Your support and sponsorship has made possible the Festival attraction Chui-Yee Lee Cello Recital. With grateful thanks from the Hong Kong Arts Festival. We wish you and your guests a very enjoyable evening.
14.2.2004 Hong Kong City Hall Concert Hall Chui-Yee Lee Cello Recital Running time: approximately 1 hour and 35 minutes, including a 15 minute interval For programme details Page 22 To make this performance a pleasant experience for the artists and other members of the audience, PLEASE switch off your alarm watches, MOBILE PHONES and PAGERS. Eating and drinking, unauthorised photography and audio or video recording are forbidden in the auditorium. Thank you for your co-operation.
Page 8 Biography 2004 2000
Chui-Yee Lee Winner of the first prize at the 2004 International Antonio Janigro Cello Competition in Croatia, Chui-Yee Lee represents a new generation of artists that symbolise sensitivity, sophistication and intelligence in the practice of their art. Since 2000, Lee has firmly established himself as a world class musician by winning three prestigious international competitions New York s Naumburg, Helsinki s International Paulo Cello, and the 55th Geneva International Music Competition. Chui-Yee Lee began to play the cello at age nine and entered the Juilliard School at age 12 studying with Ardyth Alton. Within three years, Lee made his orchestral solo debut at the Lincoln Center with the Juilliard Pre-College Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra, and won first prizes at Philadelphia s Concerto Soloist Competition, and the 3rd Olga Koussevitsky Competition, where he was also the youngest prize-winner. Lee gained a Bachelor s degree in economics from Harvard University and went on to work for a year as a management consultant, before deciding his passion remained the cello. He then studied at the New England Conservatory, earning a Master s degree in music under renowned cellist Laurence Lesser, who was a student of the late legerdary cellist and composer Gaspar Cassado. Lee has performed extensively in major venues and festivals, including Madrid s Auditorio Nacional and the Marlboro Music Festival. His televised concerts include a solo appearance at the Kremlin in Moscow, recital and orchestral appearences at Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall in Croatia and feature interviews with CNN and Finnish Television. As an active chamber musician, Lee has also collaborated with many renowned artists like cellist Mario Brunello and violin virtuosi Ivry Gitlis and David Soyer of the Guarneri Quartet. Recent appearances have included performances with the Finnish Radio Symphony, the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra and recitals held in different countries, such as Russia (the Moscow Spring Festival), Germany, France, and Taipei. He has recently been under the tutelage of Swedish cellist and conductor Frans Helmerson in Spain and Germany. Page 9 Biography Masterclass 21.2.2004 Sat 11:30 am - 1:00 pm Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts Concert Hall Co-presented with Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts
Henri Bonamy Piano 1979 1991 1996 1999 2003 6 Page 13 Biographies Henri Bonamy was born in 1979 in Hannover, Germany. He received violin lessons from his mother at the age of four and piano lessons at the age of six at the Conservatoire National de Region de Versailles. He was selected during the Mozart-year 1991 for the title role in the musical Mozart Enfant in the Théàtre Grévin in Paris where he portrayed the young Mozart, and was required to conduct, improvise and play the harpsichord. Between 1996 and 1999, Bonamy studied piano with Jacques Rouvier and Brigitte Engerer, as well as chamber-music with Christian Ivaldi, Itamar Golan and Theodor Paraschivesco at the Conservatoire National Superieur de Paris. Bonamy has given piano recitals in France, Germany, England, Japan and Romania. He has also performed in the Wienersaal of the Mozarteum in Salzburg, as well as in the Ateneul Roman in Bucharest. He has appeared as a soloist with orchestras in France, Romania and the Czech Republic. In June 2003, he performed Brahms Concerto for Piano No 1 with the Hamburg Symphony under Andrey Boreyko. At present, Henri Bonamy is a scholarship-holder at the Isaac Albeniz Foundation in Madrid, and receives additional advice from Barry Douglas, Rada Lupu and Stephan Kovacevich.
Joyce Wai-chung Tang Composer Page 14 Biographies Born in Hong Kong, Joyce Tang obtained a Master s in Composition and an MPhil in electro-acoustic music at Hong Kong Baptist University. She later joined the Summer Academy of the Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Music (IRCAM) in Paris to further her studies. She is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in musicology at the University of Hong Kong. Her compositions have been jury-selected for performances in major contemporary music festivals and conferences, such as the International Society for Contemporary Music World Music Days in the UK. A recently commissioned piece was Drunk With Flower Shadows, for soprano and chamber ensemble, by the City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong. As well as composing, Joyce Tang is involved in the visual arts. Her calligraphy has been featured in several exhibitions and publications in Hong Kong, Macau, Japan, and the US.
Oi-ying Leung Zheng 1997 1997 1998 2002 8 Born in Hong Kong, Oi-ying Leung has studied music since childhood and graduated with distinction from the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1997. She was awarded the Jackie Chan Scholarship and took part in a number of overseas performances. Apart from her interest in traditional Chinese music, Leung also performs works by Hong Kong composers, making every endeavour to promote local compositions. In 1997 she held a recital presented by the Provisional Regional Council and in 1998 she was one of the Artists-in-Residence for the Hong Kong Radio 4. In August 2002, Leung performed in the 34th Festival Internacional Encuentros and the 5th Festival Internacional de Musica de Buenos Aires in Argentina. Page 15 Biographies
Page 22 Programme D 78 A 70 F 6 94c Programme Gasper Cassado Suite for Cello Solo Preludio (Andante) Fantasia (Poco più mosso) Sardana (Allegro giusto) Intermezzo (Lento ma non troppo) e danxa finale (Allegro marcato) Joyce Wai-chung Tang Stretch for Cello and Zheng Johannes Brahms Sonata in D major, Op 78 Vivace non troppo Adagio Più andante Adagio come prima Allegro molto moderato 15 minute interval Robert Schumann Adagio and Allegro in A flat major, Op 70 Richard Strauss Sonata in F major, Op 6 Allegro con brio Andante ma non troppo Finale (Allegro vivo) Béla Bartók Rhapsody for Cello and Piano, Op 94c Moderato Allegretto moderato Allegro Vivacissimo Tempo della I. Parte (Moderato) Rubato, quasi cadenza Henri Bonamy Piano Oi-ying Leung Zheng
(1897-1966) Suite for Cello Solo Gaspar Cassado (1897-1966) 1936 (1928) Gaspar Cassado was born in Barcelona, and began studying the cello at the age of seven. In his teens, he studied in Paris with the Catalonian cellist Pau (Pablo) Casals, and took composition lessons with Maurice Ravel and Manuel de Falla. As a concert cellist, he toured widely in the 1920s and 1930s, performing with conductors such as Beecham and Furtwangler. For the last 30 years of his life he lived in Italy. His works include a Cello Concerto, dedicated to Casals, and the Rapsodía Catalana (1928). Like Bach s solo cello suites, Cassado s Suite is based on dance forms, including a sarabande in the Prelude, the Catalonian circle dance, Sardana, and a curious wistful dance in 5/4 time in the finale. Page 23 Programme Notes estampie Stretch for Cello and Zheng Joyce Wai-chung Tang This piece is not about sophisticated philosophy or complicated thoughts. As composer Lou Harrison once said, Music is a song and a dance. The structure of this piece revolves around just that: two outer sections of an estampie-like dance embracing a lyrical song-like section in the middle. Perhaps my recent study of Harrison s works stimulated me to write an estampie type of a dance. The song is inspired by the conversation that I had with Chui-Yee, who told me about his childhood memories in Hong Kong. Programme note provided by the composer Stretch for Cello and Zheng is commissioned by the 2004 Hong Kong Arts Festival with sponsorship from CASH Music Fund.
D 78 (1833-1897) Sonata in D major, Op 78 Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) 1878 1879 Brahms worked on his first violin sonata in Pörtschach over the summer holidays of 1878 and 1879. Previously he had composed his Second Symphony there, a work a friend had described as all rippling streams, blue sky, sunshine, and cool green shadows. How beautiful it must be at Pörtschach! The Sonata s opening has something of the same spirit. The soloist s free-ranging melodic stream is gently coloured by the translucent, everchanging piano part. George Bernard Shaw (no great fan of Brahms) described it as addleheaded, but irresistible. The second movement is a rich intermezzo with a faster contrasting central episode. The finale at first veers to the minor side. At its centre the opening theme of the second movement returns, rescored in luscious thirds and sixths. Page 25 Programme Notes 15 minute interval
A 70 (1810-1856) Adagio and Allegro in A flat major, Op 70 Robert Schumann (1810-1856) Page 26 Programme Notes 1849 2 Schumann s first thought for a title when sketching this short work was Romanze, which given the moods of the work itself suggests a forest idyll so typical of German folk culture of the time. The piece was conceived for the archetypal forest instrument, the horn, but with an eye to greater utility, Schumann encouraged performers on two other tenor range instruments, the viola and cello, also to take it into their repertoire. Even on string instruments, the triplets in the Allegro, marked fast and fiery, are evocative of the hunt. Composed in Dresden in February 1849, the work reflects the last moments of peace in the city before the great political uprising there two months later. F 6 (1864-1949) (1882) (1883) Sonata in F major, Op 6 Richard Strauss (1864-1949) Richard Strauss s father, Franz, was a professional horn player and it is perhaps not surprising therefore, that several of his earliest works were composed for tenor instruments, notably a Concerto for the horn itself (1882), a Romanza for cello and orchestra (1883), and this Cello Sonata. Strauss s special feeling for the cello was encouraged by his friendship with Hans Wihan, to whom the sonata is dedicated (later Dvǒrák would also dedicate his Cello Concerto to Wihan).
Composed while Strauss was still a university student, it remained one of the proudest achievements of his early career and was rewarded with tumultuous applause (as the composer assured his parents) when he and a fellow student first performed it. 94c (1881-1945) 1929 3 20 Rhapsody for Cello and Piano, Op 94c Béla Bartók (1881-1945) Though originally composed for violin and piano, this Rhapsody was actually first heard in this version for cello, performed by Bartók and Jenö Kerpely on 20 March 1929. The Rhapsody is a pot-pourri of folk tunes selected by Bartók from Transylvanian, Rumanian and Hungarian melodies he collected on fieldtrips before the First World War. They are arranged in two linked parts. The first (slow) part opens with a Rumanian verbunkos melody, followed by a Hungarian melody, and a reprise of the opening tune. The second (fast) part begins with a Rumanian stick dance. The next dance recalls bagpipe music, followed by a wild round dance whirling to a climax. Suddenly it stops and the music returns to the slow opening of the first part, leading into a closing cadenza. Page 27 Programme Notes Unless otherwise specified, all programme notes are by Graeme Skinner.