Tour Feature

On the evening of 5 December 2007 the City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong together with conductor Andrew Massey, erhu-player Hsin Hsiao-hung, erhu-maker Fu Ze-kang from Guangzhou (replacing Ms. Hu Han-rou at short notice due to a serious illness) set out for a long-awaited concert tour of southern Italy. It was sunny on the day we arrived in Rome. We then boarded a coach to Ortona – the trip taking us around three hours – and arrived at Hotel Mara, a lovely new hotel facing the seaside. The rest of the day was spent getting acquainted with Ortona.

The next morning we went to the municipal theatre in Ortona to attend the press conference for the festival.

In the afternoon the orchestra rehearsed. It was just a week after our pre-tour concert in Hong Kong and on this occasion we rehearsed the programme for the first time with Lucia Antonacci, the harpist from Pescara. On 8 December (Saturday) a production of La Traviata took place at the theatre in Ortona while we travelled two hours to the nearby town of L’Aquila for a performance as part of the Sinfonica Abruzzo season. L’Aquila was very cold and unfortunately it rained at the moment we needed to get off the coach. We walked across cobblestone streets and arrived at the concert hall – essentially an old church converted into a concert theatre.

The audience in L’Aquila was warm and receptive and there was enthusiastic applause as Artem rounded off the programme with his brilliant northwestern Chinese folk tune on the cello. We had to pack up quickly to get back to Ortona in time for dinner. There were a few delays, however, as Ling-ling got her heels stuck in the grille of the church and could not move!!

The orchestra had several days off and many travelled at their own cost to Rome, Pisa, Pompeii, Florence, Brussels and London for sightseeing. Others spent time taking in the sights and delights of the Abruzzo region.

The food and wine at the hotel was so fabulous that after a long day of travel many of us made sure we got back in time for dinner. Everyone including three-year-old Mark Wu (the youngest member of the tour party) LOVED the pasta!!

On 10 December the exhibition of the art of making stringed instruments in Ortona started and was held at the Istituto Nazionale Tostiano. Local students from the area visited the exhibition of violins, viola d’amores and guitars. Mr. Gianluca Sulli hosted the exhibition during which Mr. Fu Ze-kang demonstrated the art of building erhus and gave demonstrations on all the Chinese instruments on display including zheng, pipa, hulusi and suona. The students showed a great deal of interest in Chinese instruments and asked many questions.

On 13 December it was back to the business of performing - this time at the municipal theatre in Ortona. Posters were up all over town and advertisements were in the newspapers.

The theatre in Ortona was exquisite, intimate and had wonderful acoustics amd backstage facilities.

It also featured a sloping stage which was a first-time experience for all of us! While it made it easy to play chamber music because we could see each other well, the strings had difficulty trying to balance their bows on their knees during the Tan Dun piece!! It was a good performance: Hong-ying’s violin solos and Hsin Hsiao-hung’s erhu parts sounded beautiful and balanced very well in the acoustics of the theatre.

Here are a few snapshots taken backstage: Andrew Massey conducting the orchestra in his smart Shanghai Tang suit and the string section taking a break during interval.

After the concert we returned to Hotel Mara for a late evening meal hosted by the Istituto Nazionale Tostiano. The meal rounded off with a celebratory glass of champagne and traditional Italian Christmas cake (Panetone). To add to the festive moment two shepherds from the mountains clad in traditional costume visited the hotel playing traditional Italian Christmas carols on oboes and bellows-blown pipes made from a sheep's belly.

There was even more excitement as we saw snowflakes beginning to fall outside. Could it be …… a white Christmas? The next day the snow really started to build up outside the hotel and in the town of Ortona.

As we congregated to board the coach for Vasto in the afternoon I received a cancellation call. There was so much snow in Vasto that our host Mr. Marco Salcito was reported to be skiing outside the concert hall!! It was terribly disappointing for everyone, but what could one do? Some of us decided to go into Ortona to attend the concert of Jewish music while those who had never seen snow before were content to be enjoying the moment.

Unfortunately the concert at Ascoli Piceno on the following day was also cancelled: all the roads were blocked due to the snow. Thankfully the trip to Rome was uneventful and we all managed to catch our flights back to Hong Kong as scheduled.

One could say we experienced the “Four Seasons” in Italy: we got sunshine, rain, wind and snow all in two weeks – amazing!! Talking of which I was suitably surprised when one of our hosts turned around to me during Hsin Hsiao-hung’s encore of Vivaldi’s “Winter” and asked if she was playing Bach!!!! It was indeed a great experience to be able to bring some special Eastern flavours to Europe. The tour also highlighted harmonious mix of East and West that we have in the City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong.

We are already looking forward to our next European tour in 2009!

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