The autumn promises to be a veritable feast of music in Hong Kong, with Mozart's best-loved opera, Haydn's best known oratorio, Rachmaninov's biggest potboiler of a piano concerto (actually, the only Rachmaninov piano concerto most people knew until that dreadful show-off Helfgott chuntered his way into our unwilling consciousness), and, last, but by no means least – or, at any rate, as Gweipo would say, the best of the least – Hong Kong's greatest, indeed, only, Welsh Male Voice Choir.
Rachel Cheung may not be a name familiar to most readers, but chances are that will change if the 17-year-old's musical development continues apace. A product of Maryknoll Convent School (the Catholics' answer to DGS), Cheung is a pianist of great talent and immense promise. The promotional banner on the Mid-Levels Travelator may herald her as runner-up in last year's Alessandro Casagrande International Piano Competition in Italy, but more impressive than that is her placing fifth earlier this month in the Leeds Leeds International Piano Competition, a competition whose previous winners include Radu Lupu and Murray Perahia.
Cheung will be performing Rachmaninov's 2nd Piano Concerto at the City Hall on Friday 23 October, but, unless you're in a wheelchair (or know a friend who's got one), you won't be able to hear her performing under the baton of the great Vladimir Ashkenazy as the show's sold out. To give you some idea of the daunting prospect facing Cheung, you would have to imagineGweipo performing under Rostropovich, or Sarah Palin granted an audience with Donald Tsang – or Michael Palin working with a comedian who's actually funny.
If you're thinking that I've built you up, like a buttercup, just to let you down, think again. For you can listen to Rachel on Sunday 1 November at the Academy of Performing Arts in Wan Chai. Not only that, you'll get the Hong Kong Welsh Male Voice Choir thrown in for free (after you've shelled out a mere $180, or $250 for the posh seats). Besides Welsh favourites, such as Myfanwy and Gwahoddiad, we'll be taking our audience on an exotic musical tour, traversing the Russian steppes (The Silver Birch – Tchaikovsky liked the tune so much he nicked it for the final movement of his 4th Symphony), the Hungarian plains (Dana Dana), the fabulous land of Cathay (The Moon Represents My Heart) and the Salford cotton mills (Jerusalem).
If you can't wait until All Saints' Day, then come along to St John's Cathedral on Tuesday 13 October, when the Welsh Choir will be sharing the stage with the South Island School Orchestra and Choir in a concert to raise funds for the St John's HIV Education Centre. Admission to the concert is "free", but a donation of $180 will enable you to listen to Duke Ellington numbers performed by the students, Nessun Dorma performed by not one, not three, but 40 Pavarotti lookalikes, and a joint rendition of the African Trilogy (Siyahamba, Shosholoza and the National Anthem of South Africa – in Zulu and English). Rumour has it the organisers will be throwing in free drinks and nibbles after the show.
This should get you in the mood for the musical soirées at the Cultural Centre, once described by Prince Charles in a moment of great lucidity as a public toilet. First, on Monday 19 October, there's a performance in German of Haydn's Creation (Die Schöpfung) by Orchester der KlangVerwaltung München und Chorgemeinschaft Neubeuern (which, if my Googling skills are up to the task, translates as the Sound Management Orchestra of Munich and the Choral Community of Neubeuen – better in German, really). Then, for five nights between 5 and 9 November, Mozart's magnificent Magic Flute will be brought to the stage of the Grand Theatre in a multinational production featuring Opera Hong Kong, the National Centre for the Performing Arts (Beijing), the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and den Norske Opera og Ballett (the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet).
But don't worry – they won't be singing in Cantonese, or Mandarin, or Norwegian. They will be singing in German with Chinese and English "subtitles".
Rachel Cheung may not be a name familiar to most readers, but chances are that will change if the 17-year-old's musical development continues apace. A product of Maryknoll Convent School (the Catholics' answer to DGS), Cheung is a pianist of great talent and immense promise. The promotional banner on the Mid-Levels Travelator may herald her as runner-up in last year's Alessandro Casagrande International Piano Competition in Italy, but more impressive than that is her placing fifth earlier this month in the Leeds Leeds International Piano Competition, a competition whose previous winners include Radu Lupu and Murray Perahia.
Cheung will be performing Rachmaninov's 2nd Piano Concerto at the City Hall on Friday 23 October, but, unless you're in a wheelchair (or know a friend who's got one), you won't be able to hear her performing under the baton of the great Vladimir Ashkenazy as the show's sold out. To give you some idea of the daunting prospect facing Cheung, you would have to imagine
If you're thinking that I've built you up, like a buttercup, just to let you down, think again. For you can listen to Rachel on Sunday 1 November at the Academy of Performing Arts in Wan Chai. Not only that, you'll get the Hong Kong Welsh Male Voice Choir thrown in for free (after you've shelled out a mere $180, or $250 for the posh seats). Besides Welsh favourites, such as Myfanwy and Gwahoddiad, we'll be taking our audience on an exotic musical tour, traversing the Russian steppes (The Silver Birch – Tchaikovsky liked the tune so much he nicked it for the final movement of his 4th Symphony), the Hungarian plains (Dana Dana), the fabulous land of Cathay (The Moon Represents My Heart) and the Salford cotton mills (Jerusalem).
If you can't wait until All Saints' Day, then come along to St John's Cathedral on Tuesday 13 October, when the Welsh Choir will be sharing the stage with the South Island School Orchestra and Choir in a concert to raise funds for the St John's HIV Education Centre. Admission to the concert is "free", but a donation of $180 will enable you to listen to Duke Ellington numbers performed by the students, Nessun Dorma performed by not one, not three, but 40 Pavarotti lookalikes, and a joint rendition of the African Trilogy (Siyahamba, Shosholoza and the National Anthem of South Africa – in Zulu and English). Rumour has it the organisers will be throwing in free drinks and nibbles after the show.
This should get you in the mood for the musical soirées at the Cultural Centre, once described by Prince Charles in a moment of great lucidity as a public toilet. First, on Monday 19 October, there's a performance in German of Haydn's Creation (Die Schöpfung) by Orchester der KlangVerwaltung München und Chorgemeinschaft Neubeuern (which, if my Googling skills are up to the task, translates as the Sound Management Orchestra of Munich and the Choral Community of Neubeuen – better in German, really). Then, for five nights between 5 and 9 November, Mozart's magnificent Magic Flute will be brought to the stage of the Grand Theatre in a multinational production featuring Opera Hong Kong, the National Centre for the Performing Arts (Beijing), the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and den Norske Opera og Ballett (the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet).
But don't worry – they won't be singing in Cantonese, or Mandarin, or Norwegian. They will be singing in German with Chinese and English "subtitles".
4 comments:
I believe that post was what sales people refer to as a 'bait and switch' :)
I'll pass the info on to my daughter though. She's into all that strange, improvisation-averse, classical music malarkey. She might even drag her old man along to listen.
Public toilet? I always heard it described as a squashed shoebox.
What do you mean by Maryknoll is the Catholics' answer to DGS???
Music critic David Denton (name sounds familiar - was he in HK once?) writes that Cheung could have done better than fifth if she'd played Prokofiev or Bartok in the final.
Nonnie, they both cream off the best students but Maryknoll insists on Papal pasteurisation.
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