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Press Release
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The Huqin World of
Wong On-yuen IV
Wong On-yuen, the father, and Wong Sun-tat, the son, have given highly successful concerts in Hong Kong and other parts of the world. They have taken with them their huqins to Macao, the U.S., Taiwan and Singapore, impressing concert audiences with their virtuosic skills on a variety of Chinese two-stringed lutes. For the coming season, they will be cooperating with the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra in one of the biggest concerts ever in their performing career.
Wong On-yuen’s career path began in Chongqing, then moving on to Beijing where he built a solid foundation for himself with his training under masters and virtuosi. After resettling in Hong Kong in 1977, he joined the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra and from there, a beautiful vista opened up for him in the world of Chinese music. He went from strength to strength, plucking numerous international laurels and accolades along the way. His son, Sun-tat, was born in Beijing, but began his path in huqin music in Hong Kong. Like his father, he received solid training in Beijing, but unlike his father, he chose a different place to launch his career. He went to Singapore to join the Chinese orchestra there, just as his father celebrated his twentieth year with the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra. Sun-tat is now Associate Gaohu Principal with the Singapore Chinese Orchestra.
Wong On-yuen’s huqin has carved a niche for him in the international music world many years ago. It has taken him fifty years since those salad days in Chongqing. As for Sun-tat, he has also been trotting round the globe with his music engagements. Counting those days when he became the Erhu Champion of the Open Section in the Hong Kong Schools Music Festival, he also boasts twenty years of experience in playing the instrument. Wong On-yuen’s career pivots round the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra: he was appointed Concertmaster in 1981, and Assistant Conductor in 1992. He and the HKCO have together made many glorious records in Chinese music history in Hong Kong. The duo will be playing two double huqin pieces at the concert - a medley of Cantonese music favourites arranged by Wu Wai-lap, and the ever popular Butterfly Lovers. The concert also marks the premiere of Liquormania, a new composition by local composer, Chan Hing-yan, performed by Wong On-yuen. He will be leading his students (including Sun-tat) in performing The Sanmen Gorge Capriccio, as well as other perennial favourites with the zhuihu, banhu and jinghu.
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Highlights of the Programme
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The Butterfly Lovers double concerto for gaohu and erhu
The Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto by He Zhanhao and Chen Gang has evolved into so many instrumentation versions that it would be difficult to count. The Wong’s duo, on this occasion, would be making an innovative approach by using two solo instruments, the erhu and the gaohu, to represent the two protagonists in one of the most favourite romantic stories in Chinese culture. The two huqins are turned into the 'voices' of Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai, with the two characters vividly portrayed in a touching tale of high romance. The star-crossed lovers only find each other again in the ideal existence of two butterflies flying free in the tragic end.
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Know your Chinese
music
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The instrument that can imitate human voice for dramatic impact - the zhuihu
If the western cello is said to be the instrument closest to the human voice, then the zhuihu in the family of huqins would be its equivalent among traditional Chinese instruments.
The zhuihu is also known as erxian, or two-stringed instrument. In form it is like other huqins, a vibraphone with a resonator made of hardwood or bronze and mounted with python skin on one side. The neck, which also serves as the fingerboard, is pegged for two strings. The bow is made of horsehair. The zhuihu is popularly found in the regions of Henan and Shandong as an accompanying instrument for vernacular music. As it can imitate the human voice because of its unique tone colour, it is often 'typed' as 'comic characters' for music that is lighthearted, earthy, with a lot of humour and sanguine overtones. The dramatic qualities also allow it to express a broad range of emotions, to the point of being hyperbolical. It is therefore a Chinese traditional instrument with a humanlike character.
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| Programme |
Erhu Tutti The Sanmen Gorge Capriccio Liu Wenjin
Lead Erhu: Wong On-yuen
Jinghu and Drum In the Deep of the Night Set Tune from Peking Opera Arr. by Li Minxiong
Jinghu: Wong On-yuen Drum: Yim Hok-man Jingerhu: Ngai Kwun-wa
Zhuihu and Orchestra Good Tidings from Home Arr. by Che Jian and Ma Guanglu Orch.by Huang Xiaofei
(Commissioned Arrangement by HKCO/ Premiere)
Zhuihu: Wong On-yuen
Erhu and Orchestra Liquormania Arr. by Chan Hing-yan based on his composition (Commissioned Arrangement by HKCO/ Premiere)
Erhu: W ong On-yuen
Double Erhu and Orchestra Cantonese Music Medley Arr. by Wu Wai-lap (Commissioned Arrangement by HKCO/ Premiere)
Erhu: Wong On-yuen, Wong Sun-Tat
Gaohu, Erhu and Orchestra Ode to the Strings Arr. by Yan Huichang based on his composition
(Commissioned Arrangement by HKCO/ Premiere)
Gaohu: Wong On-yuen Erhu: Wong Sun-Tat
Gaohu and Erhu Concerto The Bu tterfly Lovers He Zhanhao & Chen Gang Arr. by He Zhanhao
Transposed by Wong On-yuen
Gaohu: Wong Sun-Tat Erhu: Wong On-yuen |
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| Date:
29-30.4. 2005
Time: 8:00 pm |
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Venue:
Hong Kong Cultural Centre
Concert Hall |
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29-30-4-2005
$200, 180, 130, 100
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Yan
Huichang
Conductor |
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Wong On-yuen
Soloists |
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Concertmaster-cum-Assistant Conductor of the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra. Wong On-yuen graduated from the Secondary School affiliated to the Central Conservatory of Music, and the China Conservatory.
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Apart from giving performing tours with the HKCO and performing solo on those occasions in China, Southeast Asia, North America and Europe, he has held more than a hundred huqin solo recitals since 1981, including a widely acclaimed recital at the Carnegie Hall in New York. Wong has cut 26 solo recordings and was the producer of 26 albums of Chinese music.
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The Huqin World of Wong On-yuen (1984) won the Gold Tripod Award for the Best Performance, the first ever presented by the Taiwan Government Information Office. He was presented with the Performer of the Year Award by the Hong Kong Artists' Guild in 1989 and the Most Outstanding Asian Artists Award by the Chinese-American Arts Council of New York in 1991, the latter of which was among the Top Ten Music Stories of the Year in Hong Kong. He was made an MBE (a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) in 1997. In 1999, Wong was on the cover of Strad, the world's leading magazine on string music.
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The New York Times has this to say of Wong's performance, "...The huqin family of the Chinese strings seems to have opened up for Westerners a more refined and intricate space in art", "the variety of tone colour he produced was enough to make a listener momentarily regard the four strings of the violin as needless luxury."
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Wong Sun-tat
Soloists |
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Wong Sun-tat is currently Gaohu Associate Principal with the Singapore Chinese Orchestra. He was educated at the secondary school affiliated to the Central Conservatory of Music before entering the Conservatory itself to study Music. At the age of eight, he was already the erhu solo with the Hong Kong Children’s Choir on their performing tour to the United States. He shared the stage with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra in the same year at a fund-raising concert held at the Hong Kong Coliseum, and his performance won him the acclaim as a 'child prodigy'. At the age of nine, he was the Champion, Erhu (Open Section) at the Hong Kong Schools Music Festival. This was followed by many more honours and top positions at international erhu competitions held in China and Taiwan. Wong has two solo albums to date, and has given solo recitals in Hong Kong and Beijing.
Wong Sun-tat
Photo is provided by Singapore Chinese Orchestra
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