Hong Kong, 23 Feb 2006 - The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra (HKPO) will perform a concert of Chinese classics conducted by HKPO's Artistic Director and Chief Conductor Edo de Waart. Programme includes the best-loved Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto, featuring Lu Si-qing, a well-known interpreter of the immensely popular piece composed by He Zhan-hao and Chen Gang. Two performances will take place on 1 and 2 March, 2006, in the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall and the Tuen Mun Town Hall Auditorium respectively.

Since winning the first prize of the prestigious Paganini International Violin Competition in Italy, Lu Si-qing has appeared in over thirty countries in Europe, America and Asia, in such prestigious halls as the Avery Fisher Hall and the Wigmore Hall, collaborating with many orchestras including the Royal Philharmonic and Halle Orchestra. His many recordings are both popular and critically acclaimed. He uses a 1742 Wieniawski Guarneri del Gesu violin, generously loaned to him by the Stradivari Society in Chicago. Lu Si-qing, whose interpretation of the Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto has been widely considered one of the best, has made four recordings of the concerto and sold well over a million copies worldwide.

He Zhan-hao and Chen Gang's Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto tells a Chinese tale as classic as Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Even the concerto's structure is similar to Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet. Written in 1959, the hugely popular Chinese orchestral work combines Western music with Chinese ones – the violin imitates traditional erhu techniques.

The concert also includes a fine selection of works that celebrate the best of Chinese music, including Reflection of the Moon on Er-Lake, An Enchanted Evening, Spring Festival Overture and Yao Tribal Dance.

Bravo! China

1/3/2006 (WED) 8pm
Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall
Tickets: HK$250, $200, $150, $100

2/3/2006 (THU) 8pm
Tuen Mun Town Hall Auditorium
Tickets: HK$200, $150, $100

Edo de Waart      conductor

Programme