Exploring Dream-Inspired Music with the HK Phil
Six works by Takemitsu, Debussy, Yoshimatsu, Strauss and Ravel
Classics: Quotation of Dream (24 & 25 May)
20 MAY 2019
Hong Kong
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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[20 May 2019, Hong Kong] The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra (HK Phil) will showcase six dream-inspired works at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall on 24 & 25 May,under the baton of Jun Märkl, one of the finest French music interpreters, together with the Hong Kong musicians Piano Duo Ping and Ting and the HK Phil’s Principal Oboe Michael Wilson.
Debussy was one of the most influential composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and his music is often labelled as “Impressionist”. His famous Prelude to The Afternoon of a Faun had a profound impact on subsequent composers well beyond the borders of his native France and deeply inspired the Japanese composers Takemitsu and Takashi Yoshimatsu. This concert includes the China premiere of three works by Takemitsu and Yoshimatsu which show the influence of Debussy.
“[Piano Duo Ping and Ting] reacted precisely and harmonically together with a matching of sound in an unbelievable manner”
--- South German Post
Takemitsu composed traditional Japanese music as well as 93 film scores, but also wrote works in honour of his beloved Japan, and one of which is Quotation of Dream. Written in 1991, it comprises 12 sections which depict the outline of dreamland. Twin sisters Chau Lok Ping and Chau Lok Ting have earned wide recognition and numerous international awards through their musicality and their fascinating matching of sound. They are the laureate of the prestigious ARD International Music Competition. The twin sisters will perform the China premiere of this double piano concerto.
Also receiving their China premieres are Takemitsu’s Day Signal and Yoshimatsu’s Dream Colored Mobile II. Landscapes, birds and flowers figure, and dreams always linger in Yoshimatsu’s music. He explains the work Dream Colored Mobile II in this way: “Born of a dream, it describes a gentle curve, and then blends once again into a dream”.
The HK Phil will also perform Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier Suite and Ravel’s La valse in the same programme.
Richard Strauss's three-act opera Der Rosenkavalier has been popular since its first staging in 1911. Its success inspired the composer to extract the main melodies from the opera in 1944 and compile them into Der Rosenkavalier Suite. Ravel’s La valse was his first masterpiece after the trauma of the World War I, and harks back nostalgically to a more peaceful time when Vienna was the Waltz Capital of the World.
Let's forget the strains and stresses of daily reality and share this beautiful night with the HK Phil, conductor Jun Märkl, the excellent local musicians Piano Duo Ping and Ting and our Principal Oboe Michael Wilson.
Classics: Quotation of Dream will be held on 24 & 25May (Fri & Sat), 8PM in the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall. Tickets priced: HK$480, $380, $280, $180are available atURBTIX. For enquiries, please call +852 2721 2332 or visit hkphil.org.
Artists
Jun Märkl, conductor [full biography]
Jun Märkl has long been known as a highly respected interpreter of the core Germanic repertoire from both the symphonic and operatic traditions, and more recently for his refined and idiomatic explorations of the French impressionists. In 2014 Naxos released two Hosokawa discs with Jun Märkl with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. He has also recorded the complete Schumann symphonies live with the NHK Symphony, Dvořák on Telarc, Mendelssohn and D’Albert with MDR, and Ravel, Messiaen and a highly acclaimed nine-disc Debussy set with the Orchestre National de Lyon. In recognition of his achievements in Lyon he was honoured by the French Ministry of Culture in 2012 with the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.
Duo Ping and Ting, piano duo [full biography]
The twin sisters Lok Ping and Lok Ting Chau gained wide recognition for their musicality and their fascinating match of sound. The duo was top prize winners of the 64th ARD International Music Competition in Munich, the Dranoff International Two Pianos Competition, the Fourth International Piano Duo Competition, Bialystok, the Fourth San Marino International Piano Duo Competition and Grieg Á Deux International Two Piano Competition in Oslo. The duo has collaborated with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the New Zurich Orchestra and the Bialystok Symphony Orchestra, and the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. They have made successful appearances in Miami, Gstaad , Bern, Munich, Hannover, Vienna, Ljubljana, Bratislava and Tel Aviv.
Michael Wilson, oboes [full biography]
Michael Wilson was appointed Principal Oboe of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra in 2009. Prior to this he was Co-Principal Oboe from 2005. Before moving to Hong Kong, he was working regularly with London-based orchestras including the London Philharmonic Orchestra, with which he toured extensively in Germany under the direction of then Chief Conductor, Kurt Masur. Since moving to Hong Kong he has been invited to play Guest Principal Oboe with orchestras including the Western Australian Symphony Orchestra, the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.
CLASSICS: QUOTATION OF DREAM
24 & 25 | 5 | 2019
FRI & SAT 8PM
Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall
HK$480 $380 $280 $180
Tickets are now available at URBTIX.
For ages 6 and above
Artists
conductor | |
piano duo | |
oboe |
Click the thumbnails to download press photos
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Jun Märkl | Duo Ping and Ting | Michael Wilson | Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra |
Programme
TAKEMITSU | Day Signal (China premiere) |
DEBUSSY | Prelude to the afternoon of a faun |
Takashi YOSHIMATSU | Dream Colored Mobile II (China premiere) |
TAKEMITSU | Quotation of Dream (China premiere) |
R STRAUSS | Der Rosenkavalier Suite |
RAVEL | La valse |
Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra
Music Director: Jaap van Zweden
Principal Guest Conductor: Yu Long
The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra (HK Phil) is recognised as Asia’s foremost classical orchestra. Presenting more than 150 concerts over a 44-week season, the HK Phil attracts more than 200,000 music lovers annually.
Jaap van Zweden, one of today’s most sought-after conductors, has been the orchestra’s Music Director since the 2012/13 concert season, a position he will continue to hold until at least 2022. Maestro van Zweden is the 26th Music Director of the New York Philharmonic from the 2018/19 season.
Yu Long has been Principal Guest Conductor since the 2015/16 season.
Under the dynamic leadership of Music Director Jaap van Zweden, the HK Phil has attained new heights of artistic excellence, garnering international critical acclaim.
Following on from the success of the European tour which included a filmed concert from Vienna’s Musikverein, the HK Phil has toured extensively within the mainland China. In 2017, in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the HKSAR, and with support of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Offices, the orchestra performed in Seoul, Osaka, Singapore, Melbourne and at the Sydney Opera House.
Jaap, the HK Phil, a superb cast of soloists and a chorus successfully completed an epic four-year journey through Wagner’s “Ring Cycle” in January 2018. The concert performances and live Naxos recordings have been enthusiastically received by audiences and praised by critics at home and abroad. The recording of Götterdämmerung was released in November 2018.
Conductors and soloists who have recently performed with the orchestra include Vladimir Ashkenazy, Joshua Bell, Charles Dutoit, Christoph Eschenbach, Matthias Goerne, Stephen Hough, Evgeny Kissin, Lang Lang, Yo-Yo Ma, Ning Feng and Yuja Wang.
The HK Phil promotes the work of Hong Kong and Chinese composers through an active commissioning programme, and has released recordings on the Naxos label featuring Tan Dun and Bright Sheng, each conducting their own compositions. Its acclaimed education and community engagement programmes in schools, hospital and outdoor space, bring music into the hearts of tens of thousands of children and families every year.
The Swire Group has been the Principal Patron of the HK Phil since 2006. Through this sponsorship, which is the largest in the orchestra’s history, Swire endeavours to promote artistic excellence, foster access to classical music and stimulate cultural participation in Hong Kong, and to enhance Hong Kong’s reputation as one of the great cities in the world.
Thanks to a significant subsidy from the Hong Kong Government and long-term funding from Principal Patron Swire, the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust and other supporters, the HK Phil now boasts a full-time annual schedule of core classical repertoire and innovative popular programming, extensive education and community programmes, and collaborations with, among others, Opera Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Arts Festival and the Hong Kong Ballet.
Originally called the Sino-British Orchestra, it was renamed the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra in 1957 and became fully professional in 1974. The HK Phil is a charitable organisation.
The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra is financially supported by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and is Venue Partner of the Hong Kong Cultural Centre.
SWIRE is the Principal Patron of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra.