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Five Favourites
Korean-Canadian cellist Soo Bae
 What is your single favourite piece of music to play?
In all honesty, I really cannot answer this question for I have way too many favourites. I love playing all music‑from the Baroque, Classical to Romantic periods and appreciate music from the past all the way to the present time. I also enjoy playing concertos with different orchestras as much as playing solo work for the cello, or collaborating with others in playing sonatas and chamber music. Each offers special and unique expressions. Therefore it would be impossible for me to just pick one piece. Moreover, I enjoy playing music from the contemporary era.‑ I’ve worked with several young, very talented composers and believe it is very important and necessary to support and keep the new music scene alive. Outside of classical‑music, I love playing gospel, hymns and spiritual tunes at church because it is deeply heartfelt and spiritual and I believe that is what true music is all about. Lastly, I also love playing jazz. It’s refreshing and fun to collaborate with jazz musicians for they are full of free spirit, creating and improvising right at that moment.
What is your favourite kind of music to listen to?
I love listening to classical music, jazz and some Motown, Latin, oldies that have great soul and beat.
Who is your favourite composer of all time?
I appreciate and love many composers from different cultures and time periods. However, if I were to choose, it would definitely be Beethoven. His works alone in his lifetime contain such diverse style influenced by the cultural shifts. You can hear his musical language and styles transforming from his early to middle then to the late works. Each period represents the emotions and passion he was experiencing at the time. I especially love the works from his late period where he went completely deaf and therefore could not hear any external music as he was composing. He didn’t sacrifice or compromise any of his ideas for the sake of the musician’s technical ability. Rather, he composed everything from the very core of how he heard the music it in his mind and heart. And maybe that is why the late works are very spiritual and special. The honesty and the vulnerability in his late works touches my heart deeply. Just thinking about certain melodies from the late quartets (op. 130 and 132) sends shiver down my spine! So powerful and moving! I absolutely LOVE it!!!
Who is your favourite singer (or group) at the moment?
At the moment, I am going back to loving the oldies. From The Beatles to Stevie Wonder to Ella Fitzgerald to Django Reinhardt. There are so many to choose from....
What is your favourite movie of all time?
My favourite movie of all time has to be Life is Beautiful (Italy, 2000). It has such a touching story. So real yet so moving. I love movies that touch you and inspire you to live more beautifully, films that encourage you to be a better person, and this film definitely made a mark in my heart to appreciate life as it comes and to enjoy it to the fullest.
The featured soloist on the Asian Youth Orchestra’s 2007 Asian cities tour, Soo Bae will perform Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations at a concert featuring works by Sibelius and Brahms on Thursday, August 9. Showtime is at 8 pm at the HK Cultural Centre’s Concert Hall. Tickets for both this and the Asian Youth Orchestra’s concert on Wednesday, August 8, are $340 to $75 from URBTIX, 2734 9009.
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Brett Solo
Brett Anderson, former lead vocalist of the influential Britpop band Suede, is appearing live in Hong Kong in a solo concert at the HKCEC. Count on Love is Dead and  other songs from his eponymous debut album to be on the set list and be ready for some “lavish, grandiose, elegant and distinctive” music as one critic described it. Anderson appears at 8pm on August 14 at Hall 3 of the Hong Kong Convention and Art Exhibition Centre. Tickets are $650, $550 and $380 from Tom Lee Music outlets and HK Ticketing, 31 288 288. |
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Rockin’ NIN
Prepare for some guitar smashing when Nine Inch Nails (aka NIN), led by visionary alternative rock icon Trent Reznor, perform in Hong Kong this September. The Nine Inch Nails LIVE 2007 concert on Thursday, September 13, is part of the Grammy award-winning band’s world tour in support of its latest concept album, Year Zero. So expect to hear lots of tunes from that critically acclaimed album in a rockin’ evening scheduled to get underway at 8pm at the AsiaWorld Expo’s Hall 10. All standing tickets are $580 and on sale now from HK Ticketing, 31 288 288. |
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From Tots to Teens
It’s not often a musical combo is older than some of its members, but that’s how it is with the Tom Lee Vocal Ensemble Group formed in 2000. The group was created with the goal of providing vocal training to children up to the age of 15 years but currently boasts members as young as four! After receiving lessons in voice projection, diction, breathing control and intonation, the time has come for the young singers to show what they’re worth – which they will do at The Tom Lee Vocal Ensemble Group Annual Concert 2007. Their performance is set for Sunday, August 5, from 3-5pm at the Sheung Wan Civic Centre’s Theatre. Tickets are $60 from Tom Lee Music stores and URBTIX, 2734 9009. |
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Sweet Stefani
After selling millions of albums around the world, appearing in the movie Aviator by Martin Scorsese and designing her own clothing, pop singer Gwen Stefani will finally touch down in Hong Kong at the Asia World-Expo. This versatile lady brings her Sweet Escape World Tour here on August 16 – tickets are priced from $280 to $880 and are available from Tom Lee Music Outlets or HK Ticketing, 31 288 288. |
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Spice Girls Reunion
David Sinclair, their biographer, says “Scary, Baby, Ginger, Posh and Sporty were the most widely recognised group of individuals since John, Paul, George and Ringo” and how many fans, especially girls, mourned when the Spice Girls split in 2001? But now they are back together again and touting for more fame with a planned Greatest Hits album and a world tour of 14 cities – including Hong Kong. Okay, they’ll be here on January 12 next year, but if you want a ticket to their concert, you’ve got to get moving now! While actual tickets are not yet on sale, you can register for a chance to buy them on thespicegirls.com – where you choose your city and sign up. You can only register once and, if chosen, can take at most six tickets. The results of the registration for tickets will be announced no later than October 1 and the lucky ones will be contacted by phone or email about how to go about buying their tickets. So click on that website, put your name down and good luck – with a dint of good karma, you might even sit a seat or two away from that big star football fella. |
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Jazz and Zen
John ‘Kaizan’ Neptune may have been ‘born in the USA’, but that Bruce Springsteen anthem will not be on the programme when Neptune, an acknowledged master of the shakuhachi (Japanese bamboo flute), gets together to perform with Sawako Fukuhara, virtuoso of the 13-stringed harp, the koto. Instead, jazz classics, meditative Zen pieces and Neptune’s own original world-music compositions are far more likely at their JazZen: Essence of Japan and Beyond – Shakuhachi & Koto Concert on August 3 and 4. Showtime on both evenings is 8:15pm at the Fringe Club’s Fringe Theatre. Tickets are $145 from HK Ticketing, 31 288 288 |
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Shadow Ventures
Local crossover band Shadows of the Venturers (with Samson on  drums, Yuk on bass, Lion and Sau on guitars, and Armie on keyboards) has three generations of musicians in its ranks. As their name indicates, all are united in their love for the music of both The Shadows and The Ventures.
Formed initially as a backing band for Cliff Richard (‘the Peter Pan of Rock’ and now a bona fide British knight), The Shadows went on to find fame on their own as an instrumental rock ’n’ roll group with its share of chart-topping hits. Meanwhile, on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, another instrumental rock band known as The Ventures was making a name for themselves, particularly as contributors to the surf music genre.
On Friday, August 10, the music of both The Shadows and The Ventures will fill the Fringe Club as Shadows of the Venturers stage a tribute show to those two older groups. Also on the boards with enjoyable performances of their own will be a few musical friends, including country rock band Gray@DREAM5 (with backing vocals by Samson on drums and Kristal on bass guitar and lead vocals by Chris who also plays rhythm and lead guitar) and the all-female red-hot indie rock/emo band The Ember (featuring Karen on drums, Kristal on bass, Nico on guitar and Keavy on vocals). Showtime is from 10pm till late. Tickets priced at $100 include one standard drink and are available from the Fringe Club, 2521 7251. |
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