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The Leisure and Cultural Services Department presents "Revisiting Tong Dik-sang – Talks cum Demonstration Performances" hosted by Yu Siu-wah, Associate Professor of the Department of Music of the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Professor Yu has previously worked for the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, Radio Television Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. His recent publications range from the music of non-Chinese ethnic minorities in the Qing dynasty to Chinese operas and movie soundtracks of Hong Kong and China.
Detail of the talks are as follows:
February 23 (Saturday) 7.30pm
Topic: Recreating the imaginative world of Tang Dynasty romantic fantasies: two excerpts from "The Story of the Purple Hairpin"
Content: The instrumentation used in two excerpts from the Chinese opera "The Story of the Purple Hairpin" - "When the Sword and the Hairpin Reunite" and "A Chance Encounter with the Chivalrous Swordsman" - carries distinct period features of Chinese music of the 1950s and 60s. The talk focuses on how such instrumentation creates dramatic effect, and how the two pieces of music structurally fit into the plot movement, resulting in a successfully imagined world within a historical context. The audience will discover how Tong Tik-sang uses his dramatic and musical acumen to the full.
March 3 (Sunday) 7.30pm
Topic: Heightening Drama through Music: two excerpts from "Princess Changping"
Content: It is no exaggeration to say that the main theme of the Cantonese opera "Princess Changping" is death. In a nutshell, it is a story about two depictions of death enacted by Princess Changping of the fallen Ming regime and her consort, Zhou Shixian. The talk will cite some of the tunes and set tunes from the two excerpts - "Reunion in the Nunnery" and "The Final Recognition" - as examples of Tong Tik-sang's theatrical genius in giving them a new lease of life in both a dramatic and a musical context.
"Revisiting Tong Dik-sang - Talks cum Demonstration Performances" (conducted in Cantonese) will be held at the Lecture Hall, Hong Kong Space Museum. Tickets priced at $60 (free seating) are now available at at all URBTIX outlets, on Internet and by Telephone Credit Card Booking. Half-price tickets available for senior citizens aged 60 or above, people with disabilities and the minder, full-time students and Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) recipients (limited tickets for full-time students and CSSA recipients available on a first-come, first-served basis).
For programme enquiries, please call 2268 7325, or visit www.lcsd.gov.hk/CE/CulturalService/Programme/en/chinese_opera/program_136.html . For ticketing enquiries, please call 2734 9009. For telephone credit card bookings, please call 2111 5999. For Internet bookings, please visit www.urbtix.hk .
Ends/Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Issued at HKT 17:55
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