The "Tan Dun WE-Festival", presented by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD), will feature two performances of "Xiangxi Tujia Women's Daliuzi & Hong Kong Women's Percussion Ensemble" concert in June as part of the pre-festival events of this year's Chinese Culture Festival (CCF). Under the artistic direction and baton of Tan Dun, Hong Kong's Ambassador for Cultural Promotion (ACP) and internationally renowned composer and conductor, two all-female percussion ensembles will take the Hong Kong stage to present both the "Daliuzi", a traditional percussion music of western Hunan's Tujia ethnic group, and contemporary percussion music. The concert will also feature the world premiere of two tea-inspired compositions written by Tan, showcasing how percussion music transcends time and bonds the East and the West, while telling the good story of China's intangible cultural heritage in the new era. The programme is also one of the performing arts programmes of the Hong Kong Intangible Cultural Heritage Month 2025.

     Tujia "Daliuzi", primarily featuring gongs and cymbals, is a kind of ensemble of traditional folk musical instruments of ethnic Tujia people from western Hunan. It was inscribed onto the first national list of intangible cultural heritage in 2006. Enlightened by an impressionable field trip in western Hunan, Tan blends the "Daliuzi" with tea-making techniques such as leaf-whistling, tea-picking and grinding to create a new composition "TEA-liuzi · Mystical Xiangxi", and has invited the Xiangxi Tujia Women's Daliuzi to come to Hong Kong for the world premiere of this work. The ensemble will also perform several folk pieces, which include "The Hen Lays Eggs", "Pheasant Leaving the Mountain", "Pigeons Taking a Bath" and "Ducks Flirting with Water", demonstrating the exceptional skills and expressive character of the unique musical artistry of the Tujia people.

     The newly established Hong Kong Women's Percussion Ensemble, spearheaded by Tan, will make its debut at this concert. The ensemble comprises four outstanding local young female percussionists, namely Karen Yu, Elise Liu, Eugene Kwong and Emma Ng. They will perform another world premiere of "Tea Music: Water, Wind, Ceramic" by Tan, as well as "Credo in Us" by contemporary avant-garde, experimental composer John Cage. Tan has also composed a new "Concerto for Piano and Four Percussionists" for this ensemble that will perform alongside pianist Liu Muyu, showcasing the varying rhythms and rich sonorities of percussion music.

     Tan is an internationally renowned Chinese composer, musician and conductor, and was appointed by the UNESCO as a Goodwill Ambassador in 2013. He has made an indelible mark on the world's music scene, which earned him many prestigious honours, including the Grammy Awards, the Academy Awards and the Golden Lion Award for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice Biennale. Tan has led some of the world's most esteemed orchestras, and composed more than 100 musical works over the years. His famous works include the film scores of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", "Hero" as well as the award ceremony music for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. He has been awarded the title of Officier des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture in December 2024, in recognition of his exceptional contributions to global culture and the arts. Tan has been appointed as Hong Kong's first ACP by the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau since January 1, 2023.

     Chinese Culture Festival 2025: "Tan Dun WE-Festival": "Xiangxi Tujia Women's Daliuzi & Hong Kong Women's Percussion Ensemble" concert will be staged at 8pm on June 4 and 5 (Wednesday and Thursday) at the Studio Theatre of the Hong Kong Cultural Centre. Tickets priced at $380 and $480 are now available at URBTIX (www.urbtix.hk). For telephone bookings, please call 3166 1288. Group booking discount and package booking discount are available for purchasing selected CCF stage programmes, the "Chinese Opera Film Shows" of the COF 2025 and the "Legacy and Vision: Conversations with Chinese Cultural Masters" lecture. For programme enquiries and concessionary schemes, please call 2268 7321 or visit www.ccf.gov.hk/en/programme/daliuzi-and-percussion-ensemble.

     The above-mentioned programme also offers a pre-concert symposium (in Putonghua), entitled "A Dialogue between Xiangxi Tujia Women's Daliuzi & Hong Kong Women's Percussion Ensemble", to be held at 7pm on June 5 at the Studio Theatre of the Hong Kong Cultural Centre, during which Tan will engage in a discussion with members of the Xiangxi Tujia Women's Daliuzi and the Hong Kong Women's Percussion Ensemble. Interested audience members can attend the pre-concert symposium by presenting the tickets of "Xiangxi Tujia Women's Daliuzi & Hong Kong Women's Percussion Ensemble" concert. Admission is free. Limited seats are available on a first-come, first-served basis.

     First held in 2023, the "Tan Dun WE-Festival" features musicians, dancers and ensembles from the Mainland, Hong Kong and around the world that reveals fresh new approaches to music, dance and visual arts, turning the city into an international stage for cultural and arts exchanges. The Festival also attracts people from both East and West to gather in the city, showcasing the essence of Hong Kong's East-meets-West cultural DNA. The Festival returns this year with the theme of tea culture. Apart from the above-mentioned programme, it also includes Tan Dun | "Tea: A Mirror of Soul" on May 30 and 31, and "Lost Tang Dynasty Music and Dance Manuscripts: 'The Vanishing Mogao Caves'" on June 7.

     The CCF, presented by the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau and organised by the Chinese Culture Promotion Office under the LCSD, aims to promote Chinese culture and enhance the public's national identity and cultural confidence. It also aims to attract top-notch artists and arts groups from both the Mainland and other parts of the world for exchanges in Chinese arts and culture. The CCF 2025 will be held from June to September. Through different performing arts programmes in various forms and related extension activities, including selected programmes of the Chinese Opera Festival, "Tan Dun WE-Festival", film screenings, exhibitions, as well as community and school activities and more, the festival provides members of the public and visitors with more opportunities to enjoy distinctive programmes that showcase fine traditional Chinese culture, thereby facilitating patriotic education and contributing to the inheritance, transformation and development of traditional Chinese culture in Hong Kong. For more information about programmes and activities of the CCF 2025, please visit www.ccf.gov.hk.

Ends/Friday, May 9, 2025
Issued at HKT 14:45

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