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Presented by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, the concert "Wonderful Bach" by the Hong Kong Oratorio Society (HKOS) will feature an array of excerpts from Bach's works in September.
Under the baton of HKOS Music Director and conductor Professor Chan Wing-wah, the HKOS, the Hong Kong Strings and the SKH Lam Woo Memorial Secondary School Mixed Voice Choir will offer patrons a fascinating performance. The all-Bach programme includes excerpts of "Concerto in D Minor for Two Violins, BWV1043", "Cantata Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott, BWV80" (A Mighty Fortress is Our God), "Magnificat, BWV243", "The Art of Fugue, BWV1080", "St. Matthew Passion, BWV244" and "Mass in B Minor, BWV232".
The HKOS was founded in 1956 by Wong Ming-tung and a group of music enthusiasts. It is one of the most active choirs with a long history in Hong Kong. The HKOS usually presents five concerts per year, and has presented a total of more than 300 concerts in the past 50 years. Its repertoire covers oratorios and major choral works by classical and contemporary composers. Many of these works were presented in their Hong Kong debuts. The HKOS takes its name from its favourite genre of repertoire, the oratorio, which refers to extended choral works with religious or mythological stories. In recent years, the HKOS has commissioned composers Professor Chan Wing-wah, Victor Chan and Huang Anlun to compose choral works for it to perform. The choir has performed under the batons of many famous conductors with various professional orchestras. It has also gone on concert tours overseas and in many major cities in the Mainland.
The Hong Kong Strings is composed of many enthusiastic local musicians and its members are dedicated to promoting classical music appreciation to the public and learning of traditional Western musical instruments. The Hong Kong Strings has performed in many primary and secondary schools, shopping malls, the Hong Kong Cultural Centre and at various social welfare organisations. In recent years, the Hong Kong Strings has been repeatedly invited by the Hong Kong Oratorio Society and the University of Hong Kong's School of Professional and Continuing Education (HKU SPACE) to perform in their concerts.
Professor Chan is the first Resident Composer of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. He has received numerous awards including First Prize in the International Double Reed Society Composition Contest in the US, the Yoshiro Irino Memorial Award from the Asian Composers League and the 20th Century Masterpiece Award by the China Culture Promotion Society, Beijing. Locally he has received the Composer of the Year Award from the Hong Kong Artists' Guild (1991), a Ten Outstanding Young Persons Award (1992), and prizes in the Composers and Authors Society of Hong Kong Limited (CASH) Golden Sail Music Awards in 2004 and 2007. Professor Chan has been a Professor of Music and the Chairman of the Music Department at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He is now the Deputy Director at HKU SPACE and the Head of its Centre for Creative and Performing Arts. He is also the Chairman of CASH and the Music Director of the HKOS.
"Wonderful Bach" by the HKOS will be staged at 8pm on September 12 (Saturday) at the Auditorium of Tsuen Wan Town Hall. Tickets priced at $100, $130 and $160 are available at URBTIX. 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 are available on a first-come, first-served basis). Please refer to the website or the programme leaflet for group booking discount schemes.
For programme enquiries, please call 2268 7321, or visit www.lcsd.gov.hk/CE/CulturalService/Programme/en/music/program_930.html. For credit card telephone bookings, please call 2111 5999. For Internet bookings, please visit www.urbtix.hk.
Ends/Friday, July 31, 2015
Issued at HKT 17:10
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