【HKU MUSE House Programme】Hannes Minnaar and HK Phil String Quartet
Hannes Minnaar & HK Phil String Quartet
11 MAY 2025 | SUN | 3PM
Grand Hall, The University of Hong Kong
Jing Wang, violin
Wang Liang, violin
Andrew Ling, viola
Jiali Li, viola*
Richard Bamping, cello
Hannes Minnaar, piano
Charles LEE Gai-ho A Fairytale Retold – for String Quartet
HKU Student Composer (World Premiere)
SHOSTAKOVICH
String Quartet No. 8 in C minor, Op. 110
Largo
Allegro molto
Allegretto
Largo
Largo
- INTERMISSION -
BEETHOVEN
* in Beethoven Concerto
Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58 (arr. for piano & string quintet)
Allegro moderato
Andante con moto
Rondo. Vivace
HK PHIL x HKU MUSE
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Choral-Orchestral Concerts
Presenting large-scale choral masterpieces, such as Fauré's Requiem and Poulenc's Gloria, featuring both the HK Phil Chorus and HKU Chamber Singers
World
Premieres by HKU Composers
Offering a unique platform for student composers to have their new works premiered and recorded by HK Phil musicians
Orchestral Spotlights Series
Showcasing the rich and diverse talents of HK Phil musicians, one section at a time
Piano Chamber Series
Featuring much-loved solo and chamber works by three piano stars alongside HK Phil principals 港樂 ×
Hannes Minnaar piano
"He joins the ranks of the greatest pianists of our time" — Het Parool
The musical language of Hannes Minnaar is that of a deeply conscientious performer respectful of the score, and yet marking every performance with his own language.
Minnaar won early recognition at the Concours de Genève Competition (2008, 2nd prize) and the Queen Elisabeth Competition (2010, 3rd prize). He is a founding member of the Van Baerle Trio.
A regular guest in Amsterdam's Concertgebouw, Hannes Minnaar recently had two performances there with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic; Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2 under the baton of David Robertson and the world premiere of Jan-Peter de Graaff's Concerto No. 7 for Luthéal (prepared piano) and Orchestra directed by Karina Canellakis.
Hannes Minnaar has recognised recent anniversaries of J.S. Bach and Shostakovich with notable CD recordings of Bach's Goldberg Variations and Shostakovich's 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87. Performing them widely across Europe he also makes his recital debut in Hong Kong performing the complete Shostakovich in spring 2025. November 2026 will be the hugely anticipated performance of the Shostakovich cycle in
His impressive discography of solo album includes works of Rachmaninov and Ravel, Schumann, and Robert Zuidam. His Bach's Goldberg Variations led Diapason d'Or to note "Hannes Minnaar manages to take an enviable place on the steps of an already crowded podium" (BBC Music Magazine) and of his Shostakovich 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87, Gramophone remarked "Never for the sake of his own glory, always in sympathy with
At home, next to a modern grand piano, Hannes Minnaar plays an Erard from 1858, which he has on loan from the Dutch Musical Instruments
Jing Wang violin
Jing Wang, Concertmaster of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, is one of the most versatile and dynamic violinists of his generation. Since making his solo recital debut in Marseilles, France, at the age of six, Wang has won numerous awards in top international competitions, including first prize at the 2007 Irving M. Klein International Strings Competition. In 2003, he was awarded the 'Young Soloist of the Year' by Les Radios Francophones Publiques, a broadcast network spanning France, Canada, Switzerland, and Belgium.
Wang has appeared as a soloist with major orchestras across Europe and North America, including the Czech Radio Philharmonic, the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra, l'Orchestre National de Lorraine, l'Orchestre de Picardie, the Metropolitan Orchestra of Montreal, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, and the China Philharmonic Orchestra. He has also played with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Zubin Mehta. Wang has collaborated with renowned conductors including Jaap van Zweden, Lorin Maazel, Christoph Eschenbach, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Paavo Järvi, James DePreist, and Andrés Orozco-Estrada.
Wang's chamber music performances and solo recitals at major venues, including the National Arts Centre in Ottawa and Lincoln Center, have received critical acclaim. His performances are frequently broadcast on CBC Radio-Canada.
From 2010 to 2013, Wang was Concertmaster of the Dallas Opera. He was appointed Concertmaster of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra by Maestro Jaap van Zweden in 2013. He plays a fine c. 1760 Giovanni Battista Guadagnini violin, generously loaned to him by The Postscript Collection through the HK Phil String Instruments Circle.
Jiali Li viola*
Jiali Li is currently Co-Principal Violist of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and a member of the Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra, former Principal Violist of the New World Symphony. She has worked with St Louis Symphony and Boston Symphony orchestras, and has been invited to perform at the renowned Verbier Music Festival in Switzerland. In addition to her orchestral experience, she is also an active chamber musician. Jiali was a founding member of the Caspian Quartet, a competitively selected honors ensemble at the New England Conservatory and made their debut in Jordan Hall in Boston. She was also invited to be guest performer at ChamberFest of Lincoln Center, where she also made her debut as a soloist. Besides, Jiali was invited to perform Julian Anderson's Prayer at the Focus Festival of Lincoln Center.
Jiali has given performances around the world and worked with many great conductors and artists including Sir Simon Rattle, Valery Gergiev, Christoph Eschenbach, Alan Gilbert, Michael Tilson Thomas, Gustavo Dudamel, and Jaap van Zweden. She has also been active in giving performances in world-class venues in the United States, Europe, and Asia.
Jiali Li received her Master's degree from the New England Conservatory where she studied with Kim Kashkashian the famous Grammy awardwinning artist. She completed her undergraduate degree at The Juilliard School on a full scholarship under the tutelage of Paul Neubauer. She was also the string coach for the pre-college orchestra of The New England Conservatory and viola instructor at the Juilliard's Music Advancement Programme.
* in Beethoven Concerto
PROGRAMME NOTES
CHARLES LEE GAI-HO (2003-)
HKU Student Composer
A Fairytale Retold – for String Quartet
This piece navigates the tension between the familiar and the uncertain. A well-known festive ballet is retold through a contemporary musical lens. Though rooted in the original, its motifs, gestures, and materials are diffused into the textual and rhythmic complexity of new music— reconfigured for novel expression, as if to retell a story. Only in fleeting moments do the original motifs emerge distinctly. This layering of the new upon the old brings with it interruptions that reflect a modernist rejection of the past, which grows until the end of the piece.
In embracing this postmodern approach, I have found a temporary release from the need to define a singular, "own" voice. The notion of ownership itself is questioned—can a voice truly be owned, or is it a collection of influences, a reflection of all that has come before? The piece offers no definitive answer. Instead, it invites the listener to embrace uncertainty and to find, within it, their own sense of familiarity—however fleeting it may be.
(Notes from the composer)
DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH (1906-1975)
String Quartet No. 8 in C minor, Op. 110
Shostakovich's String Quartet No. 8 is known not only for its artistic achievement, but also for its unusually short genesis and the controversy over its connotations.
The Quartet was completed in three days, from 12 to 14 July 1960, during the composer's visit to Dresden, the eastern German city that had been carpet-bombed by Allied planes 15 years earlier. According to Soviet propaganda, the piece was dedicated to "the victims of fascism"; and to align with Soviet policy, its authorised score bore the inscription "in memory of victims of fascism and war". The composer's children thought differently: his son Maxim called the work a tribute to "the victims of authoritarianism"; his daughter Galina considered it autobiographical. Still,
The Concerto is an intriguing mix of romantic ideas and classical forms. At first glance, the Concerto is constructed not unlike many other classical concertos: the pastorale-like opening movement, in sonata form, features two contrasting themes that are developed and recapitulated in turn; the second movement, short and transitory, makes use of contrasting dialogues between chordal passages from the soloist and dotted rhythms from the ensemble; the finale, a lively rondo, features syncopated rhythms that always resolve. Beneath this classical façade, however, is a strong sense of deviance from classicism. All three movements display strong tendencies to drift away from any prevailing tonality. Melodic themes, often start in distant keys and end anywhere but home, tend to modulate multiple times before they even begin to develop. Ornaments are sometimes structured in ways that suggest melodic interruption, not enhancement. Moreover, solo and ensemble passages often knit together to form elaborate textures, characterised by rhythmic polarity that demands manners of pianistic execution highly unconventional at the time of composition.
