among the non-Chinese communities, in particular the composers in other parts of the world. Such keen expectations have become our driving force to work harder, to be better and to always look for the new."

    For this reason, HKCO continues with two-pronged mission of upholding heritage and breaking new ground, and have come up with a new series called ‘A Dialogue between Traditions and Modernity’. It is a programme that invites the modern man to find his cultural roots and his position in the Cultural Time Tunnel. HKCO will turn into a vehicle to explore and experience the beauty of Chinese music, by presenting the breadth and depth of the music culture of China in the most diverse formats imaginable.

    The first in this new series is a multimedia concert entitled From Ancient to Modern, As East Meets West – A Cosmopolitan Symphony. It presents music of all ages and all lands in vertical-sections and cross-sections: from the gudi, taoxun, bianzhong, yuqing, qin, se, zheng, guan of eight thousand years ago to the folk music of China’s north and south, to the 85-piece orchestra of today, and the pipe organ – the ‘king of musical instruments’ of the West….. they sculpt music in its most three-dimensional form.

    Another important series is the Hong Kong Composers series. HKCO is honoured to have Mr Joseph Koo and Mr Law Wing-fai to join us in presenting their great works in their concerts. Mr Koo is a well-known personality in Hong Kong, an icon in Canto-pop and music made popular by television series. Mr Law is a prolific, amazingly creative composer of modern Chinese music. Their concerts may therefore be well described as embodiments of classics of our time and visions of our future.

    HKCO Virtuosi series which presents the multi-talents and high voltage performing techniques of our musicians will be featured again this season. Luo Jing, Sun Yongzhi, Choo Boon-chong, Liu Yang and the HKCO Ensemble Section will be performing the great pieces of their musical genre.

    Advance booking is now available till 31 July 2007. Patrons could enjoy up to 40% discount with best seats guaranteed for subscription made on or before 31 July.

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