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The following is issued on behalf of the Provisonal Urban Council:

Distinguished violinist Wang Xiaodong, twice the first-prize winner of the prestigious Yehudi Menuhim Competition in the UK, will perform with the Pan Asia Symphony Orchestra on December 20 (Sunday) in the Hong Kong City Hall Concert Hall at 8pm.

The concert will give local audience a wonderful opportunity to enjoy the remarkable musicianship of Wang, who was already billed "the most talented violinist to emerge from China." when he was 19 years old.

The Pan Asia Symphony Orchestra, to be led by its Music Director Dr Yip Wai-hong, will perform with Wang Mendelssohn's "Fingal's Cave Overture, Op 26", Brahms' "Violin Concerto in D, Op 77", and most of all, the challenging piece by Mozart, "Violin Concerto No.1 in B Flat Major, K.207", which demands superior emotional expressiveness from the young violinist.

Born in Shanghai in 1969, Wang Xiaodong started learning violin when only three years old from his father who is the concertmaster of the Shanghai Symphony. At 10, he joined the Shanghai Conservatory of Music.

His exceptional talent showed when four years later, he came first in the Yehudi Menuhim Competition, which he won again in 1985 and took also the Jury's special prizes for the best Bach and Elgar performances. In the same year, he also won the First Prize and garnered the special Szymanovski Prize in the Wieniawski-Lipinski International Competition in Poland.

In 1988, while still a student at the Juilliard School of Music, Wang gave a joint recital with pianist Rohan de Silva in the Hong Kong City Hall Concert Hall. A review in the South China Morning Post ran: "This was an evening for connoisseurs especially to treasure. There can be little doubt that Wang Xiaodong will make it into the ranks of the world's great fiddlers - indeed, some might argue that he is already there."

The Australian also highly praised Wang's performance in the Perth Concert Hall in 1990, comparing him to a "master illusionist" who could render a piece of music much better than it really was. "Certainly, the quality and range of tone he drew from his instrument was a revelation," it says.

Wang has performed worldwide with numerous orchestras including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London, the Novosibirsk Philharmonic in Russia, the Beijing Central Philharmonic, the Shanghai Symphony, Sydney Opera Orchestra, and the Cosmopolitan Chamber Players. He has also appeared in numerous chamber music concerts each year in Lincoln Centre.

He is one of a number of internationally reputed conductors and soloists to perform with Pan Asia Symphony Orchestra, which was founded in 1976 by Dr Yip Wai-hong. The ensemble performs frequently to promote music among the general public especially the young generation in Hong Kong, and has successfully introduced serious music and Chinese orchestral music to local audience.

Dr Yip, who also founded the Hong Kong Children's Choir, Yip's Children's Choir and established the Yip's Children's Choral and Performing Arts Centre, has been locally honoured as the "Father of Children's Choir".

Tickets for the concert at $120, $100 and $80 are now available at all URBTIX outlets. Half-price concession is given to senior citizens, people with disabilities and full-time students.

Reservation can be made at 2734 9009, and programme enquiries at 2734 2929.

End/Friday, December 11, 1998

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