CARNEGIE HALL PRESENTS
Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra

Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage
Friday, October 30th, 2009 at 8:00 PM

Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra
Yan Huichang, Artistic Director and Principal Conductor
Trey Lee, Cello

LAW WING-FAI Flowing Phantasm
GUO WENJING Three Melodies of West Yunnan
ZHAO JIPING Zhuang Zhou's Dream
CHENG DAZHAO The Yellow River Capriccio

Program is approximately 1 hour, 40 minutes, including one intermission

Presented by the Ministry of Culture of the People's Republic of China in partnership with Carnegie Hall.

Ancient Paths, Modern Voices: A Festival Celebrating Chinese Culture is made possible by a leadership gift from Henry R. Kravis in honor of his wife, Marie-Josée.

This performance is sponsored by the Hong Kong Economic & Trade Office, New York.

Program Notes:

LAW WING-FAI (b. 1949)
Flowing Phantasm

About the Composer

Born in China in 1949, Law Wing-fai was educated in Taiwan and at the University of California before settling in Hong Kong in 1980. Within a year, he won the Asian Composer League’s Yoshiro Irino Memorial Award for young composers. Since that time, Law has amassed a diversified repertoire of concert and commercial music, from orchestral and chamber compositions to pop songs and scores for more than 20 films. He was on the faculty of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts as head of the composition department until 1998, when he became the academy’s Composer-in-Residence.

About the Work

Floating Phantasm was commissioned as part of Cadenzas of Hong Kong, a two-year collaboration between the Hong Kong Composers Guild and the HKCO in honor of the orchestra’s 30th anniversary season. Requirements for the project were that each piece be intended as a short concert opener, and in some way reflect the culture of the region. The piece was inspired by the composer’s childhood memories of the Star Ferry—the passenger service across Victoria Harbor between Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon peninsula—and the neon lights of the city reflected on the surface of the water. Through this work, he summons nostalgic memories of the old Queen’s Pier, which was closed in 2007 and demolished in early 2008 despite a fierce preservation campaign.

A Closer Listen

In this highly atmospheric piece, the composer seeks to represent in music the temporal-spatial effect of ink painting. Through various instrumental combinations, he attempts “the musical effect of controlled diversity in flying rhythmic patterns.” The work begins with impulsive sonic strokes from various instrumental sections, often layered in different rhythmic patterns to mimic the effect of waves. Altercations between sections gather in intensity, pushing toward a climax, with each successive stroke giving the impression of a brush that never quite leaves the canvas.


GUO WENJING (b. 1956)
Three Melodies of West Yunnan

About the Composer

A member of the illustrious “Class of 1978”—the first group of composers to enter conservatory after the Cultural Revolution—Guo Wenjing has become the most internationally celebrated composer still living in China and honored at home as one of the country’s “Top 100 Living Artists.” He has written extensively for both Chinese and Western instruments, often in various combinations, and he has been particularly noted for fusing a modernistic musical language with a strong flavor of his native Sichuan. The former head of composition at Beijing’s Central Conservatory of Music, Guo remains on the faculty and maintains an active schedule of commissions for musical organizations both at home and abroad. He is published by Casa Ricordi.

About the Work

Three Melodies of West Yunnan was written for the HKCO in two installments: The first two movements were written in 1993 and premiered in March 1994; the third was premiered by the HKCO in February 2009. The first two movements describe specific ethnicities in Yunnan Province: the Va, who live in the mountains, and the Jino, the original inhabitants of the region who are known for cultivating tea. Elements of both pantheistic cultures are illustrated in the music. The third movement is not intended to illustrate any particular tribe, but is rather a trio of scenes from the daily lives of local people, emphasizing their robust character. “This piece was written over 15 years,” the composer writes. “I have to thank Mr. Yan Huichang, Artistic Director of the HKCO, for his patience, tolerance and persistence.”

A Closer Listen

Percussion has been a hallmark of Guo’s output over the years, and this piece is no different. The first movement, A Va Mountain, opens with brash percussion, proceeding deliberately with percussive sounds even on the plucked string instruments. The percussion section itself calls for seven players on instruments ranging from chimes to coconut shells. Jino Dance is comparably brisker, though initially of equally somber character. A folk ballad appears in the middle section before the music returns to its original pace. The third movement divides into three distinct sections: Sacrifice, Torches, and Potent Liquors.


ZHAO JIPING (b. 1945)
Zhuang Zhou's Dream

About the Conductor

The most senior composer on tonight’s program, Zhao Jiping was born in Pingling in Gansu province. He received his early education from the Xian Conservatory of Music and, in 1978, was admitted as a graduate student to the Central Conservatory. He has long been one of China’s most prominent composers, known both at home and abroad primarily for scoring nearly every Chinese film to gain international recognition in the 1990s, including Raise the Red Lantern and Farewell My Concubine. One of the first composers to combine Western and Chinese instruments, he has received awards at both the Cannes and Berlin film festivals, and was himself the subject of Allan Miller’s documentary film Music for the Movies: Zhao Jiping. He is currently Director of the Shaanxi Province Opera and Dance Theater.

About the Work

Having already composed the chamber piece Moon Over Guan Mountain for Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble, Zhao was commissioned by the HKCO to write a piece for the orchestra with Ma as soloist. Zhuang Zhou’s Dream was finished in 2006 and premiered at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre in autumn 2008. The composer takes his inspiration from the most famous saying of the Taoist philosopher from 4 BCE: Awakened from a dream of being a butterfly, Zhuang Zhou questioned, “Am I a man who dreamed I was a butterfly, or a butterfly now dreaming I am a man?”

A Closer Listen

A study in anti-virtuosity, Zhuang Zhou’s Dream consciously shuns overt displays of performance technique, as well as avoiding the usual antagonistic relationship between soloist and larger ensemble endemic to the concerto genre. In its place is a characteristically Taoist approach of letting soloist and orchestra pursue their own separate—yet related—paths, the music flowing freely in a dreamlike manner.


CHENG DAZHAO (b. 1949)
The Yellow River Capriccio

About the Composer

Cheng Dazhao was born in Xian, the capital of Shaanxi province and the seat of ancient Chinese history. A prolific composer, he has written several pieces for Western orchestra, more than 40 works for Chinese orchestra, and musical scores for more than 30 feature films and 40 commercial television dramas. Cheng is a prominent composer with the Zhujiang Film Studio and a director of the Chinese Musicians Association. He currently lives in Beijing and is a Visiting Professor of the Xian Conservatory of Music.

About the Work

The composer writes: “Do you know how many meanders there are in the Yellow River’s course? For thousands of years, the Yellow River has shaped the character of the people living along its banks. The Yellow River has many guises—turbulent when its waves surge, desolate when it reminds us that ‘a still river runs deep,’ unexpected with its numerous zigzag course, and joyous as it trips along the way … The changing scenes and emotions are depicted in this work, and as the music flows, it presents the many facets of life along the river, as well as their vision of a better tomorrow.”

A Closer Listen

Percussion, which has hardly been a subtle part of the HKCO’s profile, once again takes a prominent role in the boisterous rhapsody—not only on stage, but also in the audience. Small Chinese hand drums will be distributed throughout the Hall prior to the concert so that audience members can participate in performing the climatic portions of the piece.


—Ken Smith
© 2009 The Carnegie Hall Corporation

More Information:

It’s a cultural phenomenon: traditional Chinese instruments placed in a Western orchestral configuration. The Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra is one of the most famous of these groups, known for performing everything from folk music to newly commissioned classical works.

The Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra will be providing each concertgoer with a complimentary hand drum, so there will be some audience participation in Cheng Dazhao’s The Yellow River Capriccio.

Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra
Yan Huichang, Artistic Director and Principal Conductor
THE ARTISTS

YAN HUICHANG

As a conductor who has worked with professional orchestras in Beijing, Shanghai, Taiwan, Singapore, and Hong Kong, Yan Huichang is regarded for his artistic talents in Chinese music centers and abroad. After graduating from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music in 1983, he was conferred the title of National Class One Conductor at the First Professional Appraisal of China in 1987 and was appointed music director of the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra 10 years later. Mr. Yan was also awarded the Cultural Medallion (Music) by the National Arts Council of Singapore in September 2001. He was re-titled Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the HKCO in October 2003, and the following year was awarded a Bronze Bauhinia Star by the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in recognition of his remarkable achievements in and promotion of Chinese music.

Apart from conducting on the concert stage, Mr. Yan is also actively engaged in composition, being recognized with numerous awards. In recent years, he has been appointed visiting professor by several music institutions—a position that allows him to promote Chinese music for the preservation of its heritage. He has given lectures at the Central Conservatory of Music and the Shanghai Conservatory of Music in China, and the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. Mr. Yan has been instrumental in the development and implementation of the Professional Orchestra Internship—a collaboration between the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts and the HKCO.

Led by Mr. Yan, the HKCO is a driving force behind the promotion of Chinese music and culture in China, as well as in other parts of the world.



HONG KONG CHINESE ORCHESTRA

Acclaimed as “a leader in Chinese ethnic music,” the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra is a cultural ambassador of Hong Kong.

Though deeply rooted in Chinese tradition, the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra also seeks to combine eastern and western musical influences. Under the leadership of Artistic Director and Principal Conductor Yan Huichang, the orchestra has undertaken the mission of promoting its music throughout Hong Kong and around the world.

The orchestra was founded in 1977 and is the only professional, full-sized Chinese orchestra in Hong Kong. With 85 musicians, the orchestra is divided into four sections: bowed-strings, plucked-strings, wind, and percussion. Its performance format and repertoire include both traditional Chinese music and full-scale contemporary works. It also explores new frontiers in music, commissioning more than 1,700 original compositions and arrangements of varying types and styles.

The HKCO received critical acclaim for its commitment to and development of large-scale Chinese orchestral works, earning such awards as "The Most Outstanding Achievement in Advancing Contemporary Chinese Music" from the International Society for Contemporary Music in 2002 and "The Most Outstanding Achievement in Advancing Asian Contemporary Music" by the Asian Composers League in 2007. In 2008, the HKCO’s Eco-Huqin Series was recognized by the Hong Kong Awards for Environmental Excellence.

Apart from its regular concerts, the HKCO also conducts many outreach and educational programs. To bring the colorful world of Chinese music to the people of Hong Kong, the orchestra has organized a variety of activities since 2001, including festivals that celebrate and highlight Chinese musical instruments. Some of these activities have set new Guinness World Records.

Trey Lee, Cello
TREY LEE

Since winning first prize at the 2004 International Cello Competition “Antonio Janigro” in Croatia, cellist Trey Lee has been celebrated across multiple continents. He enthralls audiences with his virtuosic playing that combines intellectual sophistication with emotional depth and sensitivity. In the past few years, Mr. Lee has worked with esteemed conductors and composers, including Bright Sheng, Osmo Vänskä, Jun Märkl, and Paul Daniel. In his performance of Strauss’s Don Quixote at the Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Mr. Lee received a coveted standing ovation.

Born in Hong Kong, Mr. Lee attended The Juilliard School and received his bachelor’s degree in economics from Harvard University. Among other notable successes have been top prizes at the Naumburg and Paulo international competitions. Mr. Lee has also been featured in the Financial Times and on CNN Asia.

This performance marks Mr. Lee’s Carnegie Hall debut.