Five Favourites
German-born vocalist Eva Meier

What is your favourite musical?
The Threepenny Opera by Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht. The fabulous unique music by Kurt Weill and the powerful and provocative lyrics by Bertolt Brecht fascinated me since I was a teenager and actually started my wish to sing these songs myself.

What is your favourite song to sing?
Actually I have many favourite songs. But let’s say at the moment Falling in Love Again by Friedrich Hollaender. It’s refined, erotic, also cheeky, it has many layers and also a lovely tune. I also like it now, because I resisted a long time to sing it and finally discovered it for myself.

Who is your favourite musical artist?
I admire very much the performance of Liza Minnelli in Cabaret. There is everything:‑wonderful looks, seduction, passion, humour, also a touching quality and on top she sings and dances in a very thrilling manner.

What is your favourite city?
London, where I lived for seven years. So I had a chance to discover the many faces of that cosmopolitan city. I loved the wonderful museums and exhibitions, the Tate Modern, the Serpentine, the British Museum just to name a few. The many galleries, where you could discover the new trends. There was such a rich musical life and also a lot of choice in theatre, ballet, concert and opera. Just an overwhelming choice of culture. I loved the parks,‑especially in springtime. Such a pleasure just to walk around and discover new things. I enjoy all the historic buildings, but also quite a lot of interesting new architecture. I even loved the English climate! What a pity that it’s so expensive to live there.

What is your favourite performing venue in the world?
For me always the venue I’m performing in, is the best one. So, come the end of January, it will be the Fringe Club in Hong Kong. I’m looking forward to sing there in the middle of fascinating Hong Kong.

Eva Meier is the featured singer for the Love. Caution cabaret presentation at the Fringe Club’s Fringe Theatre on January 25 and 26. Showtime is 8pm. Tickets are $180 from HK Ticketing, 31 288 288.

Blues Harp Listen Up!
Brace yourselves for a triple-pronged Blues Harp Attack!!! at the Fringe Club’s Fringe Gallery on Friday, January 18, when blues harpists Henry Chung, Jakob Shaw and Jimmy Chan take centre-stage at Listen Up! 20. Also on the programme at this evening of acoustic music will be Edward Chun, Jimi S Galvea, and Mark-1 Music’s Koya Hisakazu. Showtime is set for 10:30pm. Tickets cost $90, include one standard drink, and are available at the Fringe Club box office, 2521 7251, from 9:30pm on the night.

And should this blues harp evening leave you hankering for more, ‘harmonica fiend’ Henry Chung will be performing eight evenings later with the seriously explosive-sounding The Spontaneous Combustion at Back Stage Live. Although the gig date is Saturday, January 26 (rather than January 1 or any of the days of the upcoming Chinese lunar New Year), the theme that particular evening will be New Years Blue. The music starts at 10:30pm. The $200 cover charge also gets you one free drink. Reservations are recommended; to make them, call 2167 8985.

Revolutionary Celebration
Mary Fahl (born Faldermeyer) seriously considered becoming an actress for a time but, although she has recently appeared on stage in an off-Broadway production, it’s as a singer, songwriter and guitarist that most people know her best. And when the erstwhile October Project band member makes her Hong Kong performing debut at the Fringe Club’s Fringe Studio as part of the City Festival 2008, it will be to present Women of the Revolution, a musical celebration of the loves, struggles, adventures and trials of revolutionary femmes throughout history and the world over. Accompanied by pianist (and City Festival regular) Warren Wills, Fahl will headline three evenings of song from January 17 to 19. Showtime is 8pm for all the performances. Tickets are $180 from HK Ticketing, 31 288 288.

Underground Returns
The mobile music club that is The Underground will return to The Cavern for its first gig of the new year, so make tracks to the Lan Kwai Fong location on Saturday, January 19, to catch the five bands on the Underground 51 bill. They are Frozen Matches, a rockin’ five-piece group whose members are all (F)emale (M)usicians; the all-male Brit pop-influenced local band that is Innisfallen; the three-member Hong Kong-Australian combo of Gray@Dream5; the ultra-international – think members from four different continents! – Spodac; and a late addition, and direct from the Philippines, the four-piece Up Dharma Down. Showtime is set for 8-11:30pm, entry costs $100 at the door and, for enquiries, call Chris B at 9486 4648.

Mainland Maestros
Mainland Chinese virtuosi will be guest soloists at the HK Philharmonic Orchestra’s concerts this January. On January 18 and 19, Huang Mengla’s Scottish Fantasy will feature the 2002 Paganini competition winner as the violin soloist at a concert whose Brit-heavy programme comprises Max Bruch’s Scottish Fantasy along with Edward Elgar’s Symphony No 1 and Scottish composer James MacMillan’s Britannia. Performances are set to commence at 8pm. Tickets are $250 to $100 from URBTIX, 2734 9009.

Then, on January 25 to 27, it will be the turn of Yundi Li, the masterful youngest winner of the International Frederick Chopin Piano Competition, to take centre stage. The programme of Yundi Li’s Prokofiev centres on Sergei Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No 2 but also includes Sergei Rachmaninov’s Symphony No 3. Showtime for the January 25 and 26 concerts is 8pm while the Sunday, January 27, concert will begin at 5pm. Tickets for this instalment of the Great Performers series are $580 to $160, also from URBTIX, 2734 9009.

Mermaid and Lobster

Go Party!
Go party? GO PARTY! That is, the Me? ...We! movement will power a ‘New Era’-themed GO PARTY! on Friday, January 25. Two bands who don’t appear to go for capital letters in their names (Brit-music-influenced duo a-day and the five-member grin) and one who does (four-piece punk group ToNick) will be responsible for the live music at this event. Showtime at the Fringe Club’s Fringe Gallery is 10:30pm. The $100 entry price includes one free Beck’s. Tickets are from the Fringe Club box office, 2521 7251.

Go Live!
Looking for still more live music action? Then consider going to the Lab Yellow Session 04 LIVE! gig for which androgynous-looking local indie singer Oliver will be the headline act on Saturday, January 26, over at Videotage (No 13, Cattle Depot Artist Village, 63 Ma Tau Kok Road). $90 gets you a ticket and one free Beck’s while the $120 ticket option additionally gets you an LY.S 04 CD. Tickets are available at the Mackie Study branches in Causeway Bay (Tel: 2808 0301) and Wan Chai (Tel: 3582 4840), Zoo Records (Tel: 3811 2303), Videotage (Tel: 2573 1869) and Lab Yellow (Tel: 2331 3220).

Nice and Twee?
To be called ‘nice’, as Swedish indie group Club 8 has been, is considered the kiss of death for some popsters. If so, whither ‘twee’, which the Cambridge Dictionaries Online defines as ‘artificially attractive or too perfect’? But Club 8’s Karolina Komstedt and Johan Angergård don’t seem to mind too much, especially as they have garnered a considerable following since their formation back in 1995! After releasing their 6th album (The Boy Who Couldn’t Stop Dreaming) last year, the beginning of 2008 sees them embarking, together with fellow Swedish indie musician, vocalist and Edson band member Pelle Carlberg, on the Labrador Asia Tour 2008 that will stop for a performance in Hong Kong on Saturday, January 19. The concert is due to start at 8pm at the HITEC Auditorium 3/F. Tickets are $350 from HK Ticketing, 31 288 288.

Coming up in February
Even with an extra day for a leap year, February is a short month. Thus we at bc figure it would be good in January to alert readers to a selection of February live music events they might want to get tickets for now – like the HK Philharmonic Orchestra’s Lea Salonga – The Voice of Mulan on February 9 and 10 at the HK Cultural Centre’s Concert Hall. Showtime for this pair of concerts featuring songs from Mulan, Miss Saigon and a whole host of other Disney movies and Broadway musicals sung by the Laurence Olivier- and Tony-award-winning Ms Salonga is 8pm. Tickets are $480 to $180 from URBTIX, 2734 9009.

On a more local front, superstar singer-actors Aaron Kwok and Hacken Lee have some concert treats for Cantopop fans in February. The HK Coliseum will be turned into Hacken’s Concert Hall from February 8 to 17. Showtime is at 9:30pm on February 8 but 8:15pm for all the evenings after. Ticket for these performances are $400 to $100 from URBTIX, 2734 9009. But while that Hung Hom location has been the venue of many a previous Aaron Kwok concert, the Cantopop Sky King’s Physical Aaron Kwok de Show Reel Extension Live in Concert 2008 series will be held at the AsiaWorld-Arena in Lantau. Performances are set to begin at 8pm. Tickets are $480 to $150, also from URBTIX, 2734 9009.

The Tsai Chin 2008 The New Endless Love is another concert series for which tickets have already gone on sale. The Taiwanese chanteuse with the exceptional voice will hold court at the HK Coliseum on February 21 and 22. Showtime is 8:15pm. Tickets are $480 to $100 from URBTIX, 2734 9009. We’ve also caught wind that the Backstreet Boys will be playing at the AsiaWorld-Arena on February 29. At the time of writing, no details about ticketing are forthcoming but fans of the American pop group should be on the alert for announcements about ticket sales any day now.

Coming in March
We already served notice in a previous issue of bc that musical treats in March include concerts by Placido Domingo (March 1), Incubus (March 10) and Maroon 5 (March 19). But now, we’ve also received word that Grammy-winning guitar maestro Carlos Santana will be making music in Hong Kong in March! The Santana Live in HK portion of the SANTANA Live Your Light 2008 Tour will see the recording legend performing at the AsiaWorld-Arena on Friday, March 7. The show is set to start at 8pm, and tickets of $890 to $390 are on sale now.

Tickets for the HK debut of renowned jazz pianist and crooner Harry Connick Jr are also now on sale. The Harry Connick Jr and His Big Band Live in Hong Kong Concert is on Wednesday, March 19, at the HKCEC’s Hall 3. Showtime is at 8pm. Tickets are priced at $690 and $290.

Tickets for all concerts may be obtained from HK Ticketing, 31 288 288.