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The outstanding young players of the Hong Kong Youth Symphony Orchestra will present a concert at the Auditorium of the Kwai Tsing Theatre at 8pm on July 17 (Saturday).

Trained by the Music Office of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, the players will share their experiences at the annual concert.

Cheung Pui-chi, a 10-year-old trainee of the Music Office will perform her composition "My friend and I" with the orchestra. The work is a personal depiction of Cheung's relationship with a friend. Although conflict arises, they eventually reconcile.

Cheung started her piano lesson at the age of four and started studying cello at the Music Office two years later. She has already passed the Grade 7 Examination of the Associated Board of the Royal School of Music for cello. "My Friend and I" was her award-winning composition in the Asian Pacific Junior Original Composition Competition in 2003.

The orchestra will also perform three masterpieces, "The Barber of Seville" Overture by Rossini, "The Concerto for Four Horns and Orchestra, Op. 93" by Wiggins, and the idyllic "Symphony No. 8 in G Major" by Dvorak. Conductors at the concert will be Patrick Sze, Ng Ka-ming and Yau Yuen-hing.

The Hong Kong Youth Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1978 to provide orchestral training for advanced-level Music Office trainees and talented young players. The 90-member orchestra, is open to instrumentalists aged 25 or below. Members are recruited annually through open auditions.

Acting as a musical ambassador for Hong Kong, the orchestra has made a number of successful concert tours overseas. It has also performed with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and the Hong Kong Sinfonietta to enhance the standard of performance of its members.

Tickets priced at $60 and $40 are now available at all URBTIX outlets. Half-priced concessions are available to senior citizens, people with disabilities, full-time students and Comprehensive Social Security Assistance Recipients. There is a 10% discount for the purchase of five to nine full-price tickets, and a 20% discount for the purchase of 10 or more full-price tickets.

For programme enquiries, call 2399 2195 or 2582 5264 and for reservations call 2734 9009. For more details, see the website, www.lcsd.gov.hk/musicoffice.

Ends/Thursday, July 8, 2004

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