The Met Opera – Live in HD: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart-Le Nozze di Figaro

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro

Act I
In a storeroom that they have been allocated in a manor house near Seville, Figaro and Susanna, servants to the Count and Countess Almaviva, are preparing for their wedding. Figaro is furious when he learns from his bride that the Count has tried to seduce her. He’s determined to have his revenge on his master. Dr. Bartolo appears with his former housekeeper, Marcellina, who is equally determined to marry Figaro. She has a contract: Figaro must marry her or repay the money he borrowed. When Marcellina runs into Susanna, the two rivals exchange insults. Susanna returns to her room and an adolescent boy, Cherubino, rushes in. Finding Susanna alone, he tells her he loves her—and every other woman in the house. The Count appears, again trying to seduce Susanna, and Cherubino hides. The Count then conceals himself as well when Basilio, the music teacher, approaches. Basilio tells Susanna that Cherubino has a crush on the Countess. This causes the Count to step forward in anger. He becomes even more enraged when he discovers Cherubino and realizes that his attempts to seduce Susanna have been overheard. He chases Cherubino into the great hall where they are met by Figaro, who has assembled the entire household to sing the praises of their master. The Count is forced to bless the marriage of Figaro and Susanna. To spite them and to silence Cherubino, he orders the boy to join the army without delay. Figaro ironically tells Cherubino what to expect in the army—no flirting with girls, no fancy clothes, no money, just shells, cannons, bullets, marching, and mud.

Act II
In her bedroom, Rosina, the Countess, mourns the loss of love in her life. Encouraged by Figaro and Susanna, she agrees to set a trap for her husband: they will send Cherubino, disguised as Susanna, to a rendezvous with the Count that night and at the same time make him believe that the Countess is having an assignation with another man. Cherubino appears and the two women lock the door, then begin to dress him up as a girl. While Susanna steps into an adjoining room, the Count knocks and is annoyed to find the door locked. Cherubino shuts himself in the dressing room and the Countess lets her husband in. When there’s a sudden noise from the dressing room, the Count skeptical of his wife’s story that Susanna is in there. Taking his wife with him, he leaves to get tools to force the door. Meanwhile, Susanna, who has re-entered the room unseen and observed everything, helps Cherubino escape through the window before taking his place in the dressing room. When the Count and Countess return, both are astonished to find Susanna in there. All seems well until the gardener, Antonio, appears, complaining that someone has jumped from the window, ruining his flowers. Figaro, who has rushed in to announce that everything is ready for the wedding, improvises quickly, feigning a limp and pretending that it was he who jumped. At that moment Bartolo, Marcellina, and Basilio arrive, putting their case to the Count and waving the contract that obliges Figaro to marry Marcellina. Delighted, the Count declares that Figaro and Susanna’s wedding will be postponed.

Act III
Later in the day in the great hall, Susanna leads the Count on with promises of a rendezvous that night. He is overjoyed but then overhears Susanna conspiring with Figaro. In a rage, he declares he will have revenge. Marcellina, supported by a lawyer, Don Curzio, demands that Figaro pay his debt or marry her at once. Figaro replies that he can’t without the consent of his parents for whom he’s been searching for years, having been abducted as a baby. When he reveals a birthmark on his arm Marcellina realizes that he is her long-lost son, fathered by Bartolo. Seeing Figaro and Marcellina embrace, Susanna thinks her fiancé has betrayed her, but she is pacified when things are explained. The Countess, alone, recalls her past happiness. She’s determined to go through with the conspiracy against her husband, and she and Susanna compose a letter to him confirming the rendezvous with Susanna that evening in the garden under the pine trees. Cherubino, now dressed as a girl, appears with his girlfriend, Barbarina, the daughter of Antonio. Antonio, who has found Cherubino’s cap in the garden, also arrives and unmasks the young man. The Count is furious to discover that Cherubino has disobeyed him and is still in the house. But his anger is punctured by Barbarina—who reveals that the Count, when he attempted to seduce her, promised her anything she wanted. What she wants now is to marry Cherubino. The Count is forced to agree. A march is heard and the household assembles for Figaro and Susanna’s wedding. While dancing with the Count, Susanna hands him the letter, sealed with a pin.

Act IV
At night in the garden, Barbarina is in despair: she has lost the pin that the Count has asked her to take back to Susanna. When Figaro and Marcellina appear, Barbarina tells them about the planned rendezvous between the Count and Susanna. Thinking that his bride is unfaithful, Figaro rants against all women. He hides when Susanna and the Countess arrive, dressed in each other’s clothes. Alone, Susanna sings of love. She knows that Figaro is listening and enjoys making him think that she’s about to make love to the Count. Then she also conceals herself—in time to see Cherubino try to seduce the disguised Countess. The boy is chased away by the Count who wants to be alone with the woman he believes to be Susanna. Figaro, by now realizing what is going on, joins in the joke and declares his passion for Susanna in her Countess disguise. The Count returns. Finding Figaro with his wife, or so he thinks, he explodes with rage. At that moment, the real Countess steps forward and reveals her identity. Ashamed, the Count asks her pardon. After many moments of agonizing doubt, she forgives him and both couples are reunited.

The Met – Live in HD: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro
When:
5pm, 15 March, 2015
6pm, 25 April, 2015
Where: Wellcome Theatre, The Academy’s Landmark Heritage Campus – Bethanie
Tickets: $190 from HKTicketing

The Met Opera – Live in HD: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart-Le Nozze di Figaro

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro

Act I
In a storeroom that they have been allocated in a manor house near Seville, Figaro and Susanna, servants to the Count and Countess Almaviva, are preparing for their wedding. Figaro is furious when he learns from his bride that the Count has tried to seduce her. He’s determined to have his revenge on his master. Dr. Bartolo appears with his former housekeeper, Marcellina, who is equally determined to marry Figaro. She has a contract: Figaro must marry her or repay the money he borrowed. When Marcellina runs into Susanna, the two rivals exchange insults. Susanna returns to her room and an adolescent boy, Cherubino, rushes in. Finding Susanna alone, he tells her he loves her—and every other woman in the house. The Count appears, again trying to seduce Susanna, and Cherubino hides. The Count then conceals himself as well when Basilio, the music teacher, approaches. Basilio tells Susanna that Cherubino has a crush on the Countess. This causes the Count to step forward in anger. He becomes even more enraged when he discovers Cherubino and realizes that his attempts to seduce Susanna have been overheard. He chases Cherubino into the great hall where they are met by Figaro, who has assembled the entire household to sing the praises of their master. The Count is forced to bless the marriage of Figaro and Susanna. To spite them and to silence Cherubino, he orders the boy to join the army without delay. Figaro ironically tells Cherubino what to expect in the army—no flirting with girls, no fancy clothes, no money, just shells, cannons, bullets, marching, and mud.

Act II
In her bedroom, Rosina, the Countess, mourns the loss of love in her life. Encouraged by Figaro and Susanna, she agrees to set a trap for her husband: they will send Cherubino, disguised as Susanna, to a rendezvous with the Count that night and at the same time make him believe that the Countess is having an assignation with another man. Cherubino appears and the two women lock the door, then begin to dress him up as a girl. While Susanna steps into an adjoining room, the Count knocks and is annoyed to find the door locked. Cherubino shuts himself in the dressing room and the Countess lets her husband in. When there’s a sudden noise from the dressing room, the Count skeptical of his wife’s story that Susanna is in there. Taking his wife with him, he leaves to get tools to force the door. Meanwhile, Susanna, who has re-entered the room unseen and observed everything, helps Cherubino escape through the window before taking his place in the dressing room. When the Count and Countess return, both are astonished to find Susanna in there. All seems well until the gardener, Antonio, appears, complaining that someone has jumped from the window, ruining his flowers. Figaro, who has rushed in to announce that everything is ready for the wedding, improvises quickly, feigning a limp and pretending that it was he who jumped. At that moment Bartolo, Marcellina, and Basilio arrive, putting their case to the Count and waving the contract that obliges Figaro to marry Marcellina. Delighted, the Count declares that Figaro and Susanna’s wedding will be postponed.

Act III
Later in the day in the great hall, Susanna leads the Count on with promises of a rendezvous that night. He is overjoyed but then overhears Susanna conspiring with Figaro. In a rage, he declares he will have revenge. Marcellina, supported by a lawyer, Don Curzio, demands that Figaro pay his debt or marry her at once. Figaro replies that he can’t without the consent of his parents for whom he’s been searching for years, having been abducted as a baby. When he reveals a birthmark on his arm Marcellina realizes that he is her long-lost son, fathered by Bartolo. Seeing Figaro and Marcellina embrace, Susanna thinks her fiancé has betrayed her, but she is pacified when things are explained. The Countess, alone, recalls her past happiness. She’s determined to go through with the conspiracy against her husband, and she and Susanna compose a letter to him confirming the rendezvous with Susanna that evening in the garden under the pine trees. Cherubino, now dressed as a girl, appears with his girlfriend, Barbarina, the daughter of Antonio. Antonio, who has found Cherubino’s cap in the garden, also arrives and unmasks the young man. The Count is furious to discover that Cherubino has disobeyed him and is still in the house. But his anger is punctured by Barbarina—who reveals that the Count, when he attempted to seduce her, promised her anything she wanted. What she wants now is to marry Cherubino. The Count is forced to agree. A march is heard and the household assembles for Figaro and Susanna’s wedding. While dancing with the Count, Susanna hands him the letter, sealed with a pin.

Act IV
At night in the garden, Barbarina is in despair: she has lost the pin that the Count has asked her to take back to Susanna. When Figaro and Marcellina appear, Barbarina tells them about the planned rendezvous between the Count and Susanna. Thinking that his bride is unfaithful, Figaro rants against all women. He hides when Susanna and the Countess arrive, dressed in each other’s clothes. Alone, Susanna sings of love. She knows that Figaro is listening and enjoys making him think that she’s about to make love to the Count. Then she also conceals herself—in time to see Cherubino try to seduce the disguised Countess. The boy is chased away by the Count who wants to be alone with the woman he believes to be Susanna. Figaro, by now realizing what is going on, joins in the joke and declares his passion for Susanna in her Countess disguise. The Count returns. Finding Figaro with his wife, or so he thinks, he explodes with rage. At that moment, the real Countess steps forward and reveals her identity. Ashamed, the Count asks her pardon. After many moments of agonizing doubt, she forgives him and both couples are reunited.

The Met – Live in HD: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro
When:
5pm, 15 March, 2015
6pm, 25 April, 2015
Where: Wellcome Theatre, The Academy’s Landmark Heritage Campus – Bethanie
Tickets: $190 from HKTicketing

Has the Democracy Movement Been Hijacked by Racism?

Has the Democracy Movement Been Hijacked by Racism?

As a westerner living in Hong Kong one of the first things you notice about the Hong Kong Cantonese is that they spend a lot of time shouting at each other. Often, what you think is a conflict is actually just two friends engaging in friendly banter about horses or Korean soap operas. That said, you don’t have to have lived here too long before you will encounter a real confrontation. Whatever the reason for the conflict, these situations quickly escalate into loud slanging matches, punctuated with elaborate verbal abuse and theatrical posturing. These conflicts almost never end in violence. Almost every westerner who witnesses these events for the first time thinks, “There’s no way I would let anyone shout at me like that, I would punch them in the face.”

And on the whole it’s true, westerners are much quicker to fight than Cantonese. Maybe it’s something to do with the Cantonese language being very colloquial and street-wise, who knows? But Cantonese really do enjoy verbally abusing each other where other nationalities would already be rolling in the dirt and fighting.

The Occupy protests amplified this penchant for verbal abuse into a mass movement. Battles over Lung Wo Road regularly saw more than 2000 people chanting abuse to the police but staying incredibly peaceful physically. I personally took a major role in convincing a few people not to load house bricks onto the road, so as to prevent the crowd from bloodbathing the police, who were at this point so cocky that they were running around beating people with no shields or helmets. Good sense won over, in that the Cantonese are really good at verbally abusing each other and don’t need actual violence to articulate and vent their views. Unfortunately this good sense hasn’t seeped down into the police who believe they have the right to Route One to violence because they are being shouted at by the protesters. In this, the police are stepping outside of the Cantonese social norm, in that tens of thousands of times a day, Cantonese hurl verbal rocks at each other, but 99% have the self restraint to not lash out into actual physical violence.

These days in heated confrontations with protesters the HKPF always bemoan, “We’re not doing anything international police wouldn’t do in a similar situation,” but the critical point they miss, is the Cantonese aren’t acting like international rioters. They’re acting like Cantonese. They know the rules of the game, which the police have forgotten, or choose to ignore. Instead They somehow feel they are apart from local culture and are justified in using violence because they’re police and should automatically deserve respect without earning it. This attitude is destroying Cantonese culture by introducing quick, physical violence as a way of resolving conflict. The Blue Ribbons have taken to this new way of conflict resolution like ducks to water. This represents a significant slide in the cultural values of the Hong Kong society and the police created it on October 3rd when they turned a blind eye to the triads causing chaos in Mongkok.

So, the reality is the Occupy Movement has been high on verbal violence and infinitesimally low on actual violence because the Cantonese culture regularly substitutes verbal violence for real violence to resolve conflict and express frustration.

With this in mind, we can see that the current redirection of the democracy movement from protests on the streets outside Legco to Direct Action in the districts has also manifested this engrained habit. Instead, the targets of verbal abuse has changed from the Government and the Police to smugglers and parallel traders.

I stood outside the 3BX Bus line in Tuen Mun for many hours on Sunday and the level of verbal violence that was being hurled was fairly substantial. Certainly, it is not something I would do, but I’m not Cantonese. Those hurling the abuse are not stupid and they are also not racists. I grew up in 1970/80s Birmingham, England, I know what racism is, and what was on display in Tuen Mun last Sunday was certainly not racism.

Instead it is a form of verbal violence against actions that people see as objectionable. If we’d have been in Europe, the protesters would have burnt the bus stop, the bus and probably routed the police out of town. But like I said, this is not the Cantonese style, Cantonese love shouting shit at each other and especially at things they don’t like.
Certainly, from a superficial level, watching the verbal barrage is not pretty and could be misconstrued as hateful racism, but if you are there you can quickly see that it is very specifically directed at a certain type of person carrying out a certain type of action. It is not based on anything the person can’t rectify very quickly. If a Mainlander was in the crowd, they would not be targeted carte blanche for their race or heritage. This is not to say, if they tried to defend the actions they wouldn’t receive a volley of abuse, but they could take part or silently observe without any fear of attack from the rabid crowd. This shows it’s much more sophisticated than racism. Try sticking a silent, black person in a group of European Neo Nazi racists and see if you get the same result.

This is the critical difference between the anti-Mainland sentiment in Hong Kong and say classic white, black racism in Europe or America. They are coming from completely different foundations. One is a temporary form of protest, or a new form of expression at the dissatisfaction towards our malign government. The other is coming from hatred based on ignorance, is long lasting and often incurable.

Given this, at this point, I have no fear that the democracy movement has been hijacked by racism, certainly a tiny minority may misunderstand what is going on. Definitely our malign government will try and exploit it for its own advantage, but the protestors are smart and savvy. They will use this current tactic while it is useful and discard it once it becomes a burden.

It may not be pretty, but revolutions never are. Some might argue that flirting with racism is playing with fire, but the protesters would argue back,

“We’re already fighting the Volcano.”

This Week at The AIA Great European Carnival

Come down to the AIA Great European Carnival and see Ryan Higa in person, interviewed by Dom Lau from Asia Pop 40, at 4pm this Friday 13th February, on the main stage!
Come down to the AIA Great European Carnival and see Ryan Higa in person, interviewed by Dom Lau from Asia Pop 40, at 4pm this Friday 13th February, on the main stage!

Community Programs are Winners at The AIA Great European Carnival

The AIA Great European Carnival will continue to thrill and entertain people all walks of life within the Hong Kong community up until February 22.

A range of community outreach programs have been taking place on weekdays which have enabled participation from a range of local and international schools, underprivileged children and charitable organisations in Hong Kong. These groups not only had the opportunity to enjoy the fun of the Carnival, but were offered a range of unique educational experiences and behind the scenes tours.

Several prominent Hong Kong-based charities – including the Mother’s Choice, Project WeCan, ShelterBox, Po Leung Kuk and the Nesbitt Centre – have held special events and open days for their clients, volunteers and supporters. During these days guests were given special one-on-one time with the Carnival’s colourful array of street performers. Others used the Live Stage for public dance and drama performances.

As title sponsor of the AIA Great European Carnival, AIA also facilitated days on which their Hong Kong staff accompanied students from Po Leung Kuk schools on daytime visits to the Carnival.

As part of the Carnival’s community programs, school groups have been invited to visit the Carnival and choose from a range of packaged excursions specially designed for Primary and Secondary school students.

“We established the schools programs as we discovered there was a lot to learn from all the different components of the Carnival and thought that it would enable unique experiences for younger students and provide interesting case studies especially for older students,” said Alex Gibbs, Director of Community Programs. “Our ‘Business Behind the Carnival’ tours and the ‘Physics, Design and Engineering of Rides’ have been very popular and we will develop these programs even more in the future.”

Led by some of the carnival’s colourful array of street performers, Primary students choose between activities involving arts and crafts such as make their own juggling balls, or learning the art of balloon twisting, juggling or African drumming.

For the Secondary students, specific assignments are given including a physics program, where pupils work out the mechanics of some of the Carnival’s thrill-making rides, guided by some of the Carnival’s chief engineers. Another choice revolves around business studies, where students get behind- the- scenes tours of the Carnival and explore the wide range of components, people, skills and coordination required to run an event of this magnitude.

“There is an enormous range of interesting facts and figures that are certain to excite young minds, and it’s not all hard work. Following the completion of their assignments, students are given some free time to go on a ride and play skill games and sample the refreshments which are also available,” added Alex Gibbs. “The AIA Great European Carnival has been described by so many visitors as an awesome experience, and sponsors and organisers have been absolutely thrilled with the enthusiastic support received from Hong Kong residents and visitors alike”.

Belle and Sebastian Concert Review

belle+seb

Belle and Sebastian’s concert at Asia-Expo was so much better than my previous experience at this dreadful venue. For starters, there were real musicians on stage. Lots of them! The six band members were joined by what I assume were locally-hired musicians. I counted 13 people on stage at one time. This was no simple promotional exercise. The band was out to have fun. From the off, they engaged with the enthusiastic audience, an eclectic mix of young and old, local and expat.

The band started with Nobody’s Empire, quickly followed by I’m a Cuckoo and Expectations. The sound was good and the visuals were fun, light-hearted and entertaining. The Boy with the Arab Strap and Legal Man were my personal highlights of the evening. During these songs, members of the audience were invited up on stage to dance along with Stuart Murdoch and co. Being Hong Kong; plenty of selfies were taken by the dancers on stage.

During Piazza, New York Catcher a yellow umbrella appeared much to the enthusiastic cheers of the crowd. The tents maybe mostly gone, but the world remembers and continues it’s support.

For the well-deserved encore, Belle and Sebastian played a truncated version of There’s Too Much Love in response to an audience member’s request and ended the evening with a superb rendition of Get Me Away From Here, I’m Dying, which left the crowd wanting more.

I went to this concert with low expectations simply because it was being held at Asia-Expo. I left on a high, ready to dust off and play my old Belle and Sebastian CDs. A great night’s entertainment.

Belle and Sebastian
When: 8pm, 10 February, 2015
Where: AsiaWorld Expo
How much: $760 from HKTicketing