Local dizi and xiao artist Ho Siu-cheong will show his superb skills by playing a variety of compositions in a recital in September. "Dizi and Xiao Recital by Ho Siu-cheong" is presented by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) as part of its Our Music Talents Series.

     Ho Siu-cheong will perform Guangdong classics by employing the techniques of traditional Guangdong music on dizi and dongxiao. In addition, he will perform Guangdong music on yuedi, yuexiao and paidi, as well as play well-known modern dizi and xiao pieces. Ho will also use the xun, an ancient Chinese musical instrument, to perform "The Flowing Water and the Drifting Clouds" in a novel and intriguing way.

      Ho will also push the boundaries of Chinese dongxiao music by adopting his original performance techniques of shakuhachi, a Japanese end-blown flute, and joining with shakuhachi performer Sunny Yeung to play "Wind Blowing", a piece written by renowned Japanese composer Kineya Seiho. Ho will also present two hand-picked dizi concertos: "Lan Huahua" and "Mountain Breeze".
 
     The programme will also include "The Lion Dance‧Stepping High‧Billowing Waves", "Lovers' Sorrow", "Autumn Meditation in the Boudoir", "The Joy of Farming", "The Plateau Dance" and "The Song of Tea-picking".
 
     Ho Siu-cheong is a graduate of the Department of Chinese Music from the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts and was awarded a Bachelor of Music (Honours) degree. He studied dizi under the tutelage of Sun Yongzhi, the dizi principal of the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, and dizi virtuoso Choo Boon-chong. He also studied the techniques of Guangdong dizi with renowned Guangdong music performer Wu Guozhong, and studied dongxiao with master Tam Po-shek. He also received directions from grandmasters of southern schools Lu Chunling and Zhan Yongming.
 
     Ho has won the gold prize in the Asian Youth Invitational Competition in Traditional Chinese Musical Instruments and the first prize in the second Music Performance Graded Contest of the China Conservatory of Music (Guangdong District) in 2006.

      In 2016, Ho was invited by the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Brussels for a Europe concert tour, in which he was highly praised for his dizi skills and performance style.

     "Our Music Talents Series: Dizi and Xiao Recital by Ho Siu-cheong" will be staged at 8pm on September 2 (Saturday) at the Theatre of Hong Kong City Hall. Tickets priced at $120 and $160 are now available at URBTIX (www.urbtix.hk). For telephone credit card bookings, please call 2111 5999. For programme enquiries and concessionary schemes, please call 2268 7321 or visit www.lcsd.gov.hk/CE/CulturalService/Programme/en/music/programs_311.html.
 
     The LCSD is presenting the Our Music Talents Series to nurture and support local emerging artists and groups and provide them with performing opportunities, enabling them to develop and showcase their achievements.

Ends/Saturday, July 29, 2017
Issued at HKT 11:00

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