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Presented by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, "Vocal Recital by Hu Xiaoping and Wan Jianping" will be staged to bring to Hong Kong audience numerous Chinese art songs and western opera arias in May.

The programme includes a wide variety of famous Chinese art songs such as "Night on the Grassland", "Son of the Sun", "Waves Surge as the River Rises", etc; as well as marvelous arias from famous operas such as "La donna e mobile" (from Rigoletto), "Summertime" (from Porgy and Bess), "Ach,ich fuhl's" (from Die Zauberflote) and many more.

The concert will feature on soprano Hu Xiaoping and tenor Wan Jianping, with Yiu Pun to give piano accompaniment.

Hu Xiaoping, born in Shanghai, studied under soprano Gao Zhilan and benefitted from the coaching of Gino Bechi and Beverly Sills. She emerged as a rising star in Shanghai in the early 1980's. In 1982, she represented China to in the International Music Competition held in Budapest and won the First Prize and the Special Opera Award among the seventy-strong competitors from all parts of the world. She was also the first Asian to receive such an honour and the only competitor to attain the First Class category in the competition. International arts critics have rated Hu highly, describing her as "(having) a sonorous, sweet, natural and pure voice, delivered with sincerity and charming elegance", "capable of the lyrical, dramatic as well as coloratura repertoire", etc. In 1997, she participated in the programmes celebrating Hong Kong's return to China and was invited to participate in the "Concert by Chinese Vocalists from All Parts of the World" last year in support of Beijing's Claim to host the Olympic Games organized by the National Sports Committee.

Wan Jianping, born in Shanghai, has studied under the guidance of Professor Bington Tan and Professor Zhu Baoqing in China. In 1989, he enrolled in the Royal Academy of Music in Toronto where he furthered his studies under Brahm Gold-hammer and benefitted from the coaching of Julliard's famous professor of voice, D. Fello, at his master class and subsequent lessons. An active figure on the local arts scene, Wan has been interviewed by and featured in more than 47 TV programmes in Canada in which he gave many demonstration sessions on voice teaching. After launching a successful solo recital in Hong Kong in March 1999, Wan collaborated with the joint chorus of the Hong Kong Oratorio Society and the Japanese Club Chorus in Puccini's mass "Te Deum", and with the Hong Kong Bach Choir featuring Christmas Oratorio and cantata by Bach as well as Berlioz's oratorio works. He also appeared with the Male Chorus of the Philharmonic Chorus of the Chinese Music Association, in the Sydney Opera House and the Canberra Opera House. Wan is currently Music Director and Conductor of the Hong Kong Chamber Chorus and Conductor of Kwan Sing Chorus.

Yiu Pun has recorded close to a hundred films of different types and styles and performed in concerts on stage, radio and television. She has also arranged music for piano solo and written piano accompaniment for instrumental and vocal pieces, some of which have been published by the People's Music Publishers. After resettling in Hong Kong, Yiu has given solo recitals and is active on the concert stage. At the end of 1999, she appeared in concerts in Beijing and Shanghai, and in February 2000, she was invited to perform at the Sydney Opera House and Canberra Opera House in Australia. In recent years, she has also frequently been invited to be the adjudicator of open piano competitions.

The Vocal Concert will be staged at 8pm on May 24 (Friday) at the Hong Kong City Hall Theatre. Tickets priced at $150 and $90 are now available at all URBTIX outlets. Half-price concessions will be granted to senior citizens, people with disabilities, full-time students and Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) recipients (Discount tickets for students and CSSA recipients available on a first-come-first-served basis). Please check out programme leaflets for other discount schemes.

For programme enquiries, please call 2268 7321; for ticketing enquiries and reservation, please call 2734 9009; for credit card telephone booking, please call 2111 5999. To search more information on internet, please visit www.lcsd.gov.hk/cp

End/Wednesday, April 17, 2002

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