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Dear Friends, On behalf of the City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong I wish you all a very happy and peaceful 2008! We are long since back from our tour to southern Italy which was truly memorable. It even snowed in Ortona - which is quite rare, as the last time it snowed there was twenty-two years ago! Unfortunately, though, this meant us being "snowed" out of our last two performances in the nearby towns of Vasto and Ascoli Piceno. For more news and pictures of our tour to Italy please take a look at the "Tour Feature" section of this newsletter. To read the review of our pre-tour concert by South China Morning Post please click here. The start of the New Year is always a time of reflection. The past six months have certainly been some of the most important in the orchestra's development. In addition to the tours to Chengdu in mainland China (July) and Italy (December), there were also some special concerts in Hong Kong. Allen Vizzutti's "Sound the Trumpet" concert in October springs immediately to mind (or was it Vizzutti's dazzling orange jacket?!). His versatility was jaw-dropping, and if my eyes and ears were not deceiving me he even managed to rotate his trumpet while triple-tonguing his way through one of those Carnival variations!! Vizzutti also treated us to several encores – a beautiful flugelhorn rendition of "Over the Rainbow" with the orchestra and some solo jazz tunes with Vizzutti accompanying himself on the piano. The CCOHK, too, was not short of musical surprises and gave a rarely heard performance of Frederick the Great's G-minor symphony. But perhaps the biggest discovery was French conductor Jean Thorel who displayed exceptional finesse in his interpretations of everything from Bach to Schnittke and who, at the same time, drew the best from the players. Hopefully I have enticed you to listen in to our concert which was broadcast on RTHK Radio 4 on 2 November 2007. To listen to the broadcast please click here. The New Year is also a time of looking forward to things to come. In the next few months we are pleased to feature two of Israel's most outstanding duos – the Silver-Garburg Piano Duo and the Gurfinkel Clarinet Duo. The Silver-Garburg Piano Duo performs "The Little Mermaid" on 26 January - a new work that was specially commissioned for them and written by Israeli composer Lior Navok for a performance in the Audi Festival in Hamburg in July 2007. The music and narration promises to be totally engaging. Since it is well-known that the mermaid turns to foam at the end of the story, we will be snapping up the atmosphere after the interval with Johnny Morris' Juanita the Spanish Lobster. This is a rather hilarious story of a lobster lady who escapes the hot pot thanks to Caradoc, a dashing male Lobster who sends her bouquets of bladderwrack while singing "You are the shellfish that I adore". Since the New Year has started the phone in the office has been ringing hot with enquiries about this unique under-the-sea programme for families. One classic question we have just received was "Will a mermaid actually appear on the stage or is it JUST music?" ...... JUST music? Is this the sign of times? Have we become so overloaded by what we SEE that we have forgotten the incredible impact the SOUNDS of a REAL orchestra can have on the ears of a small child for the first time? What about imagination? Should we underestimate the intellectual capacity of children who can conjure up their own images as a response to the music they hear? My answer is no, and that is why I have programmed these wonderful stories narrated to music as an excellent way to introduce children to the wonders of music at an early age. Providing instrumental lessons is not the be-all-and-end-all to learning music. Exposing young ones to live performances helps them realize the end result of all that practice and is incredibly inspiring to them. Moreover, parents who bring their children to the concert hall are giving them a once-in-a-lifetime memory that they will never forget. On that note I hope to see many families come and treasure the moment - to share the joy of experiencing live music together …… yes JUST music.
Leanne Nicholls |
Director’s Notes