words rachel mok

One journey to China’s glorious past, two collaborations with world renowned musicians and three festivals together with other concerts throughout its 32nd season – the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra has a full year ahead.
The 31-year-old Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, led by artist director and principal conductor Yan Huichang, opens its new season with a musical voyage back 5,000 years. In a re-run of Roots of the Chinese, audiences will be offered a glimpse of historical Shanxi, accompanied by visual images of the ancient cultural hub, in a programme of works which Yan says, “invokes the call of the ancients, takes the audience on a journey in search of their cultural roots and helps them find their position in the cultural dimensions”. The live recording of the concert in 2005 took four of the 6th Chinese Gold Record Awards – including that for Instrumental Music – Album. The programme has been acclaimed for innovative composing – which includes the use of an abacus as instrument!

Two events both Chinese music adepts and amateurs will surely be keeping an eye on are Yo-Yo Ma & HKCO and Music about China 3 – Guo Wenjing’s World of Chinese Music. As part of the 2008 New Vision Arts Festival, the former will be the first time the award-winning cellist shares the stage with the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra. The project was initiated in 2004 during a tour to the UK by Yan, and the orchestra has commissioned composer Zhao Jiping – best known for his original film scores for director Zhang Yimou – to pen the new work Zhuang Zhou’s Dream – Concerto for Cello and Orchestra for a world premiere at this concert. Members of Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble – sheng player Wu Tong, pipa player Li Hui and guitarist Liu Lin – will also share the stage for a newly arranged version of Ambush on All Sides by Li Cangsang. We are not sure if this East-meet-West rendezvous on November 8 is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but it is surely something of a rarity.

Music about China 3 – Guo Wenjing’s World of Chinese Music will be part of the 37th Hong Kong Arts Festival. Guo shares a film connection with Zhao Jiping – he composed the score for Zhang Yimou’s Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles, and, incidentally, Jiang Wan’s 1994 Golden Horse Best Picture In the Heat of the Sun. The New York Times has hailed Guo as “perhaps the only Chinese composer who has established an international career without having lived outside China for an extended period”. He has, nevertheless, played in prestigious music festivals worldwide including Edinburgh, Paris and New York and, as a professor of the Central Conservatory of Music of China, will bring Hong Kong the world premiere of Suspended Ancient Coffins on the Cliffs in Sichuan. Renowned dizi (Chinese flute) player Tang Junqiao, who once played the music from Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon with Yo-Yo Ma in a London concert, will be the soloist for Desolate Mountain in this concert.
The HK Chinese Orchestra will also be hosting three festivals this season. For the first time, the orchestra will join with the HK Chinese Instrumental Music Association for the Hong Kong International Festival of Chinese Orchestras, in which groups from Canada, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and the Mainland will perform throughout Hong Kong from October 4 to 12. And then, on top of the 6th Hong Kong Drum Festival in November, there will also be The 2nd Huqin Festival of Hong Kong from April to July 2009. Performances, post-show discussions and a series of master classes will be open to the public for anyone keen to learn more about this family of Chinese string instruments.

The Symphonic Poem “Going Upriver at the Qingming Festival” – Song Fei’s World of Huqin is composer Shi Zhiyou and virtuoso Song Fei’s musical take on the famous hand scroll, depicting a riverside scene at Qingming festival, that created a huge buzz last year when exhibited at the Hong Kong Art Museum. An innovative collaboration which transforms the delicate visuals into musical journey into ancient China.

Roots of the Chinese will open the 32nd orchestral season of the HK Chinese Orchestra on September 19 and 20 at the HK Cultural Centre Concert Hall. The concert commences at 8pm and tickets are $300, $220, $120 from URBTIX, 2734 9009. For other concerts and more details on the rest of the season go to www.hkco.org.