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Five Favourites
Virtuoso violinist Daishin Kashimoto
What is your single favourite piece of music to play?
It is very difficult to choose only one. I love all kinds of repertoire written for violin. I enjoy playing solo, pieces for violin and piano, chamber music, concertos… it is so difficult to name one. (So I won’t!)
What is your favourite kind of music to listen to?
At home, I enjoy listening to jazz. Standards jazz from old timers. Louis Armstrong, Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald... In fact, I enjoy listening to many jazz singers.
Who is your favourite classical music composer of all time?
Again, it is a very difficult question! I love all kinds of composers. Baroque, classical, romantic… Bach, Brahms... I also like Schoenberg. I think that who I like the most depends on my mood at that particular moment. I enjoy a variety of styles.
Who is your favourite pop singer at the moment?
I don’t know many pop singers. I like Alicia Keys though. She sings while playing the piano.
What is your favourite movie of all time?
I like so many kinds of films. Hollywood movies, romantic, comedies... I love suspense! I also love Charlie Chaplin, James Bond, old Sherlock Holmes movies... so many different kinds. I think that again what kind of films I watch all depends on my mood. If I name titles of films which deeply impressed me, they are Platoon, Schindler’s List... maybe it sounds like I like serious movies? In fact, I am a great fan of Jackie Chan! I am very much looking forward to visiting Hong Kong, as he is from the city. The only kind of film I don’t like is …HORROR MOVIES!
London-born Japanese musician Daishin Kashimoto is a past winner of the Yehudi Menuhin Young Violinists International Competition, the International Competition for Violinists in Cologne, the International Fritz Kreisler Violin Competition and the Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud International Competition for Piano and Violin.
He will perform with the HK Sinfonietta in the Daishin Kashimoto Plays Beethoven concert on September 15 at the HK City Hall’s Concert Hall. Showtime is 8pm. Tickets are $220, $150 and $100 from URBTIX, 2734 9009. |
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Local indie band Innisfallen have come a long way since their formation in mid-2004: the current lineup featuring Cheong (drums), Eric (vocals/guitars), Lung (bass/backing vocals) and Sam (lead guitar/backing vocals) has been together since April 2005. Their brand of indie rock is driven by Eric’s raw and honest vocals and, with three singles already released, the band are out and about with two concerts promoting the launch of their first album REALlusion, released last month on Chisel My Records, and featuring 13 self-penned songs. The REALlusion Acoustic Show 02 is at the Kubrick (Shop H2, Prosperous Garden, 3 Public Square St, 2384 5465) Yau Ma Tei on September 14. Tickets are $70 (including one drink) at the door and show time is 10pm with guest bands Ignite the Hope and King Ly Chee. The REALlusion Concert starts at 10:30pm on September 22 at the Fringe Club (2 Lower Albert Road, Central, 2521 7251) and features guests The Dummy and The Train with tickets at $130 with a drink and a CD. Check out more on the band via www.innisfallen.net
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Australian music maestro Geoffrey Lancaster is a renowned player of the musical instrument we regularly call a piano but which is formally known as a pianoforte. He also is an expert on the fortepiano, the early – think pre-middle of the 19th century – version of the pianoforte, with the works of Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven his particular specialties. On September 27, he will be giving a free lecture on the fortepiano and then a concert on September 28, both events are at the HKAPA’s Recital Hall (1 Gloucester Road, Wanchai, 2584 8500). His concert Haydn Sonatas for the Fortepiano by Geoffrey Lancaster will feature Sonatas No 58 in C,
No 47 in B minor, No 49 in C-sharp minor,
and No 37 in E. This concert begins at
7:30pm. Tickets are $150 from HK
Ticketing, 31 288 288. |
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 NIN or Nine Inch Nails are essentially Trent Reznor, a man not afraid to buck convention – tracks to the recently released NIN album Year Zero, for example, were left on USB devices at concerts for fans to find and upload to the internet. Critically and commercially successful albums, a sound track to legendary computer game Quake, movie scores and awesome live shows, Reznor has done it all. And he shows no sign of slowing down, Year Zero’s release also embraced the internet use of an alternate reality game which NIN fans accessed through clues in merchandise and which led to an “Orwellian picture of the United States circa the year 2022”. Reznor seldom uses the same lineup for studio recordings and live performances and over the years he has been the only constant factor in the band. Aaron North on guitar, Jeordie White on bass guitar, Alessandro Cortini on keyboards, and Josh Freese on drums toured with him throughout this year and this is the lineup that comes to Hong Kong for the Nine Inch Nails LIVE 2007 tour at 8pm on September 13 at Hall 10 of AsiaWorld Expo (3606 8828). Standing tickets are $580 from HK Ticketing, 31 288 288, or Tom Lee Music outlets.
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Jason Kahn is a sound and visual artist born in the US but now based in Zurich. Originally a percussionist, he later started integrating electronic and acoustic sounds into his compositions to create installations which “seek to enhance spatial awareness through sonic intervention, focusing on expanding our perception to other dimensions of seeing, hearing and feeling a space” and the result is certainly different. He has performed and exhibited around the world and you can experience how sound physically and psychologically influences consciousness at Kluubb (14/F, Footak Building, 367 Hennessy Road, Wanchai, 2591 0499) at 8pm on September 19, with special guests Ghust Est Oam and Nerve. Tickets are $110 for one heady experience. For enquiries dial 2591 0499 or listen to some of Jason’s recordings at www.jasonkahn.net.
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Majestic Drums
The HK Chinese Orchestra is looking backwards and forwards with its Majestic Drums IX Concert billed both as part of the on-going celebrations of the 10th Anniversary of the HKSAR and as a drum fanfare for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Guest performers include the Shanxi Jiangzhou Drum Troupe, Uzbekhistan’s Abbos Percussion Group, and drumming virtuosi Chen Zuohui and Ronald Chin. So, let the thunder of drums roll – which is also the title of the percussion work by Tang Jianping specially composed for the 2008 Olympic Games and which will be the final piece of the September 21 and 22 programmes! Both performances at the HK Cultural Centre’s Concert Hall (10 Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon) will start at 8pm. Tickets are $250 to $100 from URBTIX, 2734 9009. |
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CLOCK at Cyberport
 Think City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong (CCOHK) and the music that comes to mind tends to be more along the lines of Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel than hip-hop, rock, alternative pop and jazz fusion. But on Saturday, September 22, CCOHK, conducted by RTHK Radio 3’s Phil Whelan, will be playing pop music composed by YROCK alongside YROCKERs like Ghost Souljah, Vivian Wan, James Campion, Fiona Mak and the Vibes, Natasha Ramchandani, Alex Mikic, Frodo, Seb Stitch and Lorraine Tashjian. CLOCK (Classical + Rock = CLOCK) is a youth outreach and community awareness event that attempts to bridge musical and generational divides. Showtime at the Ocean View Court, The Arcade, HK Cyberport is at 7:30pm but drinks will be served from 7pm. Tickets that include a light dinner and beverages are $380 per head or $4,200 for a table of 12. Tickets for the concert only are priced at $50. Call 9262 8624 for ticket bookings and 9464 8723 for further programme details.
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Country Legend
Glen Campbell, the original Rhinestone Cowboy, is one of country music’s legends. Now 71, Campbell became famous for hits like Gentle On Mind, By The Time I Get To Phoenix – each winning him a Grammy Award in 1967 and so writing him into musical history – Wichita Lineman, Southern Nights, Galveston and Rhinestone Cowboy. In over 40 years in show business he has released more than 70 albums and sold over 45 million records – he even played alongside John Wayne in the 1969 Oscar winning film True Grit. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2005, and his visit to our shores, even if you’re not a country music fan, will be a gig not to be missed. Here is a man who toured with the Beach Boys in 1964-65, filling in for an ailing Brian Wilson, while his guitar playing featured on Strangers in the Night by Frank Sinatra, You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’ by The Righteous Brothers and I’m a Believer by The Monkees… that’s some résumé. The concert starts at 8pm on September 15 at HKCEC (1 Expo Drive, Wanchai, 2582 8888). Tickets are $1,280, $980, $780, $580 from HK Ticketing,
31 288 288. |
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Gig Round Up
The debut CD Inspired by People by 21-year-old former choirboy and dental student Luke Chow features the type of catchy acoustic pop that has been popular at gigs across Hong Kong and the UK. Its release party is at Le Rideau (1/F, Hilltop Plaza, 49 Hollywood Rd, Soho, 2850 8833) at 9pm on September 22. Tickets cost $70 and support includes Slash Sakura Slash, details on www.lukechow.com
Kubrick in Yau Ma Tei has a series of acoustic gigs. RedNoon will perform on September 21. Tickets are $70 at the door. Then on September 28, it’ll be the turn of Rachel Kar and A Day. Tickets are $90 at the door or $70 if booked in advance. All showtimes are 10pm.
Japanese hard-core band Metal Safari, supported by Shepherds the Weak, will be laying it down thick and heavy at IMNET (Room C-D, 4/F, Lee Ka Industrial Building, No 8 Ng Fong Street, Kowloon, 9651 8567) on September 30. The doors open at 7:30pm and tickets are $100 from Zoo Records or Green Music Studio, $150 at the door on the night.
Shepherds the Weak and Die in Velvet will be supporting Napalm Death on 14 September at the Base Bar (1019 South Shang Bu Road, Shenzhen, 8363 3533)
The Soundbase 2007 Acoustic Band competition reaches its climax on September 14 with 18 bands competing in the final at the Sheung Wan Civic Centre (5/F, 345 Queen’s Road, Central, 2853 2678). Ryan Hui is the guest performer on a night showcasing some of the best new local talent. Show time is 7:30pm and tickets are $80 from URBTIX on 2734 9009. |
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STOP Press: In the Park
With over 40 million records sold since their debut in 2000, Linkin Park are one hot rocking band. You can catch them here and see what all the fuss is about in the AsiaWorld Arena at 8pm on November 20. Tickets are $850, $650, $500, $388 from HK Ticketing 31 288 288. |
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Islaja
Merja Kokkonen is a Finnish singer songwriter who records on Fonal Records under the name Islaja. Sometimes compared to an acid-folk version of Bjork, her music bears little resemblance to anyone else’s. Islaja creates music traditionally through vocals and instruments, but sings as if inspired by deities we have yet to discover. The language may be Finnish but her deeply personal and psychedelic sounds will amaze and inspire or baffle and bewilder you – or maybe all four. In Hong Kong to promote her third studio album,Ulual YYY, Islaja, supported by Spermatic Chord, performs at 8pm, October 3 at Le Rideau (1/F, Hilltop Plaza, 49 Hollywood Rd, Soho, 2850 8833). Tickets are $150 in advance, $180 at the door. |
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