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The Macao Orchestra will next month add an important entry to its impressive resume - its first concert in Hong Kong.
Father ˆWureo de Castro founded the Macao Chamber Orchestra in 1983 and in 2001, the Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Macao Special Administrative Region Government expanded the chamber orchestra into a medium-sized orchestra with double winds. In 2002 it was renamed the Macao Orchestra. En Shao, who has conducted the London Symphony, Royal Philharmonic, Hallˆm, Bournemouth, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestras and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, became its first Music Director and Principal Conductor.
The orchestra has worked with internationally renowned musicians and conductors including John Lill, Wang Jian, Li Chuanyun, Xue Wei, Boris Berezovsky, Nikolai Demidenko, Kun Woo Paik, Joshua Bell, Antje Weithaas, Michel Dalberto, Tamˆhs Vˆhsˆhry, Tomas Netopil, Liao Changyong, Li-Wei, Lam Bun Ching, Yip Wing Sie, Chen Xieyang, Lˆ¢ Shao Chia, Lˆ¢ Jia, Hu Yongyan, Zhang Guoyong, Yu Feng and Huang Anlun.
In next month's concert, under the leadership of En Shao, the orchestra will perform with pianist Chen Hung-kuan and violist Henning Kraggerud. The delightful all-Beethoven programme includes "Overture to Egmont, Op. 84", "Piano Concerto No.4 in G, Op. 58" and "Violin Concerto in D, Op. 61".
Chen was born in Taiwan in 1958 and raised in Germany. He is probably the most decorated pianist in Boston, winning prizes and awards in the Chopin, Geza Anda the Montreal and the Queen Elisabeth competitions. He won the Gold Medal in the Arthur Rubinstein and the Busoni Competitions, as well as receiving the award of an Avery Fisher Career Grant in 1991. He has performed with the Houston Baltimore,Israel, the Tonhalle, Montreal,Pittsburgh symphonies, the Royal Orchestra of Belgium, the Mozart Festival Orchestra of San Francisco and many others. He worked with conductors such as Hnas Graf, Christoph Eschenbach, George Cleve Josef Silverstein and Sui Lan and artists as Laurence Lesser, Yo-Yo Ma, Roman Totenberg Zsigmondy, Leslie Parnas, Bion Tsang, Anthony Gigliotti and Tema Blackstone in concert.
Henning Kraggerud, the young Norwegian violist, is one of Scandinavia's most important artists. He has performed with the Oslo Philharmonic, the Budapest Festival Orchestra, the St Petersburg Philharmonic, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and more. Kraggerud enjoys a close relationship with many of the major Scandinavian orchestras and has worked with conductors such as Marek Janowski, Ivan Fischer, Paavo Berglund, Kirill Petrenko, Yakov Kreizberg, Mariss Jansons and Kurt Sanderling. Highlights of the last few seasons have included two visits to the Komische Oper Orchestra in Berlin performing Tchaikovsky under Kreizberg and Mendelssohn under Petrenko, performances of the Sibelius concerto with the Bergen Philharmonic to open their season, his highly successful debut at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw performing Mendelssohn with the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra.
This is a programme of "A Greater Pearl River Delta Cultural Cooperation Project" presented by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, the concert by the Macao Orchestra will be staged at 8pm, November 17 (Friday) at the Auditorium, Sha Tin Town Hall. Tickets priced at $150, $120 and $100 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 recipients. (Limited tickets for Comprehensive Social Security Assistance recipients are available on a first-come, first-served basis.)
For programme enquiries, call 2268 7321; for ticketing enquiries and reservations call 2734 9009. Internet bookings are available at www.urbtix.hk. For credit card telephone bookings, call 2111 5999. Visit www.lcsd.gov.hk/cp for more information on the programme.
Ends/Friday, October 6, 2006
Issued at HKT 11:46
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