DON'T MISS THE JOY OF MUSIC FESTIVAL 2013! Here are the highlights!

THE JOY OF MUSIC FESTIVAL 2013

promises to be another feast of great musical performances and learning experiences about music. It takes place from next Monday to Sunday (14-20 October 2013) at Hong Kong City Hall Concert Hall, with seven evenings of concerts, masterclasses and an exciting seminar on music criticism.

Here are the highlights:

Monday (14 October 2013)

A piano recital by LI ZHONGXIN, TSANG HIN YAT, RACHEL CHEUNG and COLLEEN LEE, all present and past students of ELEONOR WONG of the HK Academy of Performing Arts.

Music by Bach, Chopin, Barber, Schumann, Bartok, Janacek, Franck and Kapustin.

Tuesday (15 October 2013) 

A piano recital by ILYA RASHKOVSKIY, 1st Prize-winner of the 2005 Hong Kong International Piano Competition, on the theme of ballet music transcribed for the piano.

Music by Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky.

Wednesday (16 October 2013)

A piano recital by JINSANG LEE, 1st Prize-winner of the 2008 Hong Kong International Piano Competition, on the theme of piano music influenced by great paintings.

Music by Liszt, Rachmaninov, Granados, Debussy, Mussorgsky and Korean composer Eun-Hwa Cho. 

Thursday (17 October 2013)

Perhaps the highlight of the festival, a concert for two pianos and two cellos by GIUSEPPE ANDALORO, ILYA RASHKOVSKIY, GIOVANNI SOLLIMA and MONICA LESKOVAR, in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the first performance of Stravinsky's ballet The Rite of Spring.

Music includes stupendous transcriptions by Andaloro for this medium of Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring and Ravel's La Valse. Also music by Debussy and Lutoslawski.   

Friday (18 October 2013)

A cello and piano recital by GIOVANNI SOLLIMA and GIUSEPPE ANDALORO, 1st Prize-winner of the 2011 Hong Kong International Piano Competition.

Music by Dowland, Beethoven Webern, Eliodoro Sollima, Giovanni Sollima and Kapustin.

Saturday (19 October 2013)

A piano recital by BORIS GILTBURG, 1st Prize-winner of the 2013 Queen Elisabeth International Piano Competition.

Music by Rachmaninov, Brahms and Prokofiev.

Sunday (20 October 2013)

A guitar recital by ALVARO PIERRI.

Music by Albeniz, Falla, Rodrigo, Granados, Barrios, Piazzolla, Lecuona, Brouwer, Ponce, Villa-Lobos and others.

All concerts start at 8 pm at Hong Kong City Hall Concert Hall.

DON'T MISS the five lunchtime talks by the well-respected broadcaster and music critic JEREMY SIEPMANN on Music Criticism entitled MUSIC FROM THE OUTSIDE IN or ADVENTURES IN MUSICAL PERCEPTION.

Tuesday to Saturday (15 to 19 October 2013)

11 am to 12 noon, 12.30 pm to 1.30 pm

City Hall Concert Hall   

WELCOME TO THE BLOG OF THE FRIENDS OF THE CHOPIN SOCIETY OF HONG KONG!

WELCOME to the blog of

The Friends of The Chopin Society of Hong Kong!

The Chopin Society of Hong Kong is a non-profit organisation that organises the Hong Kong International Piano Competition and The Joy of Music Festival, enriching the cultural life of Hong Kong and Southeast Asia with its critically acclaimed series of concerts and cultural events.

The next The Joy of Music Festival takes place from 14 to 20 October 2013, and is based at City Hall Concert Hall, Hong Kong.

There will be concerts by Ilya Rashkovskiy, Jinsang Lee (past winners of the Hong Kong International Piano Competition), cellist Giovanni Sollima with Giuseppe Andaloro, a special 2-Piano 2-Cello concert featuring a unique transcription of Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring, a recital by the 1st Prize winner of the 2013 Queen Elisabeth International Piano Competition, and guitarist Alvaro Pierri.

The esteemed British writer-broadcaster Jeremy Siepmann will continue his series of lectures over five mornings (15 to 19 October), and the subject this year is Music Criticism.

More details on this exciting festival will be released later.

The official website of the Chopin Society of Hong Kong: www.chopinsocietyhk.org

Contact: info@chopinsocietyhk.org

Stay tuned for further news of its exciting concerts in this blog, which will be updated on a regular basis.

SOME HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE JOY OF MUSIC FESTIVAL 2012

Ilya Rashkovskiy, 1st Prizewinner of the 2005 Hong Kong International Piano Competition performed Schubert and Chopin in the solo segment of his recital (10 October 2012).

The string quartet from the London Chamber Orchestra gave a recital called A Cascade of Strings (11 October 2012). The players were Andrew Haveron and Magnus Johnston on violins, Joel Hunter on viola and Pierre Doumenge on cello.

Giuseppe Andaloro, 1st Prizewinner of the 2011 Hong Kong International Piano Competition, teamed up with the London strings to perform Rachmaninov's Trio Elegiaque No.1 and Shostakovich's Piano Quintet (12 October 2012).

Jinsang Lee, 1st Prizewinner of the 2008 Hong Kong International Piano Competition, brought on Magyar magic in Brahms's Piano Quartet No.1 (13 October 2012) with his partners Andrew Haveron, Joel Hunter and Pierre Doumenge.

Hong Kong music lovers had a chance to attend a five day seminar by well-known British broadcaster and writer Jeremy Siepmann entitled 2012: A Musical Space Odyssey, which dealt with the elements of music, interpretation and music criticism. 

The Joy of Music book club featured the American author Katie Hafner and her wonderful book about Glenn Gould and his piano A Romance on Three Legs. Joining her on stage was Glenn Gould's own piano technician Verne Edquist.

Historical pianism brought to life by technology and Re-Performances. Whoever thought we'd get to hear Glenn Gould performing Bach's Goldberg Variations "live". All thanks to the Zenph technology by John Q.Walker. Here the audience gets to hear and experience Oscar Peterson in real-time.