2000-02-18 & 02-25
Concerts in Hong Kong Arts Festival

Date: 18 February 2000 / 25 February 2000

Location: Concert Hall, Hong Kong City Hall / Ballroom, Government House

We are proud to announce our appearance in the most prestigious arts festival in Hong Kong. We perform two concerts:

• • 18 February 2000 (Friday) 8pm, City Hall Concert Hall

  • 25 February 2000 (Friday) 8pm, Government House Ballroom

It is our great honour to be in the same festival with the many world class artists, presenting a total of 36 programmes and 133 performances, for an audience of 112,000.

What makes this event even more significant and meaningful is the first-ever compositions written specifically for a harmonica quintet. This is definitely an affirmation of our vision in the development of harmonica music. Here, we wish to express our sincere thanks to the organiser Hong Kong Arts Festival Society Ltd who supports us strongly in making it happen, thus setting a milestone in the history of harmonica.

The new compositions are composed by Hui Cheung-wai and Mui Kwong-chiu, with some of these compositions featuring the collaboration of harmonica quintet with some of the best partnering musical instruments: sheng (the ancestor of harmonica), harp, piano and percussion.

Hui Cheung-wai

We All Grew Up in Hong Kong - A Kaleidoscopic Suite (for harmonica quintet, sheng, harp, piano and percussion)

Prelude

I. Kowloon-Canton Railway, 1963

II. Movie of our Childhood, 1969

III. Two Classic Comic Figures, 1974

IV. Spinning Marshmallow, 1976

V. Self-made Lantern for Mid-Autumn Festival, 1978

VI. Hill-side Wooden Houses on Fire, 1982

VII. Romance of Christmas Ball, 1985

VIII. Flying away from Kai-Tak Airport, 1987

IX. Old Schoolmates Reunion, 1990

Postlude

The Scent of Poetry (for harmonica quintet and harp)

Moving Shapes (for harmonica quintet)

Mui Kwong-chiu

Color Clouds Suite (for harmonica quintet)

I. Over the Color Clouds

II. Red Haze

III. Snowflakes

IV. Voices of the Mountain

Autumn Landscape Suite (for harmonica quintet, sheng, harp, piano and percussion)

I. Red Leaves

II. The Woods After the Autumn Rain

III. Shades of the Mountain at Sunset

Besides new compositions, we would also play our own transcriptions of Gershwin (Lullaby, Bess You Is My Woman Now, Summertime, It Ain't Necessarily So, An American In Paris) and Villa-lobos String Quartet No.1 (Government House concert only).

We wish to thank:

• • Hong Kong Arts Festival Society Co. Ltd. and in particular, the following members of the staff:

    • Kau Ng, Executive Director

    • Grace Lang, Programme Director

    • Linda Yip, Programme Coordinator

    • Katy Cheng, Marketing Manager

    • Monica Ling, Assistant Marketing Manager

    • Kitty Ma, Executive Editor

  • Exxon and Esso Companies in Hong Kong

  • composers:

    • Mui Kwong-chiu

    • Hui Cheung-wai

  • guest performers:

    • Loo Sze-wang, sheng

    • Ann Huang, harp

    • Peter Fan, piano

    • Margie Tong, percussion

and many other people involved in the making of these concerts, and last but the least, the 1,600 of you who have attended one of these two concerts and witnessed a milestone in the harmonica history.