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The Music Office Youth Choir (MOYC) and the Music Office Children's Choir (MOCC) of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department will jointly perform their annual concert, "Together We Sing", at the Theatre of Hong Kong City Hall at 8pm on December 6 (Saturday). The choirs will sing a variety of songs from different countries, as well as performing with the guest choir - the Prunus Female Choir (PFC) - from Kagoshima in Japan.
Dr Angelina Au, May Ho, Lai Wing-yan and Chan Wan-hong will be the conductors and pianists. The MOYC and MOCC will sing a variety of choral works including Rutter's "I will Sing with the Spirit" (UK), Sieczyński's "Vienna, You City of my Dream" (Austria), Kander's theme from "New York, New York" (USA) arranged by Hayes, Løvland and Graham's "You Raise Me Up" (Ireland) arranged by Hayes, and "Song for the Mira" accompanied by oboist So Hon-tou.
The guest choir PFC will sing a selection of Japanese favourites including "Furusato" and "Kojo-no-Tsuki" under the baton of Moriyama Haruki, and accompanied by pianist Takahara Azusa. The PFC will also sing two songs with the MOYC, namely the Jiangsu folksong "Jasmine" arranged by Yun and Li, and Takemitsu Toru's "Chiisana Sora (Small Sky)". The choirs will share the stage to perform Smallwood's "Total Praise" arranged by Barrett and Rao.
Established in 1980, the MOYC now has 91 members with ages ranging from 14 to 25. Apart from local concerts, the choir has also performed during cultural exchanges overseas including in Singapore, Japan, Malaysia and Austria. In June this year, the MOYC won gold diplomas in both the Youth Mixed Choir and Sacred Choral Music competitions, as well as claiming the Category Winner Award in the Youth Mixed Choir competition of the 29th International Schubert Choir Competition at the Sing'n'Joy Vienna 2014 festival, Austria.
Since its establishment in 1981, the MOCC's membership has grown to 67, with ages ranging from 8 to 15. The choir has performed both Western and Chinese choral works, some of which were local premieres.
The PFC, comprising alumni of Kagoshima Girls' High School, was founded in 2009. The choir has won prizes including the Gold Award of Kagoshima Vocal Ensemble Competition for four consecutive years from 2010 to 2014 and a Gold and Governor's Award at the Kagoshima Prefectural Choral Festival in 2014.
Tickets priced at $60, $40 and $20 for the concert are now available at URBTIX. Half-price concessions are available for full-time students, senior citizens aged 60 or above, people with disabilities and their minders and Comprehensive Social Security Assistance recipients. Credit card booking can be made at 2111 5999, and Internet booking at www.urbtix.hk. For programme enquiries, please call 2796 1003 or 2582 5311 or visit the website www.lcsd.gov.hk/en/mo/activities/upcoming/2014_moyc.html.
Ends/Friday, November 21, 2014
Issued at HKT 14:01
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