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Concerts to blend poetry of Yu Kwang-chung into music
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     The Leisure and Cultural Services Department's "Footprints of Time - Literary Figures and Their Sojourn in Hong Kong" series will present the concert "A Poet and His Muse - Yu Kwang-chung's Poetry in Music" in March.

     Yu Kwang-chung was born in Nanjing in 1928. He published over 50 books including poems, essays, criticism and translations. Renowned as a poet, Yu has long been hailed for his poignant expression of emotions, and consequently his poems have become extremely popular with composers in Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. They have been set to music to express nostalgia for the motherland, concerns for mankind, feelings of being at one with nature, and reflections on the facets of life. He taught at the Department of Chinese Language and Literature at the Chinese University of Hong Kong for 10 years, and is now Professor Emeritus of the Kaohsiung Sun Yat-sen University.

     This programme, to be held in the historic building of the Flagstaff House Museum of Tea Ware, will present a wonderful meeting of poetic verses and musical notes. Vocal works inspired by Yu's poems and written by composers in the past 30-plus years will be interspersed with Yu's inspirational words.

     Artists performing in the concerts include tenor David Quah, soprano Margaret Yim, mezzo-soprano Emily Liu and bass Edmund Kwan. Julie Kuok will be the pianist while Dennis Wu, the programme curator and reader, will read out Yu's works in Cantonese.

     The programme includes songs such as "Titita", "Nostalgia in Four Rhymes", "The Sunflowers", "What is the Rain Saying through the Night", "The Night Watchman", "Nostalgia", "Fire of Rebirth", "The Answer", "On Such a Windy Night", "The Blind Fortune-teller", "Your Smile Last Night", "Firefly" and "And When I Die". Among them are newly composed or re-arranged works, as well compositions being presented as world premieres.

     "A Poet and His Muse - Yu Kwang-chung's Poetry in Music" will be staged at 3pm and 8pm on March 2 and 3 (Saturday and Sunday) at the Gallery, Flagstaff House Museum of Tea Ware. Tickets priced at $200 (free seating) are now available at all URBTIX outlets, on the Internet and by credit card telephone booking. Half-price tickets are available for senior citizens aged 60 or above, people with disabilities and their minders, full-time students and Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) recipients (limited tickets for CSSA recipients available on a first-come, first-served basis). A package discount scheme is also available. Please refer to the programme leaflet for details.
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     A meet-the-artist session will be held after each concert. Patrons are welcome to attend. Admission is free.

     In addition, "Forum on Words and Music" (to be conducted in Cantonese and Putonghua) will be held at 8pm on March 1 at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Yu will be one of the speakers. Patrons are welcome to attend and admission is free on a first-come, first-served basis. Please refer to the programme leaflet for details.

     For programme enquiries, please call 2268 7321, or visit www.lcsd.gov.hk/CE/CulturalService/Programme/tc/music/program_149.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/Saturday, February 2, 2013
Issued at HKT 16:46

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