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

Five outstanding young overseas Chinese musicians, who have captured world attention in winning major international music competitions, will perform in the "International Young Concert Artist Series" to be held in the Hong Kong City Hall Theatre between July and September.

The Series, organized by the Provisional Urban Council, will present violinist Hu Naiyuan, pianist Zhao Yinyin, cellist Qin Liwei, clarinetist Tu Song and French horn artist Han Xiaoming,

Tickets for all five concerts are now available at all URBTIX outlets, with special discounts offered to purchase of multiple programmes in the Series.

Kicking off the Series will be a violin recital on July 9 by Hu Naiyuan followed by a piano recital by Zhao Yinyin on July 20. Both events start at 8 p.m.

Described by Japan's Mainichi News as a performer of "grace and elegance", Taiwan-born Hu Naiyuan was the 1985 Grand Prize winner of the prestigious Queen Elizabeth International Competition in Belgium, which was juried by Yehudi Menuhin, Henryk Szeryng, Igor Oistrakh and Gidon Kremer.

Since then, Hu has performed with the Toronto Symphony, the Netherland and Rotterdam Philharmonics, Belgian National Orchestra, the Liege Philharmonic, Tokyo Philharmonic and the National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan, and has collaborated with conductors including Gunther Herbig, Moshe Atzmon, Maxim Shostokovich, Jahja Ling and George Cleve.

In summer, he is often invited to appear in the Marlboro, Grand Teton, Waterloo, Seattle, Newport and Mozart music festivals.

Hu began studying the violin at age five and after three years became a soloist with the National Youth Orchestra of Taiwan. He went to the U.S. in 1972 and studied violin with Broadus Erle, Joseph Silverstein and Josef Gingold. In 1996, Hu joined the faculty of the Hartt School of Music.

In his Hong Kong appearance, Hu will play works by Paganini, Bach, Hsu Tsang-houei, Ysaye and Bright Sheng's "The Stream Flows", which he premiered in the Jordan Hall in Boston in 1990.

Zhao Yinyin is a leading young pianist of the 1990s who has carried off the laurels and special prizes at no less than 40 competitions.

Generally accepted as a young prodigy in his native China, he won almost every major piano competition there. In 1992, he emigrated into Australia and captured international attention when he became Australia Broadcasting Co-operation Young Artist of the Year in 1994, as well as garnering the BBM award from London, the City of Sydney Piano Award and the Kawai Piano Award in the same year.

In 1995, Zhao won a four-year scholarship to study in Julliard School in New York under the guidance of world-noted American pianist and educator Martin Cannin. He was lavishly praised after his debut in the Lincoln Center Avery Fisher Hall with the conductor Andre Raphel Smith. He is now regularly invited to perform in the U.S., Australia, Europe and Asia,

Zhao has a wide range of repertoire that embraces contraquntal music from Bach onwards, as well as romantic, modern and jazz compositions. He will perform works by Beethoven, Schumann, Bartok, Schubert and Liszt in his solo concert in Hong Kong.

Tickets prices for all five concerts in the Series are at $140 and $90. Senior citizens, people with disabilities and full-time students can enjoy half-price concessions. There will be a 10 per cent discount for each purchase of tickets for two performances; a 15 per cent discount for tickets for three performances; a 20 per cent discount for tickets for four performances and a 25 per cent discount for tickets for all five performances. Programme enquiries: 2734 2925; reservations: 2734 9009.

End/Wednesday, June 9, 1999

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