Since its incorporation as a company, the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra has seen significant changes, and one of the most remarkable is the huge increase in the number of overseas tours. In a matter of five or six years, the Orchestra has made its presence as a performing group felt not only in the Mainland market but also in the western world. It has firmly established its role as a cultural ambassador of Hong Kong and is turning itself into a cultural icon.

A total breakthrough in programming

A cultural landmark often stops at being an inanimate structure, or a 'hardware', whereas cultural ambassadors and cultural icons should be dynamic and organic, with roots and vitality for growth to show the world the unique cultural features and social dynamism characteristic of cosmopolitan Hong Kong today. The theme of the 30^th Anniversary Concert of the Orchestra - From Ancient to Modern, As East Meets West – A Cosmopolitan Symphony marks a programming breakthrough for the Orchestra, both in terms of concept and choice of material. It highlights the roots and vitality of the Orchestra and enhances its image and strength as a cultural icon of Hong Kong.

The premise of such a breakthrough is to identity the 'roots' of Chinese music heritage. A lot of the Chinese musical arts has died out, is no longer extant, or to the least, has become patchy. However, in the past decade or so, under the auspices of relevant entities such as the Chinese Nationalities Folk Art Development Centre under the Ministry of Culture of China, and thanks to the efforts of scholars and experts who have gone to great lengths to collect, compile and conduct research on the materials, a rich and reliable databank has been set up. The result is exciting and gratifying. Seeing what has been salvaged in traditional Chinese music, one cannot help feeling awestruck by the formidable depth and richness of the Chinese civilization, a feeling that can only come from the 'tremor of the earth', the origin of a musical heritage. This awe-inspiring experience leads one to appreciate the greatness of the Chinese people and find an affirmation of self-identity, which is precisely the 'roots' often emphasized by the HKCO in its efforts to enhance its image as a cultural icon.

The Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra's 30^th Anniversary Concert, From Ancient to Modern, As East Meets West – A Cosmopolitan Symphony was made possible with the support of the Chinese Nationalities Folk Art Development Centre, many recitalists and composers. First of all, instead of having a two-part programme with an intermission in between, it is now in three parts. Part I: Reverberations of Ancient Sounds features the 'indigenous sounds' of the Henan Ancient Music Ensemble of the Henan Museum. Their performance includes a qin and se ensemble, a bianzhong ensemble playing music of the Xiaoya (The Minor Festal Odes) and the Qin Feng (Qin Ballads) from The Book of Songs, a piece of pipa music of the Tang Dynasty, Rui-Zhe-Gu, and six pieces of Confucian ritual music. Part II: Folk Music – Gentle South and Heroic North features the Chaozhou Xiansi Ensemble Group playing the soothing, lilting regional music of Chaozhou (or 'Chiuchow') – genres called 'Han tunes' and 'xianshi music', and the Shaanxi Huayin Laoqiang Troupe playing and singing the strident, sonorous songs of 'situational plays' and 'shadow plays' of Shaanxi. It will be an impressive contrast in musical effects between the two groups coming from the north and the south.

The concert overture is a commissioned work in the HKCO's Cadenzas of Hong Kong Project, Eight Steeds by Hong Kong composer, Chan Wing-wah. The image of Hong Kong as a dynamic city always on the go is captured in Chan's work. Another commissioned piece is Reverberations of Our Ancient Past, a concerto for orchestra by Cheng Dazhao performed in the modern symphonic format and written specially for this occasion. The leading instruments are the gudi and the xun, two of the most representative among ancient Chinese instruments. The works of Chan and Cheng form a dialogue between the past and the present, symbolizing the ever-flowing river of musical sounds from China throughout the millennia. In Part III of the programme, From Ancient to Modern, As East Meets West – A Cosmopolitan Symphony, Cheng Dazhao has written Concerto for Orchestra to mark the occasion The HKCO's very own set of bianzhong and bianqing will be making their debut for the first time ever. The bianzhong is a set of 34 chime bells modeled upon the amazing artefact excavated at the tomb site of Marquis Zeng, and the bianqing is a replica set of ancient stone chimes. The texture of sounds of the concert is further enriched by the presence of the pipe organ, a symbol of religious music in the western world. The interactive playing of important instruments like these creates a symphony that is as unique as Hong Kong, with all the underlying imagery of cultural crossover worthy of our study.

Roots of musical heritage making an impact on the next generation

Having said all these, one has to yet to admit that this theme about ancient-modern, east-west crossover is anything more than a nice way of presentation, like the installation by the extremely versatile theatre man, Hoyingfung, that accompanied the performance was only to add a splash of colour to the music performed. What is important is that the spirit of the music and the music itself show clearly the powerful life force of the Orchestra in creating, through a prolonged period of exposure to eastern and western cultures, 'the Cosmopolitan Symphony' based on a firmly- rooted Chinese music tradition and in the unique favourable context of Hong Kong.

A cultural icon rooted in tradition and at the same time full of vitality for growth should not only play the role of a cultural ambassador, but also cast positive influence on the Hong Kong community. In the past, when Hong Kong was under British rule, traditional Chinese music education had never received its due. With the added effect of a sky-rocketing economy and the rise of a utilitarian zeitgeist, lifestyles changed and the average person did not care for, let alone appreciate, music that shared his ethnic roots. For those who studied abroad, Chinese music was even further afield. Now, ten years after the handover of Hong Kong, the younger generation's knowledge of Chinese culture is still deplorable. They have no empathy for their nation's culture and heritage, let alone knowledge, resulting in a lack of national pride.

With its 30^th Anniversary Concert and the theme, 'From Ancient to Modern, As East Meets West', the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra is unveiling a new beginning for its role as a cultural icon. It is charged with the responsibility and has the ability – and hopefully the resources – to use its performances as a platform for sowing the seeds of influence for the next generation and the general public, by reaching out to school children and the community through long-term and systematic planning, collaboration with other media in creating a cultural ambiance, riding on the verve and vibes of our musical cultural roots, and playing music that embodies tremendous vitality. By doing all these, the richest music culture imaginable from our past will be revived on the concert stage, and in turn, the energy evolved from this will awaken in us a national awareness and a national spirit. Only by achieving all these would the Orchestra live up to its role as a cultural icon.