Hong Kong Youth Chinese Orchestra Annual Concert
“South meets North: a Musical Conflux”
A Bespoke Euphony of Chinese Traditional Music Cultures
1 December 2019 (Sun) 2pm
Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall
The Hong Kong Youth Chinese Orchestra (HKYCO) will collaborate with aspiring local Cantonese Opera singer Helli Yemina Chung, up-and-coming zheng talent Yeung Ching-ho, and the Music Office Youth Choir, to present an exhilarating concert collaging Chinese music treasures from various soundscapes of China.
Presented by
Like and follow us on Facebook and Instagram for the latest news of our concerts!
Programme
| Cantonese Tunes Medley | Traditional Tunes/ arr. Qiu Yongji | ||||
| Sad Memories of Lin’an (Zheng and Orchestra) | He Zhanhao | ||||
|
|||||
| Monk Jumps over the Wall (Chorus and Orchestra) | Zou Hang | ||||
|
|||||
| ----- Intermission----- | |||||
| Departure of Zhaojun (Cantonese Opera Singing and Orchestra) |
Ma Si-tsang/ arr. Kuan Nai-chung | ||||
|
|||||
| Redden Sorghum (Excerpt) Rousing Spring (Song of Labour) Busy Summer (Song of Harvest) |
Wang Danhong | ||||
|
|||||
| Programme and artists subject to change without prior notice | |||||
| The Hong Kong Youth Chinese Orchestra is one of the flagship music groups managed by the Music Office. Since its establishment in 1978, the Orchestra has performed at major festivals such as the Hong Kong Arts Festival, the Festival Fringe, the Hong Kong International Youth Arts Festival, “Music of the Dragons” concert in celebration of the 5th anniversary of the HKSARG, etc. The Orchestra was invited to perform at live-broadcasting “Caritas Charity TV Show” in 2014, and the variety shows in celebration of the 66th and 69th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 2015 and 2018. The Orchestra celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2018 with the performance of a 90-member alumni orchestra, joined by renowned percussionist and Music Office alumnus Chin Kwok-wai, under the baton of Ho Man-chuen, former Music Officer of the Chinese Section of the Music Office. The Orchestra has toured extensively, from neighbouring Macao to Malaysia, the UK, France, Australia, the USA, and Canada. In 2000, the Orchestra visited Beijing and Xi’an for exchange performances titled Tour to the Ancient Cities. In 2007, they toured to Jiangsu and gave three dynamic concerts in folk music festivals of Nanjing, Wuxi and Jiangyin. The Orchestra made its Taiwan debut at the 2011 Contemporary Chinese Orchestra Festival in Taichung Changhua and toured to Shanghai and Shenyang in 2016. In 2018, the Orchestra was invited to Singapore for a joint concert entitled TOGETHER with the Singapore National Youth Chinese Orchestra with high acclaims. With around 80 current members, the Orchestra is currently trained and managed by Tsui Ying-fai, Kwok Kin-ming, Chin King, Tse Tsz-chung, and Tse Yuen-yau. Recruitment is held annually through open audition. |
 |
Kwok Kin-ming (Conductor)
| Kwok Kin-ming obtained the Master of Music degree with distinction from the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, majoring in Chinese orchestras conducting, under the tutelage of Yan Huichang. He also attended master classes in conducting by Xia Feiyun, Chen Tscheng-Hsiung, Tsung Yeh, Zhang Guoyong, Hsu Chinghsin Apo, Henry Shek, Yip Wing-sie and many others. Kwok was the second runner-up and awarded Outstanding Young Conductor in the Hong Kong International Conducting Competition for Chinese Music in 2011. As a conductor, Kwok has collaborated with many renowned orchestras, including Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, Jilin Chinese Orchestra, Macao Chinese Orchestra, Feiyun Chinese Orchestra and the Academy Chinese Orchestra. Kwok led the Hong Kong Youth Chinese Orchestra for the premiere music tour to Taiwan and participated in the Contemporary Chinese Orchestra Festival in 2011. In 2016, he led the Hong Kong Youth Chinese Orchestra to tour in Shanghai and Shenyang, where the orchestra jointly performed with the Chinese Orchestra of Shenyang Conservatory of Music. In 2018, under Kwok’s baton Hong Kong Youth Chinese Orchestra presented a joint concert titled TOGETHER with Singapore National Youth Chinese Orchestra in the Lion City. |
 |
Tsui Ying-fai (Conductor)
| Tsui Ying-fai obtained his bachelor’s degree with first-class honor and master’s degree (Ethnomusicology – Chinese Music) in the Chinese University of Hong Kong and has studied ethnomusicology in the University of Pittsburgh, USA. Tsui has been active in the field of Chinese music as a conductor. Since 2000, he led the Hong Kong Youth Chinese Orchestra to perform in Beijing and Xi’an, Jiangsu, Taiwan, Shanghai, Shenyang and Singapore; and the Hong Kong Youth Chinese Plucked String Orchestra to perform in the Aberdeen International Youth Festival in Scotland, UK in 2005. Besides his official conducting duties in the Music Office, Tsui also conducted in concerts of numerous local Chinese orchestras and was invited to conduct in the Taipei Youth Chinese Orchestra Concert in Taiwan in 2014. He was also invited to serve on the adjudicating panel of the National Chinese Orchestral Contests in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and 2019 School Chinese Orchestra Contest of Singapore Youth Festival organized by Singapore Education Bureau. Devoted to music education and research, Tsui worked as tutor and researcher in the Music Department of the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. He published articles on Chinese instrumental music under the former Hong Kong Provisional Urban Council and the Education and Manpower Bureau, music academic journals in the USA, and the well-known Garland Encyclopedia of World Music. Tsui is currently the Senior Music Officer of the Chinese Music Section of the Music Office and conductor of the Hong Kong Youth Chinese Orchestra, Music Office Instructors’ Chinese Orchestra and Music Office Junior Chinese Orchestra. |
 |
Helli Yemina Chung (Guest Cantonese Opera Singing)
| Helli Yemina Chung is a young aspiring Cantonese Opera singer, student of Cantonese Opera Sin-style singer Wong Yee Man. She also learnt Huqin from virtuoso Hsin Hsiao-hung, Cantonese Opera instrumentation from troupe leader Huang Liang, ancient style singing and instrumentation from Red Boat Troupes master Huang Tao, and Chinese Opera movements from renowned performers Pak Suet Mui and Pak Suet Hung. Chung was the 3-time champion of the Hong Kong Interschool Cantonese Opera Singing Competition from 2005 to 2007. In 2017 she won the “Shenzhen – Zhuhai – Hong Kong – Macao Cantonese Opera Singing Competition”, and started part-time teaching Cantonese opera singing in the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts in the same year. In 2018 she presented her first Hong Kong Cantonese solo recital in Sha Tin Town Hall. A graduate of the Mcgill University of Canada, majoring in Anatomy and Cell Biology, Chung founded McGill Students’ Chinese Music Society and Chinese Orchestra, in which she served as chairperson, conductor and erhu principal. In 2015, she led the McGill Chinese Orchestra to present a fund raising concert for Montreal Chinese Hospital Foundation, and in 2016 she made Montreal’s first Cantonese opera performance in thirty years. Alongside Cantonese Opera singing, Chung is also dedicated to vocal performance. She joined the Hong Kong Children’s Choir to study vocal, and currently serves in the soprano section of the St. John’s Cathedral Choir. She also holds diplomas for Piano and Erhu performance. |
 |
Yeung Ching-ho (Zheng Solo)
| Yeung Ching-ho is studying the Master of Music at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, majoring in zheng. She also graduated from the Department of Music of the University of Hong Kong (HKU). She started learning zheng with Chin King in 2003 under the Instrumental Music Training Scheme of the Music Office, and is now under the tutelage of Dr. Xu Lingzi. She passed the diploma examinations of both the Central Conservatory of Music and the Shanghai Conservatory of Music with distinction. She was awarded Rayson Huang Scholarship in Music at HKU from 2017 to 2019, and Hong Kong Jockey Club Music and Dance Fund Scholarship from 2019 to 2021 As a frequent winner in the Hong Kong Schools Music Festival, Yeung was the champion of intermediate, senior and advanced levels, and the first runner-up of RTHK Radio 4 Chinese Instruments Scholarship zheng solo competition. She was also awarded the first place in the 6th Hong Kong Students Open Music Competition, and the gold medal in the 6th International Zheng Contest’s Professional Youth Group Yeung was featured as one of the finalists in Young Music Makers 2017 of RTHK 4, and was invited to hold solo recitals in Tai Kwun and the University Museum and Art Gallery of HKU. She was selected by the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra’s “Music Integrates” programme to hold a solo recital. She participated in various concerts of the Musicus Society, including Musicus Heritage Community Concert Series: A Habsburg Convocation, the 5th and 6th Musicus Fest children’s concert, and the filming of RTHK programmes. She was recently invited by RTHK to hold STEAM workshop for children Yeung has been an active member in various orchestras since 2006, namely the Music Office Children’s Chinese Orchestra, Island Youth Chinese Orchestra, and the Chinese Orchestra of HKUSU in which she was the chairperson in the 2016-2017 session. She is currently Zheng principal of Hong Kong Youth Chinese Orchestra. |
 |
Music Office Youth Choir (Chorus)
| The Music Office Youth Choir, under the management of Music Office, was established in 1980. With a repertoire that spans from sacred to secular, classical to popular, and Chinese to Western, the Choir has performed regularly in local concerts and collaborated with many visiting music groups, among which are the Kagoshima Senior High School Choir and Prunus Female Choir from Japan, College of Saint Benedict-Saint John’s University Choral Arts Ensemble and Pittsburgh Youth Symphony Orchestra from USA, The Chieftains from Ireland and the reputed Bach Choir from UK Embarking on its first overseas tour to Malaysia and Singapore in 1997, the Choir next visited Kagoshima, Japan in 2002, where their performances under the auspices of the Kagoshima Prefectural Government were met with critical acclaim. The Choir has since participated in three overseas choral festivals, with encouraging results attained in each: two Gold Diplomas, a Category Winner and a Jury Award at the 2009 A Voyage of Songs International Choral Festival held in Penang; two Gold Diplomas and a Category Winner Award at the 2014 Sing n Joy Vienna – 29th International Schubert Choir Competition; three Gold Awards and two Category Winner Awards at the 2016 Singapore International Choral Festival; two Category Winner Award and the Best Conductor at the 11th International Johannes Brahms Choir Festival and Competition in Wernigerode, Germany With a total of 80 members between the age of 15 and 25, the Choir is currently trained and managed by Dr. Angelina Au and Bobby Chan. Recruitment is held annually through open audition. |
 |
Tickets: $95 $75 $55
Tickets available at URBTIX from 1 November
Half-price tickets are available for full-time students, senior citizens aged 60 or above, people with disabilities and the minder, Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) recipients
For ages 6 or above
Ticketing Enquiries：3761 6661
Credit Card Booking：2111 5999
Internet Booking：www.urbtix.hk
Programme Enquiries：2796 7537/ 3842 7784