Too, Too Essential
Peter and Andrew Cheung are also back for Christmas with their 2SSENTIAL concert from December 22-26 at Queen Elizabeth Stadium. The gig must be truly essential for these guys as they have just spent $100,000 on a pair of wireless mics from Germany for their fourth concert since 2002. Famous for bringing new dimensions to their covers, the duet’s choices for this outing include songs from Jacky Cheung, Alan Tam and Air Supply. Tickets are $400, $250, and $150 from Urbtix on 2734 9009.

Peter Cheung Shung Tak is 1/2 of the duet and also owns a music school and production company. We asked him whether they had any surprises for the fans at the concert.
“We’re‑trying a new band this time because we’re looking for something different. We want to make it classy. Apart from the usual Chinese and Western styles,‑we will add Japanese elements and Irish instruments.” A highlight of the show will be Phantom of the Opera. “We’ll use an operatic style to perform the song and have dancers to make it look like a real musical. We will also cover You Raise Me Up. Many artists all over the world have sung this song,‑but ours is the one and only Cantonese version.”

North Of The Border
Sweden sends an early Christmas greeting to our patch of Asia with Music Beyond Borders – Sweden Revisited, a concert by 15-man choir Gosskören and their guests on Dec 7. This collaboration between RTHK and the Swedish Consulate General will feature Christmas classics, traditional Swedish folk pieces and popular hits. Look out for local female vocalists who will join the choir for the concert. Entry is free, and tickets holders can join the pre-concert party for some classic Swedish snacks!
Click www.rthk.org.hk or call 2339 6425 for details.

Bickering Bands
Be the first to witness the birth of a super band – or sixteen! That’s how many finalists, each playing original music, will be fighting it out at the Yamaha Asian Beat Final to represent Hong Kong in the Asia Grand Final in Kuala Lumpur in March 2007. Axe battles join at the Ko Shan Theatre on December 11 and Zarahn, led by pop star Endy Chow, will be special guests of the night. Tickets priced at $100 are available at URBTIX. For details, visit www.tomleemusic.com.

Violin Vocals
Say the Singing Violin and you can only be talking about Benjamin Schmid. A multi-award winning musician, Schmid is renowned as much in the classical world as in Europe’s best jazz salons. For his visit to Hong Kong on December 6, he will be joining the Hong Kong Sinfonietta under Yip Wing Sie for the Brahms Violin Concerto in D, Op 77. When this work was first performed, the violinist Henryk Weiniawski criticized it as being “unplayable”, yet it has become one of the most important concertos in the modern repertoire. Probably because it is such a challenge for the soloist. Joyce Tang’s Quicksilver Swirls will also receive its world premiere at this concert while Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia and Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony play out the programme at the Hong Kong City Hall Concert Hall. Tickets are available at URBTIX, prices ranging from $100 to $220.

Schubert Simple?
There was nothing simple about Franz Schubert – when he was 11 years old, the principal music teacher at the Imperial and Royal Seminary where he went to school found he couldn’t teach the boy anything. “This one’s learned from God!” he said. Schubert went on to become a fast and prolific composer of all kinds of classical music and is now recognized as one of the giants of the genre. In the Hong Kong Bach Choir and Orchestra’s ‘Simply Schubert’ concert you can hear two of his works – music from the incidental suite Rosamunde and the complete Mass in E Flat, which is very seldom heard today. Join conductor Jerome Hoberman, the choir and orchestra in the HK Cultural Centre Concert Hall at 8pm on December 7. Tickets cost either $160 or $220 from URBTIX.

Orchestra Offering
It’s first-come, first-served for the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra’s gift to the city – a free concert under the night sky. They’re calling it Symphony Under the Stars but you will find nary a symphony on the programme. The music is all light classics we know and love (even if we don’t remember their names): the opening to Also Sprach Zarasthustra (remember 2001: A Space Odyssey?), Ravel’s Bolero (Torvil and Dean’s orgasmic triumph), Dvorak’s Slavonic Dances (originally for four hands and many feet), Ravel’s Pavane pour une Infante defunte (music for Princess Di?), Night on a Bare Mountain by Mussorgsky (demons in the dark!), Copeland’s Rodeo: Hoe Down (Yeee-ha!) and Tchaikovsky’ 1812 Overture (watch out for them Russian cannonballs). And in amongst all that Western culture, violinist Lu Siqing will be fluttering in for the Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto. The show begins at 8pm and gates are open from 6pm at the Hung Hom Ferry Pier on December 1. Free tickets are being distributed at selected Tom Lee Music stores or grab one from the website www.hkpo-sus.com.

Deeper Underground
Looking for some real local action? Underground 35 presents five bands to set you speeding: Maf2ia, Albino, Very Ape, Velvet Violet and Dullfigure. The show kicks off at 8:30pm on Dec 8 at Les Visages (18 Fenwick St, Wanchai). Admission fee is cheap at $40 per head. On the Kowloon side, head to Kwun Tong Industrial Center Phase 2 on Dec 16 for Struggle Tone3, featuring music from Milkshake 7, Sexy Hummer and Empty Tomb. Sound fun? Call 9522 3583 for details.

Coming Soon
Grab your ticket before it’s too late for Eric Clapton’s live concert in Hong Kong on January 17 at Asia World Expo. The legendary artist’s last visit to Hong Kong was in 1990 – no wonder we miss him so much. Also keep an eye on international operatic stars Il Divo. The multi-national group will step on the same stage five days later, to give you a taste of why they topped 26 international charts and landed 104 gold and platinum awards around the world. Get tickets from www.hkticketing.com.

Bar Fun
Enjoy quality time with friends and unplugged music at groovy Cavern and moody Swindlers as Impulz pleases the crowd with numbers from Nirvana, Black Eyed Peas and Beyonce; Mystery 5 seduces you with sexy R’n’B and soul tunes; and 3rd Attempt goes wild with latest hits from Coldplay and Goo Goo Dolls or classics from AC/DC and Deep Purple. The three bands play in rotation nightly at Cavern and Swindlers.