********************************************************
The Hong Kong Youth Symphonic Band (HKYSB) of the Music Office of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department will visit Jeju City in Korea from August 10 to 17 to participate in the Jeju International Wind Ensemble Festival 2013, in which it will perform and interact with some of the world's most talented bands.
The Jeju International Wind Ensemble Festival, an annual band music event held in the summer, has been staged since 1995 with the support of the Jeju Special Self-Governing Province and Korea's Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. The Festival has become one of the biggest musical events in Asia over the years. This year, bands from the US, Germany, France, Australia, the Mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong will participate in the Festival and about 65 band performances will be staged. To participate in the Festival, the HKYSB will take 68 members on tour to perform under the batons of conductors Lee Sing-wan and Pak Wing-heng.
The delegation will stage four performances at Jeju Culture & Art Center, Cheonjiyeon Falls Outdoor Stage and Jeju Seaside Arts Center. Programme highlights will include the all-time favourite "A Disney March Spectacular"; music works that feature folk tunes including "Fantasy on a Japanese Folk Song", the Korean folk song "Arirang" and a medley from "Dae Jang Keum"; and also "An-Ching (Song of Bliss)", written by Hong Kong composer Richard Tsang to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, and Japanese composer Ito Yasuhide's "Moonlight Dragon - a Postcard from Hong Kong" and more.
The HKYSB has nurtured several generations of young musicians since its establishment in 1978 and currently has more than 70 members aged 12 to 25. The band has performed with distinguished guest musicians and bands in Hong Kong and overseas, including the Central Band of the UK's Royal Air Force, the Tanunda Band from Australia, the Regimental Band of the Green Jackets from the UK, and youth bands from Canada, Japan, Australia, the Philippines and Singapore. The band has also performed under the batons of many noted conductors such as Bruce Pearson and Dr Vondis Miller from the US, Eric Banks from the UK, Felix Hauswirth from Switzerland and Li Fangfang from Beijing.
The HKYSB held a highly successful concert tour of Japan in 1986 and was invited to participate at the Fifth Pacific Basin Festival in Hawaii, the US, in 1990. In 1993, the band visited Australia to perform concerts and undertake music exchanges. The band also participated in the 2001 Jeju Summer Band Festival organised by Jeju City, and in 2008 the band was invited by the Kagoshima Prefectural Government of Japan to take part in a cultural exchange concert tour.
Ends/Wednesday, August 7, 2013
Issued at HKT 12:00
NNNN