Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra Presents National Day Celebration with an East meets West Dizi Concerto

The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra's (HK Phil) Principal Guest Conductor Yu Long sets off an awesome display of musical fireworks for the National Day Celebration Concerts with Berlioz's action-packed Symphonie fantastique and Guo Wenjing's Chou Kong Shan, a rare concerto for dizi and orchestra featuring renowned dizi virtuoso, Tang Junqiao. The HK Phil brings traditional Chinese culture into the concert hall with two evenings of east meets west on 15 & 16 September in the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall.

The concert opens with Chinese composer Guo Wenjing's concerto for dizi (bamboo flute) and orchestra Chou Kong Shan, a colourful symphonic portrait of Tang dynasty poet Li Bai's descriptions of Sichuan. The concerto is demanding on the dizi player, with extremely long notes evoking vast mountains and short notes mimicking the sound of babbling brooks. Guo Wenjing claims that Tang Junqiao has opened up Chou Kong Shan by showing that the work, which he used to believe could only be performed with a bamboo flute with eight holes, can be played equally effectively on a six-hole bamboo flute.

The Symphonie fantastique is French composer Hector Berlioz's most famous work, and set new demands on orchestral writing and playing. Berlioz had been scorned by Irish actress Harriet Smithson with whom he was helplessly infatuated and, plunged into a deep depression, he eventually released himself by conceiving this work in which the disconsolate artist took opium and dreamed of his beloved in five scenes. This vividly colourful work makes an appropriately explosive musical display and showcases any orchestra to maximum, exhilarating effect.

16 Sep performance is sponsored by: Wing Lung Bank

A National Day Celebration will be held on 15 & 16 September 2017 (Fri & Sat), 8PM, in the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall. Tickets priced: HK$480, $380, $280, $180 are now available at URBTIX. For enquiries, please call +852 2721 2332 or visit www.hkphil.org.

Artists

Yu Long, conductor [full biography]

Yu Long is the Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the China Philharmonic Orchestra which he co-founded in 2000, and the Music Director of the Shanghai and Guangzhou Symphony orchestras. All three ensembles tour internationally and feature alongside the world's top soloists. Maestro Yu is also the Founding Artistic Director of the Beijing Music Festival, as well as Artistic Co-Director of the MISA Festival, bringing classical music to the young people of Shanghai. He was appointed the Principal Guest Conductor of the HK Phil from the 2015/16 concert season.

Tang Junqiao, dizi [full biography]

Tang Junqiao is a renowned player and educator of bamboo flute. As a guest solo flutist, she has been invited to perform at dozens of international music and art festivals, and has performed in hundreds of concerto and special concerts. She has performed traditional Chinese music for more than 30 foreign state leaders, and is the only Chinese player of folk music who has ever been invited to regularly cooperate with world famous orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, London Symphony and Bamberg Symphony in the performance of a number of concertos for Chinese bamboo flutes. Her performance has made Chou Kong Shan one of the most frequently performed bamboo flute music pieces worldwide.

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