Concert Under the Stars

Fantastic finish to Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture Finale!

I miss going to concerts... but how about an outdoor concert? I jumped at the chance, and so did 10,199 other people with the Hong Kong Philharmonic having its "Symphony Under the Stars" sponsored by Swire. It used to be an annual event until 2018 because of the protests and Covid-19 and now it's back.

A few weeks ago we all had to go online to get the free tickets... as soon as 10am hit, I had over 1,500 people in front of me... by the time I got the tickets, they were near the back. No matter -- I have tickets! Each person was allowed to get a maximum of four tickets so I asked a friend to bring her husband and daughter along. 

Registration was tedious, including each person's email and mobile number and we had to use the Leave Home Safe app. And... no eating or drinking!

Thank goodness for big screens!

Previous outdoor concerts were a picnic affair, where groups would stake out their territory early with picnic blankets, bring food and drinks while enjoying the concert.

But alas we were told not to bring food or drinks into the venue. 

It was held at the Central Harbourfront Events Space, and instead there was seating, each marked with a seat number.

At the entrance, staff made sure we had our tickets, then we proceeded to security where they made sure we had scanned the Leave Home Safe app, then had a quick check of what was in our bags before allowing us in. 

I walked further and further away from the main stage... to section J. And each grouping of seats was in fours. There were several rows behind us, but we were pretty much at the back! The musicians on stage were practically dots. My friend's husband did bring binoculars, but really it was about listening to the music.

The concert was hosted by Harry Gor Gor or Harry Wong the musician and former radio host. He was lots of fun for the kids in the audience, especially when he got out his instrument that he played with his nose... even playing Brahms' Hungarian Dance with it!

When Wong tried to joke with some of the musicians, they came off sounding very serious... Except for a trio of trumpeters dressed in relaxing holiday gear. They told Wong they had just had a staycation in Yuen Long and handed him a wife cake!

People waving their phones to Blue Danube

The program's theme was dance music, so all the pieces were very familiar and easy to listen to, like Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty, Saint-Saens' Danse macabre, Johan Strauss II's Blue Danube Waltz, and Anderson's Bugler's Holiday.

Wong kept teasing the audience about the fireworks, that it would happen... two pieces later. During the Blue Danube he encouraged people to turn on their phone lights as the drone above us swooped past. One of the composer's name is Khachaturian, and Wong joked if you said it in Chinese it sounded like gaat-jat choong leung, as in cockroach having a bath... 

After the two-hour mark, the concert was over, but not before the orchestra performed Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture Finale with fireworks! Amazing sight after having not seen any fireworks for over two years because of the anti-government protests and then the pandemic.

In front of us was a family with two young boys and they obviously loved the music. One kept swaying his arms like a conductor, the parents patient with them, not telling them to sit still, except for a security guard telling the younger one not to play with the chain bordering our section. But otherwise towards the end they were dancing and so excited to be there.

An exciting finish to the concert! 

Concerts like these help foster children's love of music and that's so important.

What's also interesting is that while Wong thanked Swire and people clapped, no one did when he also thanked the Hong Kong government for sponsoring the event as well... or at least I couldn't hear any applause...

Watch the concert here. Wong's nose instrument playing is at 1:48:07

Wong has a fun skeleton dance at 48:19

Review: Piazzolla: The Years of the Shark

Piazzolla (right) with his son Daniel in New York

 

A week after attending the Hong Kong Philharmonic's tribute to Argentinian composer Astor Piazzola, I went to see a documentary about him as part of the Hong Kong Arts Festival. Called Piazzolla: The Years of the Shark, it uses extensive film and recording footage from the family to reconstruct his life.

Before the movie started, we were supposed to be treated to a musician playing the bandoneon, the accordion-like instrument Piazzolla played, but this was cancelled due to social-distancing. Nevertheless we were told that the bandoneon is not like an accordion in that there is no keyboard, but lots of buttons on each side and you can't see them so you have to know how to play the bandoneon well.

Piazzolla and his bandoneon

It is also quite heavy, which is why many bandoneon players sit down, but Piazzolla preferred to stand. When playing the instrument moving the bellows in and out can result in key changes, playing one note then changing to another which was interesting to learn.

These tips helped us appreciate the film more, particularly watching Piazzolla play -- it's quite heavy and early on in Piazzolla: The Years of the Shark, after he was born, his right leg was disfigured because of polio and it took seven operations to fix it, though not completely; his right leg would forever be thinner and shorter than his left.

After having gone through so much when he was young, his parents decided not to have anymore children, but also his father may have felt Piazzolla learning an instrument would be better for him career-wise. After those operations in 1924, the family moved to New York from Buenos Aires by ship, and his father worked for a barber. 

He bought his eight-year-old son a bandoneon from a pawnshop and Piazzolla learned how to play it and was pretty good at it. He wanted to play JS Bach on the bandoneon as well as his teacher did on the piano.

Piazzolla's teacher Nadia Boulanger

When he was 17-years-old, Piazzolla was itching to perform and have his own orchestra and on his own moved back to Buenos Aires. He played with some bands -- the youngest of the group. Piazzolla had always had dreams of becoming a concert pianist and one time boldly met Arthur Rubenstein, who in turn introduced the young musician to teacher Alberto Ginastera, who taught him composition and the fundamentals of music.

In 1946 Piazzolla started his own band, though later focusing only on compositions, not wanting to play the bandoneon anymore.

It was winning a composing contest in 1951 that awarded him a scholarship to study in Paris under Nadia Boulanger, whose students include Aaron Copland, Philip Glass, Quincy Jones and Burt Bacharach.

She looked at the Argentine's scores and said this is not Piazzolla. She asked him what instrument he played and he said the bandoneon and she made him play some tango pieces.

This, she said, was Piazzolla.

He said from then onwards he never stopped playing the bandoneon.

In 1955 Piazzolla returned to Buenos Aires bursting with creativity and created his own style of tango, where the rhythm kept changing, more upbeat and experimenting with different sounds from instruments. 

Daniel did not speak to his father for 10 years

Traditionalists hated him -- even a taxi driver refused to pick him up for what he felt was ruining tango.

His personal life was also full of ups and downs. He married Dede Baralis and had two children, Daniel and Diana. But later on Piazzolla announced to the family he was leaving his wife and met his second love, Laura Escalada.

Needless to say the family was shocked -- his wife Dede sank into deep depression, after having supported her husband's career.

His son Daniel, shown in the film, had a falling out with his father at one point, claiming the music they were making was backwards. That led to a 10-year estrangement. Daniel goes over old tapes, recordings, family movies, as a museum prepares a major exhibition about his father.

Piazzolla perseveres, but not without health issues (smoking a lot and suffered a heart attack). One of the final scenes in the documentary shows him in a tuxedo performing with an orchestra, making his music legitimate in the classical music world, though he had been experimenting with all kinds of musicians and different styles throughout the decades.

Piazzolla is known for revolutionizing the tango

He was so passionate about his music, writing 750 compositions, many of them themed around the tango. In the end he was grateful to his father for giving him the bandoneon, for without it he would not know what he would have done with his life.

Director Daniel Rosenfeld went through a lot of raw material, tapes, recordings, family films, using archival footage to put most of the documentary together. Piazzolla's son Daniel is a vehicle to move from one aspect to another, and sometimes he says things, and other times it's recordings of his father and sometimes it was confusing to follow who is speaking. 

Not once does any subject do a straight-up interview to the camera. It is either narrated or clips are found from actual archival footage, which makes the film flow. And yes there's lots of Piazzolla performing, making it a film filled with music, music and more music.

Piazzolla: The Years of the Shark 

Director: Daniel Rosenfeld

94 minutes 

In Spanish, French and English with English subtitles

 

 

Piazzolla's Tango on Stage

A clear view of the HK Philharmonic with social-distancing

Last night, for the first time in over a year, I attended a concert by the Hong Kong Philharmonic in the Concert Hall of the Hong Kong Cultural Centre.

The concert, called "Piazzolla at 100!" featured the works of Argentine composer Astor Piazzolla, who would have been 100 on March 11. He is best known for his tango music, the most famous piece is Libertango.

When concertgoers entered the Cultural Centre, they had to either use the LeaveHomeSafe app, or write down their contact details. Seating inside the concert hall was quite spread out, with four people sitting together, separated by several seats and another set of four. 

The first three rows were blocked off, so I essentially sat in the first row! What a treat!

Piazzolla would have been 100 years old this year

All the orchestra members were masked except of course those playing wind instruments, who were separated by plexiglass partitions. Musicians usually sit in pairs sharing music, but now were spread out and each had their own music stand.

Argentine conductor Mariano Chiacchiarini, who is based in Germany, went through the 21-day quarantine in Hong Kong to lead a few concerts, including one on Brahms last week. I was surprised to see him come out with one of those plastic see-through masks, but realized he needed to show his facial expressions more clearly to the orchestra members.

He is very energetic and knowledgeable about Piazzolla, who was born in Argentina, but then moved to New York with his family when he was four years old. There he was exposed to tango through his father's records, and learned pieces by Bach on a bandoneon, a button accordion.

The first piece, Tangazo starts off slow and then becomes a very robust tango style. Piazzolla, Chiacchiarini explains, liked to use a lot of percussion in his work, even having the double bass musicians hit their instrument like a drum, or knock on it, while violinists make a funny squiggly sound, and even one that sounds like a quirky whip.

Tango purists did not like Piazzolla was doing to the music, and the conductor said that even taxi drivers refused to pick up the composer in protest, but he didn't mind -- he felt he was helping tango music not only gain a wider audience but also developed it further.

Piazzolla first learned music on the bandoneon

The second piece, The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires, which is inspired by Vivaldi's Four Seasons, except Piazzolla's version starts with Summer, then Autumn, Winter then Spring. Here they played Winter and Spring. Originally it was only supposed to be played by a few instruments, and Piazzolla wrote it like a violin concerto, with the solo by the HK Phil's concert master, Jing Wang. 

He came out in a black T-shirt under a black jacket that had a dazzling silver spine at the back. One could tell he was itching to play and got a warm applause afterwards.

The orchestra also played music by Piazzolla's teacher, Alberto Ginastera called Estancia: Four Dances, op. 8a. When Ginastera was 25-years-old he was commissioned by the New York City Ballet's precursor to write a ballet score based on Argentine country life.

He wrote a one-act ballet where a city boy falls in love with the daughter of a cattle ranch owner, but he can only win her heart in a dancing contest with local cowboys. This piece had a very lively finish and we could imagine how the dancing went down in the competition!

Next up, some tango! Raymond Chu and Lily Cheng are well known in Hong Kong for their tango dancing and they came on stage -- very narrow due to the social-distancing of the musicians -- for them to dance. They seemed to look down on the ground often at first, perhaps a bit nervous about how much room they had to dance around in.

Lily Cheng and Raymond Chu danced the tango

But it was nice to see them dance to music by Piazzolla's contemporaries, like Gerardo Matos Rodriguez, and Julian Plaza. Chu and Cheng made it fun. In Piazzolla's Libertango, Cheng comes out on stage, but Chu hasn't arrived. Chiacchiarini turns around and she signals to him, Can you dance with me?

And he obliges and they twirl around a bit before Chu finally emerges on stage. Chiacchiarini points to his watch as if to say, "You're late!"

Check out this video of him conducting Libertango at the Lucerne Festival last year with fantastic tango dancers.

Afterwards the audience couldn't stop clapping for an encore (which sadly was a slow piece), but nevertheless, was a wonderful way to cap off a tough week for me work-wise and left me hoping to attend more concerts again in the future.

Piazzolla at 100!

Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall, April 16

Piazzolla: Tangazo

Piazzolla: The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires: Winter, Spring

Ginastera: Estancia: Four Dances

Matos Rodriguez: La Cumparsita

Plaza: Nocturna

Piazzolla: Libertango

Hong Kong Phil Musicians Test Negative

How does the HK Phil move forward to have concerts safely?

 

The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra issued a press release this afternoon saying that apart from the one clarinettist who tested positive for the coronavirus, and is in stable condition in hospital, everyone else tested negative and are out of quarantine after two weeks.

Flautist plays husband's trombone in quarantine

It is a relief for the 90 orchestra members, who were suddenly forced into quarantine, some wondering what to do with their young children (taking them with them), or being separated from their spouse for that period of time. 

They all quarantined in at Penny's Bay, where there was no wifi, and some were scalded by water that was too hot for the showers. Many brought their instruments with them to play, though the ones with bigger instruments were not allowed to, owing to space restrictions.

Some reported the food tasted horrific and opted to fast, while others just ate boiled eggs.

Earlier in the week they had a virtual meeting with the orchestra's management, expressing their frustration at all of them being forced into quarantine, and there was no proper protocols on how to deal with the pandemic. 

How about starting with chamber concerts?

Some had no contact with the infected musician, or even sat near him and questioned why they needed to be quarantined.

"We can't perform again until something has been worked out and approved in advance, because there is no way we can risk being sent back here. We just can't perform again if the CHP [Centre for Health Protection] isn't engaging with us to develop a plan," said one orchestra member who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The orchestra's management suggested testing everyone weekly, with musicians handing them deep saliva samples in bottles before the first rehearsal of each week.

Some musicians also felt it would have been better to start the season with chamber music than a full orchestra.

Leung says tests prove live concerts are safe

Nevertheless, first associate concert master and violinist Leung Kin-fung says the musicians all testing negative "proved once and for all that the orchestra is not a high-risk environment and that live concerts are perfectly safe".

Until the CHP works with the Hong Kong Philharmonic to develop a specific protocol for them on how to hold concerts safely, we won't be able to listen to any of their live performances anytime soon, and that would be a pity; we are starving for music to soothe our anxieties in these unsettling times.

Travel Bubble with Singapore to Start

Hongkongers can soon visit Singapore without quarantine

 

People in Hong Kong and Singapore dying to travel will be able to soon now that the two city governments have agreed in principle to set up a "travel bubble".

Travel bugs in Hong Kong rejoiced this afternoon upon hearing they could fly to Singapore and eat laksa, bakuteh, otah and fish head curry, though some media specializing in the airline industry believe it won't become a reality until December.

Many are keen for their laksa fix in Singapore

The basic agreement is that all passengers need to take a mutually agreed coronavirus test before they get on the plane (how many days/hours beforehand has yet to be ironed out), and then they must take a dedicated flight only for passengers going to Hong Kong or Singapore as their final destination, in other words, no transit passengers allowed.

Visitors to respective cities will not be subjected to any quarantine or controlled itinerary.

While Cathay Pacific issued a statement that it was "grateful to the authorities in Hong Kong and Singapore for reaching this agreement", the airline had nothing more to add, as it needs more information from both governments to hammer out logistical details such as how many passengers it is allowed to carry per flight, how often the flights will be, and of course the cost.

Some 90 musicians are currently in quarantine

Nevertheless, the announcement was finally a relief for people who were used to flying regularly and were tired of being stuck in Hong Kong or Singapore for such a long stretch of time.

Of course hotels and restaurants are thrilled of the prospect of more visitors coming to Hong Kong, but hopefully it will not result in sudden outbreaks.

Most recently a clarinettist with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra tested positive for the coronavirus after he had performed this past weekend at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre with Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor in attendance.

While she is not considered a close contact and has tested negative so far, the 90 other musicians as well as backstage hands were immediately sent to quarantine; the clarinettist is now in hospital, his viral load was quite high.

Francois-Frederic Guy won't be able to perform

The sad thing is that that concert was the opening one for the season! And now this weekend's concert has been cancelled, after a visiting French pianist just finished his two-week quarantine! Hope he enjoyed his stay...

Muted Protests on National Day

Carrie Lam leads the toast to the 71st Chinese national day

 

Although Civil Human Rights Front was banned from holding a march today to protest the 12 people detained by the mainland, some brave people came out anyway in Causeway Bay to voice their dissent against the Hong Kong and Chinese governments.

The police were prepared -- sending out 6,000 officers as a deterrent and were armed with the usual tools of tear gas, pepper spray and such, and even a water cannon was parked nearby. They chose their usual method of trying to shut things down before they escalated, though the protests happened over several hours and by 10pm this evening at least 86 people were arrested, 74 of which were for illegal assembly, the rest for not social distancing.

At least 86 people were arrested today

 Then how can they explain not arresting about two dozen people gathered together waving Chinese flags and fervently singing the national anthem earlier this morning? How come they are exempted?

The double standards are too obvious to ignore.

Meanwhile protesters in Causeway Bay shouted slogans like "Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our time", and would dissipate when the police approached them. One young man took out his recorder and played Glory to Hong Kong, though he was taken by police later for questioning.

One senior walked around with a wooden giraffe on a platform with wheels. He called it a "handsome horse" in front of riot police. There is a Chinese idiom of calling a deer a horse, which means criticizing those who fabricate the facts.

Causeway Bay was crawling with police officers

Even a Kim Jong-un impersonator, known as Howard X made an appearance with an inflatable missile. On it he taped a picture of President Xi Jinping with his head shaped like the coronavirus and a sign that read: "F*** the Communist Party".

All those people who were arrested will have to go through the justice system and by the time they are in front of the judge, there will not be enough evidence to prosecute them and the judge will probably dismiss the case. 

Why waste everyone's time and effort?

Rupert Dover (in white) was on honours list

Earlier in the day as part of the national day celebrations, the city's honour list since 1997 was revealed at a record-breaking 687 people; usually it's around 200, though in 2009, there was a record 444. 

Of those honoured, 94 were police officers, including former police chief Stephen Lo Wai-chung. Assistant commissioners Rupert Dover and David Jordan were recognized. Dover was one of six senior officers leading the police ground response on June 12 last year, and ordered the firing of tear gas as crowds of protesters against the extradition bill, pushed towards the Legislative Council complex.

Another commended officer was Chief Superintendent John Tse Chun-chung, who was grilled by reporters regularly for the force's handling of protesters. 

Pansy Ho last year speaking at the UN

Other notables include Bernard Chan Charnwut who is a member of the Executive Council; Pansy Ho Chiu-king, the late Stanley Ho's daughter and last year she spoke to the UN Human Rights Council about the government's handling of the protests; Charles Li Xiaojia who recently announced his resignation as head of the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited; and Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra conductor Maestro Jaap Van Zweden.

It is interesting to note there are 143 healthcare workers honoured for their work in battling the coronavirus pandemic, but none of them were the main faces in the media advising the government. I checked the list, and people like Dr David Hui Shu-cheong of Chinese University, University of Hong Kong's Dr Gabriel Leung and Dr Yuen Kwok-yung (previously awarded a Silver Bauhinia Star), or even Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan of the Centre for Health Protection.

Those gaudy wristbands to wear during quarantine

However, Simon Wong Kwong-yeung was recognized for developing the clunky (and heavy) e-wristband for people to be monitored while doing home quarantine.

Go figure.

 

Music from the Madness

Ning Feng (centre) talking about the joy of suffering in life and music

After this week's nonsense from the government about how barbecues emit more air pollution than tear gas, and blaming protesters for delays in the opening of the Sha Tin-Central MTR link, when in reality there have been a series of construction scandals at the Hung Hom Station, my friend YTSL and I escaped temporarily to the Concert Hall at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre for some music.

In October the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra won the Gramophone Orchestra of the Year which is quite a feat, but thanks to music director Jaap van Zweden, the orchestra has improved significantly in the past few years.

The Hong Kong Philharmonic the best orchestra in the world

Tonight though, the orchestra was led by principal guest conductor Yu Long, with an interesting programme that featured violinist Ning Feng.

The uncertainty of the protests resulted in the concert hall being just barely half full which was a pity because those who didn't buy a ticket missed a good show. To start, Igor Stravinsky's The Firebird Suite that was very lively and lots of percussion involved.

Ning came out for the second piece called La joie de la souffrance for Violin and Orchestra. La joie de la souffrance means "the joy of suffering", and composer Chen Qigang was commissioned by Yu to write a contemporary Chinese music piece.

At first we found it hard to understand; at times the violin would follow the musical motif of the orchestra -- shouldn't it be the other way around? And also the music didn't seem to have many technically challenging aspects to show off Ning's amazing skills on the violin.

However, after the concert, Ning and Yu gave a short talk. Ning explained "the joy of suffering" with having a child. He had a second child, a girl this past March -- which may explain his weight loss -- and he said that while he was so happy to hold her in his arms, it also meant he would lose more sleep.

Yu Long and Ning Feng talk about tonight's concert

Ning said the piece was quite difficult to play and it took him a while to learn the piece. The piece is titled in French because Chen lives in France.

Meanwhile Yu explained that Chen wrote the piece incorporating a 2,000-year-old piece of Chinese music, called The Song of Yangguan, and tried to make it contemporary sounding. He also wrote the piece mourning the loss of his son, which made the music quite emotional to play. Apparently this composer likes to write different versions of this piece, and tonight was the Hong Kong premiere of it.

The final work of the evening was Carmen Suite by Rodion Shchedrin. YTSL showed me the program indicating it was 44 minutes long with 11 movements in it. We wondered if we would last. But I didn't read through the program and was pleasantly surprised by the Carmen excerpts that used a lot of percussion that kept the music lively and the momentum going. Was I the only person in the room nodding my head to the beat?

Afterwards Yu explained that he had conducted Bizet's Carmen many times and the music is not something that can or should be altered. However Yu says Shchedrin keeps the most important bits and strings them together along with using a lot of percussion, including drums, gong, triangle, xylophone, snare drum and tubular bells.

When the short talk was over, Ning obliged to take pictures with some fans and then went over to greet his uncle who came to see him perform. Looking forward to seeing him back in Hong Kong early next year!

Yu Long: The Firebird and Carmen
Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall

Stravinsky
The Firebird Suite

Chen Qigang
La joie de la souffrance for Violin and Orchestra (Hong Kong premiere)

Rodion Shchedrin
Carmen Suite (After Bizet)

Star Wars in Concert

Darth Vader in the house outside the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall

In case you're suffering from anti-extradition protest fatigue, this afternoon I did something a bit different and attended a screening of Star Wars: A New Hope at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall, with music accompanied by the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra!

On July 4 and 6 they performed A New Hope, and July 5 was The Empire Strikes Back. This was my first time going to a concert or screening like this and didn't know what to expect.

The harpist was in the way but in the end didn't matter

But the Star Wars fans were out in force, wearing their fan T-shirts or backpacks. One older gentleman sort of had the Darth Vader look minus the helmet and even carried a homemade light sabre with him.

There were even models dressed as Darth Vader and two storm troopers flanking him and people could pose for pictures with them. The line was too long...

I had a ticket three rows from the front on the far left so the harpist was blocking my view of the main screen, though there was another smaller one to the left. Around me were people who probably don't normally go to concerts, and this is probably the whole point of these concerts for the Hong Kong Philharmonic.

The conductor, Benjamin Northey waved a small glowing red stick and gave a short speech, explaining this concert was not like typical ones where you aren't supposed to clap until the end. He encouraged us to clap and react to the music or the film whenever we wanted. That got a big applause from the audience.



And then the orchestra started with that familiar theme by John Williams and everyone clapped with excitement just as the film began. I had completely forgotten the first few scenes of A New Hope, and it was a good refresher. I also loved the feisty dialogue between Princess Lei and Han Solo.

Carrie Fisher was so pretty back then! She was only 19 when she took on the role. But she took on the character with a lot of confidence.

Very young Han Solo, Princess Lei and Luke Skywalker...

Here's one fantastic line: "Governor Tarkin, I should have expected to find you holding Vader's leash. I recognized your foul stench when I was brought on board," she says upon meeting the Imperial officer.

Ouch!

Or how about "Will someone get this big walking carpet out of my way?" she says, pushing Chewbacca.

My only complaint about this concert format is that there were some points where the live music was a bit too loud and we couldn't hear the dialogue, though there were subtitles in Chinese. And no one seemed to laugh during the witty one-liners except for me...

Just as the Millennium Falcon gets sucked into the Death Star, there was a 20-minute intermission, and more people lined up again to take pictures with Darth Vader and his two storm troopers.

After we got back to our seats, Darth Vader (the model) made a brief appearance in the concert hall behind me. And then the film restarted again and played until the end. Even though I have watched the film a few times, I was nervous about everyone getting back to the Millennium Falcon in one piece, and the last action sequence where Luke Skywalker has to do the most important mission.

A company is selling kits to make the Millennium Falcon...

Now when you watch the film, the technology of the planes and space ships look very rudimentary compared to computer generated images of today, but the magic of Star Wars and the concept of "the force" is still there. Alec Guinness as Obi One Kenobi is awesome, while Harrison Ford's cockiness is perfect for Han Solo.

The orchestra kept playing as the credits rolled, and this is probably the only time that the audience will sit through the whole thing! We clapped and clapped, with conductor Northey coming out twice for bows, but sadly no encore.

Still it was lots of fun! Lots of nostalgia and one couldn't help but think of the analogies of the rebel forces against the Evil Empire with what's happening in Hong Kong at the moment...

Star Wars in Concert
A New Hope
July 6
Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall
Music by John Williams

Ning Feng Comes to Town

Ning Feng is a crowd favourite in Hong Kong and he loves us too

Now that my office is in Times Square in Causeway Bay, I take the MTR to work and walk up the slope to get out of the station. On the way there are many posters and one of them was called "Scottish Fantasy" featuring violinist Ning Feng -- YTSL's favourite musician.

I finally remembered to tell her about it over a week ago and she was very surprised to hear about it because she keenly looks out for concerts she's interested in. We didn't know what the ticket situation would be like so I bought them right away -- third row from the stage!

There were still front row tickets too, but we didn't want to be that close.

In the end it turned out there was no one in front of us so in a way we did have front row seats. The concert wasn't that well advertised -- a last-minute addition? And also it's the tail-end of Qing Ming and Rugby Sevens is on. As a result the concert hall wasn't packed, which was a bit disappointing, but we were in for a treat.

Ning has played many times with the HKPO

First up, An Orkney Wedding, with Sunrise, op. 120 by Peter Maxwell Davies. We didn't quite know what was going on here -- bits of tunes were stitched together like a patchwork quilt and didn't necessarily go together sound-wise. It was hard to follow at times. But at the end conductor Yu Long looked behind him and we heard a bag piper, Robert Jordan -- in full uniform from the back of the concert hall and walk down the stairs by us and then up to the stage.

Next Ning came out to perform Scottish Fantasy, op. 46 by Max Bruch. The violinist looked like he'd lost a bit of weight and wearing his signature untucked black shirt and trousers. The music was fun and had a strong Scottish theme, but it wasn't very challenging for Ning.

After the performance he came out with his violin and spoke to the audience. In English he said that he loves playing in Hong Kong and in particular with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. He said for piano there are many pieces to choose from for an encore, but not violin -- it's either Bach or Paganini.

He asked the audience what they'd like to hear and some said "both", but he asked us to put up our hands for Bach (not many), and then Paganini (a lot). So which Paganini piece? YTSL said God Save the King along with another audience member, but Ning wasn't too keen to do that. He conferred with the concertmaster Jing Wang before deciding on Paganini's Caprice no. 24. Here is a version of it he played many years ago.

We were spellbound while he played it with gusto -- at one point he was plucking the strings with his left hand so quickly and effortlessly while his bow struck the strings that we couldn't help but clap. He still had his bow up, ready to continue playing -- when we stopped.

It was nice to be able to watch him up close -- he was very much enjoying the music and fusing together with his instrument and having a good time.

After the intermission it was Symphony no. 3 in A minor, op. 56, Scottish by Felix Mendelssohn. There were five movements here and while we enjoyed the playing, we couldn't help but wonder if more could have been done to create more tone in terms of volume. Everything was mezzo forte and louder, but what about creating more contrast in volume to make things more interesting?

Nevertheless, a good evening out -- the concert finished just after 10pm. But we couldn't find a quiet spot for drinks after!

Scottish Fantasy

April 6 and 7, 8pm

Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall

Yujia Wang's Distracting Dress

Here is pianist Yujia Wang covered up! in a promotional poster

Tonight was the season opener for the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and the soloist was superstar pianist Yujia Wang.

It's quite amazing that I've seen her perform for 10 years now -- I saw her play in a small concert hall in Beijing in 2007.

And tonight she played in front of several who's who -- Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, principal guest conductor Yu Long, former lawmaker Emily Lau Wai-hing former Hong Kong Monetary Authority Joseph Yam Chi-kwong to name a few.

While her performance tonight of Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto no. 1 was mesmerizing, she doesn't seem to have matured as a person.

This is the dress she wore (here with the Santa Cruz Symphony)

She walked on stage in this revealing dress -- a turquoise number with a deep V both in the front and back, but it was actually covered up with skin-coloured cloth. Then she could barely walk and I soon could see why -- she was wearing platform heels which forced her to stick her butt out.

When she sat down -- and we sat behind her -- we could see her G-string... how classy.

Why was she wearing such a skin-tight dress with skin-coloured fabric? This is not figure skating! This is a performance at a concert hall! And those heels -- gold coloured too -- belonged on the dance floor. Hardly sexy or sophisticated.

As for the music, we really loved her playing, but that bow afterwards needs some work. She just flings her head down, puts her right arm across her chest and shuffles off in that skin-tight dress that might as well be a nylon tube sock. She hardly acknowledged the crowd sitting behind the orchestra -- at least Lang Lang would have given them a few bows in gratitude.

And what about some kudos so the orchestra that performed with her? She barely gave any thanks to them except finally shaking the hand of the concert master before again shuffling off.

She seemed ambivalent about giving an encore, but when the audience won't stop clapping, surely they want to hear more?

Wang finally obliged -- twice -- and we were very pleased. But how about a bit of humility? Or was it nerves from performing in front of dignitaries or the dress and shoes weren't working out?

If she's not comfortable in them, she really shouldn't wear them. I want to see a performer who is confident and happy and shows some grace. I guess she still has a lot to learn.

After the intermission, the Hong Kong Phil gave a very lively performance of Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring. Music director Jaap van Zweden was militant about the timing and also jumped up and down several times to make his point.

The orchestra replied with fantastic sound that resonated throughout the concert hall, dischordant at times, but very experimental and full of energy and full use of the entire orchestra, especially percussion!

When the concert was over, with two rounds of clapping, Carrie Lam got out of her seat to approach the stage. My friend nudged me to leave so we did -- along with scores of other people!

Season Opening: Jaap & Yujia

Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto no. 1

Stravinsky The Rite of Spring

Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall

Musical Ping Pong

Whoa what a finale! Incorporating table tennis with music. How novel!

This evening YTSL and I had tickets to watch a concert by the Hong Kong Philharmonic called "Ping Pong Diplomacy", harking back to over 45 years ago when the table tennis team from the United States visited China.

It was considered a world-changing event in Sino-US relations, breaking the ice and paving the way for then US President Richard Nixon to come to China and meet with Mao Zedong.

Conductor Yu Long commissioned a piece -- featuring table tennis in the music! -- by Andy Akiho and it was performed for the first time two years ago by the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra.

Were the table tennis players going to use up all those balls?

But before that music. Yu led the orchestra in a rousing Tchaikovsky piece called Serenade for Strings, op. 48. I had forgotten Yu likes a fast tempo but was soon quickly reminded when the opening, which is supposed to be like a sonatina, seemed very rushed.

He tried to make the second movement, a waltz, markedly slower, but it too speeded up towards the end, as well as the finale.

I forgot to add that the musicians weren't dressed in formal wear, but black T-shirts and jeans instead which was a weird look, perhaps to make the audience not feel so bad to be casual either.

There was no intermission, and the stage was set for Akiho's Ricochet: Triple Concerto for Ping Pong, Percussion, Violin & Orchestra with three movements.

We the audience were forewarned that ping pong balls could fly into the crowd. This we had to watch.

The piece starts with a violinist making eerie sounds on her instrument, and then a percussionist stands by the ping pong table and starts playing on drums with it. Two actual ping pong players, both American, but one Caucasian male in a shirt and red bow tie, the other a Chinese woman, in a red sleeveless cocktail dress and black heels approach the table and actually start playing table tennis.

At times they rally, and then they start hitting balls towards the audience. They use tambourines to hit the ball so that they too make music, and she hits the drum on the ping pong table hard as a solo passage.

Imagine writing the music for this piece? Ping pong player hits drum; ping pong player uses tambourine to hit balls five times...

It was unpredictable when they were going to hit balls into the audience. In the end the violinist and percussionist each grab box of balls and dump them onto the table to end the piece. So crazy yet so fun!

Kids scrambled towards the stage to grab whatever orange balls they could.

It was just so interesting to see how table tennis could be incorporated into music and it works. The two ping pong players knew exactly when to hit and when to stop, catching the ball. They had several balls in hand just in case shots didn't work out to keep the momentum of hitting the ball going.

It was fun, lively and unpredictable!

Ping Pong Diplomacy

Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall

Tchaikovsky Serenade for Strings, op. 48

Andy Akiho Ricochet: Triple Concerto for Ping Pong, Percussion, Violin & Orchestra

Symphonic Rhapsody

A quick panoramic shot of the stage before the concert

Just got back from a fantastic concert by the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and violinist Ning Feng.

My friend YTSL is a big fan of his and bought our tickets two months ago. Turns out they were for the front row!

What's interesting is that these tickets were not the most expensive ones, probably because the sound seems to go over your head, though we sat right by the cellists and got a good dose of their warm sound, but we couldn't see beyond the string section.

Nevertheless it's a good place to be when you want to watch one of your favourite musicians as close as possible.

Ning Feng is always a crowd pleaser in Hong Kong

The concert started with a commissioned work by Fung Lam called Quintessence that was sponsored by The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation. Quintessence refers to the fifth and highest essence after the four elements of earth, air, fire and water.

The 10-minute piece was lively with bursts of energy here and there. In one section, the violinists repeated a phrase one after another, literally making the sound carry back like ripples in the water.

Next was the main event. YTSL has watched Ning six times, this was my third. We both observed he had lost some weight but none of his finesse. He performed Bela Bartok's Violin Concerto no. 2 with gusto.

He had the music in front of him, so perhaps it wasn't a showcase piece for him, but it didn't matter. We were swayed by his energy, and when he finished, he seemed to be wiped out.

But he was energized again by the appreciative audience who wouldn't stop clapping. Eventually he performed an encore -- JS Bach's Violin Sonata No. 3 in C Major - Largo. Here he played with no music, his eyes closed, his eyebrows constantly moving up and down expressively.

Meanwhile his playing was just exquisite, so quiet and yet every note was clear (or maybe because we were in the front row!).

Here's a sample of what he played, though here it's performed by Hilary Hahn:

We clapped loudly again, but sadly no second encore.

After the intermission, we settled in for the 45-minute Symphony no. 1 in C minor, op. 68 by Johannes Brahms.

HKPO's musical director Jaap van Zweden

It's interesting that the program notes say Brahms worked on this piece and then revised it again within a 10-year period. He apparently kept reworking his music and so it's not surprising this piece sounded like everything was well thought out with a rich, full sound.

By the end we were all swept up into the climax and couldn't help but clap loudly with a few shouts from the audience for the orchestra's music director Jaap van Zweden, who will be the next music director of the New York Philharmonic in 2018.

Fung Lam, Quintessence

Bela Bartok, Violin Concerto no. 2

Johannes Brahms, Symphony no. 1 in C minor, op. 68

Fans Swoon for Yo-Yo Ma

A fantastic performer and warm guy, Yo-Yo Ma

Cellist Yo-Yo Ma is someone I've long wanted to see perform live and somehow never got the chance.

When I saw an ad that he was coming to town to open the 2016-17 season for the Hong Kong Philharmonic, I tried to get a ticket. All the cheap ones were gone and unlike the Gustav Dudamel concert where I had to shell out for the most expensive tickets, this time I got the second-most expensive ones.

Waiting for the concert to begin in the concert hall

The concert hall at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre was almost full, and I sat up in the balcony, towards the top in the centre section. Great seat.

The Hong Kong Phil started the evening with Georges Bizet's Symphony in C conducted by Yu Long. It was wonderful to see Yu again -- I used to watch him conduct the China Philharmonic in Beijing and felt he was so passionate about classical music, and very classy too.

Following a short break, we all gathered back in anticipation of watching Ma. But wait a second -- while the platform was there for him next to the conductor's podium, where was his seat?

Luckily one of the violinists went back stage to ask for one and a stage hand brought it out, with some applause. He should have taken a bow or was too embarrassed!

Then Ma came out to much applause. He is so gracious and warm, treating orchestra members like cherished colleagues. He work a dark suit and tie, and once the music started, he was full immersed in it, playing his cello so softly we had to be very quiet to hear it.

He played Dvorak's Silent Woods, op. 58, no. 5, a very short piece that was reflective and showcased Ma's mastery of the cello as he played with the orchestra. So ethereal.

Then Ma was joined by Wu Tong, a sheng player to perform Duo, Concerto for Cello and Sheng by Zhao Lin.

Before the concert, a shot of the moon

In the program notes, it says the composition is based on The Great Tang Dynasty Record of Western Regions by the Buddhist monk Xuanzang.

The music is supposed to depict his journey through hardships, hesitation and ultimately leading to tranquility, and so there are three movements too that flow into each other seamlessly.

The sheng is a mouth-blown reed instrument with several pipes. I just remember it having a loud, brash sound, usually marking joyous occasions in folk songs.

But here it was deftly played by Wu, very softly, hardly rough around the edges. And as he played he undulated as if he was dancing with his instrument.

Parts of the music gave the impression of being in the desert, the cello and sheng having a conversation back and forth, complementing each other, very poetic and lyrical. By the end they kind of disappear into nothingness.

There was one encore with Wu and Ma, another composition that was inspired by a drinking song, before Ma came back on his own with another encore accompanied with the orchestra.

As he left the stage, Ma hugged or shook hands with many orchestra members, who were probably so thrilled to perform with him, and getting a hug must have been the jackpot.

And he gets to do it all again tomorrow.

Season Opening - Yo-Yo Ma

Concert Hall, Hong Kong Cultural Centre

Bizet Symphony in C

Dvorak Silent Woods, op. 58, no. 5

Zhao Lin Duo

Classical Music Eye Candy

Wang Yujia wore this dress tonight, the same as when she met the Queen

Tonight was the first of two concerts given by fast-rising star Wang Yujia with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra to celebrate the 18th anniversary of the handover. The concert was sponsored by a health product company, though not all members of the audience got any samples to try.

There were some bigwigs sitting in prime seats -- former chief executive Tung Chee-hwa, former secretary for justice Elsie Leung Oi-sie, and members of Tung's extended family, as the Tung Foundation was a sponsor.

The orchestra players had settled in, practicing on stage and were about to finish, when Grandpa Tung decided to go up the stairs to the loo. And we actually waited for him to come back and take his seat before the concertmaster came out.

Seriously?

Wang showing off some leg and skin in a concert in LA

If it was any other person, the concert would have started without him/her and they would have to wait at least half an hour to get back in.

But back to the concert. I saw her perform back in May 2007 in Beijing when she was 19 years old and was impressed then so I was curious to see how Wang had developed her musical talent.

From then to now she has gotten some flack for her outfits, though she seems to brush off the critics. She's worn very short dresses, and says she'll get to wearing longer ones when she's 40.

Uh huh.

Tonight she walked out in a florescent lime green dress with a deep V at the back, and lots of intricate cut outs in strategic places, and there was a mini train at the back. It was a pretty amazing feat not to trip on her dress.

But I wish she'd have a stylist help her pick some not so obnoxious clothes... you can be a rebel at the keyboard and look cool too...

For tonight's concert she played Mozart's Piano concerto no. 9 in E flat, K.271, Jeunehomme -- but not from memory. The sheet music was placed on top of the piano and she had no problems playing and flipping pages at the same time.

However, not having memorized the piece seem to have prevented her from fully expressing herself, even though she had fantastic technique in manipulating the piano to get the sounds she wanted.

This piece is Mozart's ninth piano concerto out of 27, and academics consider it to be the first of the composer's outstanding works. It started off light and refreshing, with the piano coming in very soon after the beginning.

But things seemed to drag in the second movement that Wang seemed to play robotically, though things picked up at the end. It seemed like a piece she didn't seem keen to perform and felt like her talents were wasted -- that she was raring to go elsewhere.

She got a rousing applause and came out several times and made very energetic bows with her arm across her heart... then walking carefully back inside. Wang finally did an amazing encore, a riff on a minuet that had a jazzy lilt and technically became more intense towards the end.

Like Lang Lang, she's a show stopper and it was a nice way for her to finish her participation in the concert.

And likewise it seemed Grandpa Tung had had enough for the day; he and members of his entourage left during intermission. Too bad for them because they missed a fantastic performance.

Conductor Jaap van Zweden led the orchestra in Beethoven's Symphony no. 3 in E flat, Eroica. Originally Beethoven wrote this piece dedicated to Napoleon Bonaparte, a musical way to pay homage to the leader.

Two years later, though, Napoleon declared himself Emperor, which meant he would consider himself above others. Beethoven was so angry that he apparently ripped his title page in half and threw it on the floor. It was later changed from to Eroica.

The performance overall was so energetic and lively, it was a pleasure to watch van Zweden in action. I sat on the balcony, on the left side of the concert hall and was able to see him making facial expressions, and a closer look at the musicians.

Most commendable were clarinetist John Schertle and flautist Megan Sterling.

What a contrast between the first and second halves of the concert! Glad I stayed to the end!

Yujia Wang Triptych 1 -- Mozart

Mozart: Piano Concerto no. 9 in E flat, K.271, Jeunehomme

Allegro

Andantino

Rondeau: Presto

Beethoven: Symphony no. 3 in E flat, Eroica

Allegro con brio

Marcia funebre: Adagio assai

Scherzo: Allegro vivace

Finale: Allegro molto