Toward the Still Point: Qu4rtets for Ground Zero House Programme

靜觀思遠：弦起弦終 TOWARD THE STILL POINT

QU4RTETS FOR GROUND ZERO

QU4RTETS FOR GROUND ZERO

C

11 Sept 2014｜THUR｜8PM

Grand Hall Lee Shau Kee Lecture Centre The University of Hong Kong

Presented by

Welcome to the Grand Hall.

Thank you for coming to the concert. To ensure that everyone enjoys the music, please switch off your mobile phones and any other sound and light emitting devices before the performance. Unauthorized photography, audio and video recordings in the Hall are prohibited. Enjoy the concert and come again.

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Cultural Management Team, HKU Email:

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+852 3917 8165

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Room 9.01, Run Run Shaw Tower, Centennial Campus, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong

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The Still Point Project

THE STILL POINT “The Still Point” consists of a touring presentation of an artistic collaboration in word, image, and music entitled the QU4RTETS – between artists Makoto Fujimura and Bruce Herman, composer Christopher Theofanidis, and theologian Jeremy Begbie – in response to Eliot’s Four Quartets . In Hong Kong, this presentation will extend into a three-week festival of art, faith and humanity comprising of talks, exhibitions and performances, directly and indirectly inspired by the themes addressed in the Four Quartets , by creative practitioners in Hong Kong.

The Four Quartets is one of the most seminal works of the 20th century. The poem, which Eliot conceived in the ravages of WWII, demonstrates an artistic, emotional, intellectual and spiritual journey of experiencing darkness that not only amplifies darkness, but also points to a hope that lies beneath the rubbles. The text opens up a way in which art could mediate dark journeys and lead to ‘the still point’ where imagination is met with grace and truth.

Remarkably, the work achieved its iconic status in a culture full of antiChristian sentiment by integrating artistic excellence with the Christian faith.

It is thus a literary masterpiece but also a personal expression of the grace and vision of the Christian message that Eliot embraced in a multicultural milieu. In Eliot’s vision, the “still point” is where the human experience of time evokes wonder, fear and longing for continuance and redemption, and where the presence of a saving grace is the pivotal point for the entire creation.

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PROGRAMME INTRODUCTION

Prof. Daniel Chua

REMARKS

Mr. Clifford A. Hart, Jr. U.S. Consul General to Hong Kong and Macau

Then a cloud passed, and the pool was empty (World Premiere)

by Aenon Loo

HONG KONG NEW MUSIC ENSEMBLE Euna Kim, violin Selena Choi, violin William Lane, viola Zhu Mu, cello

Jeremy Begbie Makoto Fujimura Bruce Herman Christopher Theofanidis moderated by Prof. Daniel Chua

At the Still Point (Hong Kong Premiere)

by Christopher Theofanidis

...in my end is my beginning a condition of complete simplicity knowledge imposes a pattern the world becomes stranger, the pattern more complicated

HONG KONG NEW MUSIC ENSEMBLE with Jeremy Begbie, piano

READERS Cindy Hui Dulmini Perera Page Richards Derek Wong Hailey Wong

PROGRAMME

with QU4RTETS artists

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DIALOGUE

THEN A CLOUD PASSED, AND THE POOL WAS EMPTY

AENON LOO

Then a cloud passed,

PROGRAMME NOTES

and

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the pool was

empty.

I see a vivid image of the phrase “at the still point of the turning world” in the likeness of an orchestra tuning up to the oboe. The instruments sounding together in free flight to approach a unified note, in chaotic harmony. I find it a very engaging sound, in motion of arriving and department at the same time.

What you hear is the tuning note A at 440Hz as a constant drone. The string quartet harmonises this constant note, while suggesting a melody, albeit rather broken. What I am interested in, is whether this constant sound will float in and out of the observer’s consciousness, or whether familiarity breeds indifference, if not contempt.

AT THE STILL POINT

CHRISTOPHER THEOFANIDIS

The melodic idea that grows organically out of this sounds like a Gregorian chant.

And since Gregorian chant has a sense of being ‘outside’ of time (it is not locked to a grid of pulse, but sung freely), it also acts as a freeing agent to take us outside of our local sense of time at any given moment. This melody presents the intervals that are essential to both the melodic and harmonic fabric of the entire piece, a third and a second, and is then infringed upon by dismantling, temporal actors.

The first of these is a dramatically widening vibrato, which seems to literally disrupt the pitch stability of the materials. This material appears as a kind of existential threat to what we feel we know about the harmonic and melodic language of the work. The second is a confrontation of pulse, putting a different speed of line on top of another one to challenge our understanding of the flow of time—first heard in the chant-like melody, but then taking many other forms. In some small way, these actors for me represented the idea of opposites to the basic material, and in this, responded to the way opposites seem to confront and collide with each other in the Eliot.

Over the course of the four movements, another metaphor guided my thinking as well: the idea of wave-particle duality in physics. It was this concept that provided me with a key to try and reconcile all of these opposing elements. In physics waveparticle duality is the paradox that light can act as both a particle and a wave— physical states which seem not to be possible by the same particle. To this end, in the music, the disrupting forces of the widening vibrato and the layering of speed play the essential role in actually redeeming their own disruptive natures.

By the fourth movement the vibrato softens to become a slowed-down version of itself: pulsation without pitch variance: a kind of breathing. This is also the gradual effect of the layering of speeds: a freed pulse. Hopefully the end result of these transformations reveal a kind of unity of purpose.

At the Still Point was made possible by the Fujimura Institute through the generosity of Denise and Stephen Adams. The piece lasts approximately 30 minutes.

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In writing At the Still Point I found a strong artistic connection with Bruce and Mako’s decaying sense of ‘the grid’—a kind of representation of linear time. In both of their sets of paintings it appears in various states as a literal but only partially exposed background to the ‘life’ of the image. In my work, it is the relationship of the surface music to the background pulse and tempo of each of the movements, which—like Bruce and Mako’s grid—is constantly being challenged as the work progresses. In the first movement of At the Still Point the varied refrain in Eliot’s work, “In my beginning is my end”, sets the large structural ideas into play. The musical figure which inaugurates the piece becomes a kind of ‘Ur- pattern’ for the work—a generative shape permeating all of the subsequent material. It is a group of four notes: a single note followed by a lower note, then reversed lower–upper.

To me, this figure has implicit in it a kind of balance and an evocation of a central paradox of Eliot’s poem: “And the end of all our exploring/Will be to arrive where we started/And know the place for the first time.”

PROGRAMME NOTES

At the Still Point is part of a collaboration with visual artists Bruce Herman and Makoto Fujimura responding to T. S. Eliot’s great work, Four Quartets . Each of us tried to pick up on the major themes of that magnificent set of poems and let them resonate in our work. Meaningful to me in this project was Eliot’s journey toward an ultimate harmony with the ideas of time and decay, something that can be found in his description of ‘the still point’. The reconciling of the eternal with the transitory in his poem became the foundation for the structure of my piece, a slow unfolding of the deeper meaning and relationships of the opening materials of the music to the greater form of the work.

Readings from Four Quartets T. S. Eliot Movement #1 “…in my end is my beginning” READING ONE from section II of “Burnt Norton”

Garlic and sapphires in the mud Clot the bedded axle-tree.

The thrilling wire in the blood Sings below inveterate scars Appeasing long forgotten wars.

The dance along the artery

PROGRAMME NOTES

The circulation of the lymph

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Are figured in the drift of stars Ascend to summer in the tree We move above the moving tree In light upon the figured leaf And hear upon the sodden floor Below, the boarhound and the boar Pursue their pattern as before But reconciled among the stars.

At the still point of the turning world. Neither flesh nor fleshless; Neither from nor towards; at the still point, there the dance is, But neither arrest nor movement. And do not call it fixity, Where past and future are gathered. Neither movement from nor towards, Neither ascent nor decline. Except for the point, the still point, There would be no dance, and there is only the dance.

Movement #2 “a condition of complete simplicity” READING TWO from section V of “Little Gidding”

With the drawing of this Love and the voice of this Calling We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time.

When the last of earth left to discover Is that which was the beginning; At the source of the longest river The voice of the hidden waterfall And the children in the apple-tree Not known, because not looked for

PROGRAMME NOTES

Through the unknown, remembered gate

But heard, half-heard, in the stillness Quick now, here, now, always— A condition of complete simplicity (Costing not less than everything) And all shall be well and All manner of thing shall be well When the tongues of flame are in-folded Into the crowned knot of fire And the fire and the rose are one.

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Between two waves of the sea.

Movement #3 “knowledge imposes a pattern” READING THREE from section II of “East Coker”

There is, it seems to us, At best, only a limited value In the knowledge derived from experience.

The knowledge imposes a pattern, and falsifies, For the pattern is new in every moment And every moment is a new and shocking

PROGRAMME NOTES

Valuation of all we have been. We are only undeceived Of that which, deceiving, could no longer harm.

In the middle, not only in the middle of the way But all the way, in a dark wood, in a bramble, On the edge of a grimpen, where is no secure foothold, And menaced by monsters, fancy lights, Risking enchantment. Do not let me hear Of the wisdom of old men, but rather of their folly, QU4RTETS FOR GROUND ZERO

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Their fear of fear and frenzy, their fear of possession, Of belonging to another, or to others, or to God. The only wisdom we can hope to acquire Is the wisdom of humility: humility is endless.

Movement #4 “the world becomes stranger, the pattern more complicated” READING FOUR from section V of “East Coker”

Home is where one starts from. As we grow older The world becomes stranger, the pattern more complicated Of dead and living. Not the intense moment Isolated, with no before and after, But a lifetime burning in every moment And not the lifetime of one man only There is a time for the evening under starlight, A time for the evening under lamplight (The evening with the photograph album).

Love is most nearly itself When here and now cease to matter.

Old men ought to be explorers

PROGRAMME NOTES

But of old stones that cannot be deciphered.

Here or there does not matter Into another intensity For a further union, a deeper communion Through the dark cold and the empty desolation, The wave cry, the wind cry, the vast waters Of the petrel and the porpoise. In my end is my beginning.

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We must be still and still moving

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QU4RTETS ARTISTS JEREMY BEGBIE Jeremy Begbie is the holder of the Thomas A. Langford Research Professorship in Theology at Duke University, North Carolina. His particular research interests are in the interplay between music and theology. Educated largely in Scotland, before entering the theological world, he read music and philosophy at Edinburgh University, studying composition with Kenneth Leighton.

Holding piano performing and teaching qualifications, he is also an oboist, and was recently made a Fellow of the Royal School of Church Music. He has taught widely in the U.K., North America, Canada, Australia and South Africa. A Senior Member at Wolfson College, Cambridge, he is an Affiliated Lecturer in the Faculties of Divinity and Music at the University of Cambridge. He is author of a number of books, including Theology, Music and Time (CUP), Resounding Truth: Christian Wisdom in the World of Music (Baker/SPCK), and Music, Modernity, and God (OUP).

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© Brad Guise

BIOGRAPHIES

MAKOTO FUJIMURA Makoto Fujimura is an artist, writer, and speaker who is recognized worldwide as a cultural shaper. A Presidential appointee to the National Council on the Arts from 20032009, Fujimura served as an international advocate for the arts, speaking with decision makers and advising governmental policies on the arts.

Fujimura’s work is exhibited in galleries around the world, including Dillon Gallery in New York, Sato Museum in Tokyo, The Contemporary Museum of Tokyo, Tokyo National University of Fine Arts Museum, Bentley Gallery in Arizona, Gallery Exit and Oxford House at Taikoo Place in Hong Kong, and Vienna’s Belvedere Museum.

A popular speaker, he has lectured at numerous conferences, universities and museums, including the Aspen Institute, Yale, Princeton and other major universities.

Fujimura’s book, Refractions : A Journey of Faith, Art and Culture , is a collection of essays bringing together people of all backgrounds in a conversation and meditation on culture, art, and humanity. In celebration of the 400th Anniversary of the King James Bible, Crossway Publishing commissioned and published The Four Holy Gospels, featuring Fujimura’s illuminations of the sacred texts.

Fujimura is a recipient of two Doctor of Arts Honorary Degrees; from Belhaven University in 2011, and Biola University in 2012. He was recently awarded the American Academy of Religion’s 2014 Religion and the Arts Award.

BRUCE HERMAN Bruce Herman is a painter and educator living and working on Boston’s north shore.

Herman’s art is featured in many public and private art collections including the Vatican Museum of Modern Religious Art in Rome; The Cincinnati Museum of Fine Arts; DeCordova Museum in Lincoln, Massachusetts; the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; the Cape Ann Museum, and in many universities throughout the United States and Canada.

His art has been exhibited internationally—in England, Israel, Russia, Japan, Italy, and Canada—and nationally in eleven major U.S. cities, including New York, Boston, Washington, and Los Angeles.

Most recently Herman’s art was published in a thirty-year retrospective in the book Through Your Eyes , 2013, Grand Rapids, Wm. B. Eerdman Publishing.

Christopher Theofanidis is one of the more widely performed American composers of his generation. He regularly writes for a variety of musical genres, from orchestral and chamber music to opera and ballet. His work, Rainbow Body, which is loosely based on a melodic fragment of Hildegard of Bingen, is one of the most performed orchestral works of the past decade, and has been programmed by over 120 orchestras internationally. Theofanidis’ works have been performed by such groups as the New York Philharmonic, the London Symphony, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and the Moscow Soloists, and he has a long-standing relationship with the Atlanta Symphony and Maestro Robert Spano. Several of his works have been recorded by that ensemble on the TELARC label. In 2007, he was composer of the year for the Pittsburgh Symphony, for whom he wrote a violin concerto with the soloist Sarah Chang.

Theofanidis has written widely for the stage, from a work for the American Ballet Theatre, to multiple dramatic pieces, including The Refuge for the Houston Grand Opera and Heart of a Soldier for the San Francisco Opera. His large-scale piece, The Here and Now , for soloists, chorus, and orchestra, based on poetry of Rumi, was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2007.

Theofanidis is currently on the faculty of Yale University and has taught at the Peabody Conservatory and the Juilliard School. He is also a fellow of the U.S.Japan’s Leadership Program.

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CHRISTOPHER THEOFANIDIS

BIOGRAPHIES

Herman founded the Art Department at Gordon College in 1988, and now holds the Lothlórien Distinguished Chair in Fine Arts there. He has taught and curated exhibitions at Gordon since 1984. Herman completed both undergraduate and graduate fine arts degrees at Boston University College of Fine Arts with graduate work under Philip Guston and James Weeks. He lectures widely and has had work published in books, journals, and popular magazines.

ARTISTS SELENA CHOI, violin* Selena Tsz-Wing Choi started playing the violin at the age of five and a half with Prof. Jia-yang Wang at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. Awarded the Robert H.N. Ho Family Foundation Scholarship for Outstanding Merits, she received her Bachelor of Music from the Academy with first class honors.

With the Foundation Scholarship of the Royal College of Music and the Sir Edward Youde Memorial Scholarship for Overseas Studies, she then pursued her musical training in London with Maciej Rakowski.

She is second violinist of the RTHK Quartet (organized by the Radio and Television of Hong Kong to promote chamber music), as well as the Hong Kong New Music Ensemble (since 2014).

BIOGRAPHIES

She has been an active orchestra player in numerous groups including the City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, the Hong Kong Sinfonietta, the Macao Orchestra and the Shenzhen Symphony, and has since worked with conductors such as Bernard Haitink, Vladmir Jurowki, Vladmir Askenasy, Fabio Luisi, Charles Dutoit, Jun Markl, Trevor Pinnock, and Lorin Maazel. She has also played for artists such as Ingolf Turban, Rainer Küchl, Pavel Vernikov, Gyula Stuller, Igor Ozim, Gary Graffman, Chantal Juillet, Szymanovski Quartet, Chillingirian Quartet, Janet Hilton, and Nigel Clayton in classes.

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Selena was awarded the Ten Young Artists Hong Kong by the Young Youth Festival and the Young Musician of the Year by the South China Morning Post. She now plays on a 2009 Collini violin made in Cremona and a 1930 Hill & Sons bow.

DANIEL CHUA, moderator Daniel KL Chua earned his Ph.D. in Musicology from Cambridge University and is currently Professor of Music at the University of Hong Kong. Before joining the University of Hong Kong to head the School of Humanities, he was a fellow and the Director of Studies at St John’s College, Cambridge, and later Professor of Music Theory and Analysis at King’s College London. He was a Henry Fellow at Harvard and is the recipient of the 2004 Royal Musical Association’s Dent Medal. He has written widely on music, from Monteverdi to Stravinsky; his publications include The ‘Galitzin’ Quartets of Beethoven (Princeton, 1994) and Absolute Music and the Construction of Meaning (Cambridge, 1999), ‘Rioting With Stravinsky: A Particular Analysis of the Rite of Spring’ (2007), ‘Beethoven’s Other Humanism’ (2009), and ‘Listening to the Self: The Shawshank Redemption and the Technology of Music’ (2011). He is currently visiting Senior Research Scholar at Yale and a Fellow of the Yale Institute of Sacred Music.

CINDY HUI, reader Cindy Hui is currently a Ph.D. student in English Literature at the University of Hong Kong. After graduation from the Law Faculty of HKU with first class honors, she has pursued a career in the legal field. At the same time, she continues with her passion for the

word in poetry, fiction, and the arts more widely. Cindy was introduced to poetry in her teens and won an open original poetry competition at the age of 17. She has been an editor for Yuan Yang: A Journal of Hong Kong and International Writing and participated through the years for the Moving Poetry project. Recently, she has taught creative writing sessions for Moving Poetry and the Summer Institute of HKU, and completed her Master of Philosophy degree in English Literature. Her work in contemporary literature in the English language focuses on the fluidity of the notion of home, displacement, and the emergence of identity. She lives in Hong Kong with her loving husband and two enthralling sons.

EUNA KIM, violin*

She had a recital with pianist Evelyn Chang at the University of Hong Kong in 2012 and also in 2013 organized by the Hong Kong Chamber Music Society. She has been participating in numerous chamber music performances in Hong Kong and Macau and both in 2011 and 2014, she appeared at the Hong Kong Arts Festival.

She is presently a member of the City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong and Hong Kong New Music Ensemble. WILLIAM LANE, viola* William Lane performed as a soloist, orchestral player and chamber musician all over Australasia, Asia, Europe and North America. He studied under Jan Sedivka (Australia), Bruno Giuranna (Italy) and Garth Knox (France), as well as in Germany at the International Ensemble Modern Akademie, and in Switzerland at the Lucerne Festival Academy under Pierre Boulez. He has taught at universities in Australia, the U.S., Mexico, Ireland, the U.K. and China.

He was Principal Viola of Ensemble Resonanz (Germany, 2006), a member of the

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Euna has won first prize at numerous competitions in her native Korea. Then in 2003, she received First Prize as a chamber musician at the Felix MendelssohnBartholdy Competition in Germany. She has given solo and chamber music recitals at the Konzerthaus in Berlin, Schloss Albrechtsberg in Dresden, Beethoven String Trio Abend in Ratingen in Germany and several other occasions in Europe, Japan and China. Between 2009 and 2010 she performed at the concerts Complete Beethoven Sonatas for Piano and Violin in Seoul, Korea. She taught as a faculty member at the Korean National University of Arts and worked as the First Violin Principal for the Suwon Philharmonic Orchestra.

BIOGRAPHIES

Euna Kim was born in Seoul, Korea and studied violin and chamber music in Korea and Germany. Her teachers included Professors Nam-Yun Kim, Zahkar Bron, Walreri Gradow and Anthony Spiri.

She holds a Bachelor of Music Degree from the School of Music at the Korean National University of Arts, a Diploma in Violin Performance and Chamber Music from the Koelner Musikhochschule in Germany and a Konzertexamen from the Staatliche Hochschule fĂźr Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Mannheim.

Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra (2008-2010), and guest violist of Ensemble Modern (Germany, 2006-2007), City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong (2010-2012) and the Lucerne Festival Strings (Switzerland, 2014). He is currently a member of the Hong Kong-based Anonymous Quartet (since 2010) and is Founder/Artistic Director of the Hong Kong New Music Ensemble (founded in 2008), China’s premier new music group resident at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts.

William Lane was awarded the 2013 Award for Young Artist (Music) from the Hong Kong Arts Development Council.

BIOGRAPHIES

AENON LOO, composer

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Aenon Loo received his Doctor of Musical Arts in composition and electronic music from Columbia University in New York and his Bachelor of Music from the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. With his composition Last Days, hommage à Messiaen , Loo was awarded best composition by the Hong Kong New Generation and First Prize in the Young Composer Award given by the Asian Composer’s League, held in Yokohama, Japan. A Founding Composer of the Hong Kong New Music Ensemble, his works have been performed by the Asian Youth Orchestra, Les Six Woodwind Sextet, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, Manhattan Sinfonietta, and various other ensembles in the U.S., Europe, and East Asia. Loo was granted the Lady Fung Memorial Music Fellowship by the Asian Cultural Council in 2001 to study at the Aspen Music School in Colorado with George Tsontakis. Loo is also cofounder of the progressive Gallery EXIT and the HellHOT New Music Festival.

ZHU MU, cello* Zhu Mu, a vibrant young cellist, has performed globally as a soloist and chamber musician. He has been the featured artist in countries such as China, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, and the U.S. Zhu Mu was the winner of the Central Conservatory of Music Cello Competition in Beijing, the 4th China National Duo Cello Competition, and prizewinner of the 2006 Bayreuther International Music Competition in Germany.

He is the cellist of the Beijing New Music Ensemble, a frequent participant of the Beijing Modern Festival and the “211” Recording project which is a funded project by the government to promote new compositions. Zhu Mu has performed in new music concert series held in South Korea, Beijing, Guangzhou, and Hong Kong. He is a member of the Hong Kong New Music Ensemble since 2013.

In demand as an educator, Zhu Mu has frequently been invited to give masterclasses in music schools and conservatories throughout China. Currently, Zhu Mu is a member of the cello faculty at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing and head of the cello department at the middle school of the same university.

Zhu Mu received his Undergraduate Degree with honors from the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, and his Masters of Music and Ph.D. degree in Germany. Zhu Mu has also received cello pedagogy masterclass trainings held by Rostropovich, Mischa Maisky, and Bernard Greenhouse.

DULMINI PERERA, reader Dulmini Perera is currently a graduate student at the Faculty of Architecture, the University of Hong Kong. She completed her B.Arch. degree at the University of Moratuwa in Sri Lanka. Since her graduation she has worked simultaneously as an architect, an artist and a TV presenter on national television. Her work focuses broadly on contemporary ecological issues particularly in the context of South Asia and finding alternatives to these problems through modes of ethico-aesthetic engagement. In Hong Kong, she continues her research and teaching work both in national and international design studios and takes part in various performances.

DEREK WONG, reader Derek Wong is a Vice Consul in the Economic-Political Section of the U.S. Consulate General to Hong Kong and Macau, covering the Environment, Science, Technology, and Health (ESTH) portfolio.

Prior to his arrival in August 2013, he served as a Consular Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City, where he managed the Visa Section’s Public Liaison Unit. Before joining the State Department, Derek worked as a Management Consultant for Oliver Wyman in New York City and as a Marketing Manager for Razoo, a crowdfunding tech start-up.

Derek holds a Master’s in Public Administration from the London School of Economics, and Bachelor’s degrees in Finance and International Studies from the University of Pennsylvania. He speaks Cantonese, Mandarin, and Spanish. Derek grew up in Bethesda, Maryland, outside Washington, D.C. HAILEY WONG, reader Hailey is currently a primary three student at Diocesan Girls’ Junior School. She plays the cello and sings in the school choir.

She loves all the songs from Frozen and enjoys reading Shel Silverstein’s poems.

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Page Richards is an Associate Professor in the School of English at the University of Hong Kong. Educated at Harvard University and holding a Master’s degree in Creative Writing from Boston University, she has also studied at the Playwrights’ Theatre in Boston and has contributed to theatre and film production in Hollywood. Richards received a national Mellon Fellowship in the Humanities for research, the Outstanding Teaching Award from the Faculty of Arts at HKU, and the Vermont Studio Writer’s Fellowship for poetry, among other awards. She publishes poems, books and essays on poetry, drama, American literature, and performance.

She directs the MFA in Creative Writing, the Creative Writing Studio, the HKU International Poetry Prize, Moving Poetry, the Drama Series, and production of Yuan Yang: A Journal of Hong Kong and International Writing .

BIOGRAPHIES

PAGE RICHARDS, reader

* HONG KONG NEW MUSIC ENSEMBLE The Hong Kong New Music Ensemble (HKNME) was founded in 2008 to present contemporary music to Hong Kong audiences.

It has been widely praised for its innovative programming and interdisciplinary collaborations with artists from different mediums.

The HKNME has collaborated with organisations including Zuni Icosahedron, Guangdong Modern Dance Company and Osage Gallery, and often has residencies at universities in Hong Kong and greater China.

It has toured to Guangzhou, Chengdu, Shanghai, Macau, Kuala Lumpur, Taipei, Singapore, Hobart and Angkor Wat. In 2012, the HKNME co-founded SOUTHSITE, an exciting new venue for its contemporary music activities. It was also named a one-year-grantee by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council. In 2013, it was awarded a project grant under the Arts Capacity Development Funding Scheme of the Home Affairs Bureau for organizing ’The Modern Academy’.

The group’s 6th season in 2013-2014 includes concerts dedicated to Ligeti, Reich, Romitelli and Chinese composers, and appearances at the Hong Kong Arts Festival and other major arts festivals. In 2014, the HKNME is Resident Company at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts.

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Fullart & Company Limited

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EXIT

安全口

Nadim ABBAS CHEN Wei Chihoi Genevieve CHUA Silas FONG Makoto FUJIMURA HSU Yinling Chris HUEN Sin Kan KO Sin Tung KONG Chun Hei KONG Yiu Wing KWAN Sheung Chi Sarah LAI

LAM Hoi Sin Lewis LAU Gabriel LEUNG LIN Xue Ivy MA MAK Ying Tung Lulu NGIE Angela SU TSANG Chui Mei Cam WONG WONG Wai Yin YANG Xinguang Trevor YEUNG

Gallery EXIT 安全口画廊 3/F, 25 Hing Wo Street, Tin Wan, Aberdeen, Hong Kong 香港 香港仔 田灣 興和街 25 號 大生工業大廈 3 樓 +852 2541 1299 info@galleryexit.com www.galleryexit.com

Sir Roger Norrington & Zurich Chamber Orchestra 諾靈頓爵士與蘇黎世室樂團 3 October 2014｜FRI｜8PM

© Mat Hennek

Sir Roger Norrington, one of the greatest innovators of our musical life, is bringing the Zurich Chamber Orchestra and a young piano virtuoso HJ Lim to Hong Kong for the first time. There will be an open rehearsal and a ‘Music in Words’ session with the artists before the concert, led by Dr. Giogio Biancorosso.

This presentation is an artistic journey full of insights, colours and creative exchanges – a rare treat for the audience and a landmark celebration for Sir Roger’s 80th birthday.

HJ Lim

MOZART BEETHOVEN MOZART

Symphony No. 1 Piano Concerto No. 2 Symphony No. 41 ‘Jupiter’

$280, $180

www.hkticketing.com I 31 288 288

Sir Roger Norrington

HKU students $50

Please present valid HKU ID upon purchase and entry

The Secret of Her Bach: Zhu Xiao-Mei's Goldberg Variations 玄琴若水：朱曉玫的《哥德堡變奏曲》 2 November 2014｜SUN｜3PM

© Julien Mignot

Zhu Xiao-Mei, one of the world's most celebrated interpreters of Bach's Goldberg Variations, is making a rare concert appearance in Hong Kong.

She has never performed this monumental work in China before and this will be the first time the audience here can listen to her interpretations live.

The documentary A Chinese Pianist and Bach will be premiered in this event, and the artist will engage in a dialogue with the audience after the performance.

$220, $120

www.hkticketing.com I 31 288 288

Zhu Xiao-Mei

HKU students $50

Please present valid HKU ID upon purchase and entry

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