"City Hall Virtuosi Series: The Hungarian Connections" to be staged in December
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The programme includes Brahms' "Variations on a Theme by Haydn, Op. 56" and "Hungarian Dances for Piano Duets, WoO 1, Nos. 1, 4 – 7" as well as Bartók's "Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion".
Born in Hong Kong, pianist Colleen Lee started her piano lessons at the age of four. Subsequently, she was trained at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (HKAPA) under the tutelage of Eleanor Wong.
She has received many international awards including First Prize at the 3rd Seiler International Piano Competition in Germany, the 2003 Dorothy Mackenzie Artist Recognition Award and Third Place and Critic and Audience Prizes at the 15th International Competition for Piano and Orchestra in Italy.
Beyond her success in winning the 6th Prize at the 15th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition, Lee has performed extensively throughout Asia, Europe and North America in solo recitals and with orchestras including the Galacia Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in Spain and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. She has also performed with the China Philharmonic Orchestra, the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, the Sendai Philharmonic Orchestra, the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra and the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra (HK Phil).
Warren Lee has been praised by the Straits Times of Singapore as a musician with "a wonderful sense of colour and impeccably controlled articulation". Including his recent performance at New York's Carnegie Hall in celebration of Leonard Bernstein's Centennial, he has graced stages of all sizes and forms in collaboration with international artists and orchestras in Asia and beyond.
Lee is an educator and an award-winning composer. He was the first-prize winner of the 1995 Stravinsky Awards International Piano Competition and Grand Prix Ivo Pogorelich. He received a Ten Outstanding Young Persons Award in Hong Kong in 2012, an Associateship from the Royal Academy of Music in the United Kingdom in 2015 and the Ian Mininberg Distinguished Alumni Award by the Yale School of Music in the United States (US) in 2017.
Percussionist Choy Lap-tak is currently a lecturer in Western percussion as well as an adviser and coach for the Academy's Percussion Ensemble at the HKAPA. Choy is an active percussion and timpani soloist, performing percussion and timpani concertos. He has appeared in the Sydney Opera House and venues in Beijing, Singapore and Korea.
Choy is a member of the Hong Kong Percussion Ensemble and Jenga Percussion Group, the latter of which had been Artist-in-Residence on Radio 4 of the Radio Television Hong Kong. He has also been a guest timpani player and percussionist with many orchestras – from the HK Phil, Hong Kong Sinfonietta (HKS) to the Academy of St Martin in the Fields. Moreover, he has performed in several musicals and operas, including "Cats", "West Side Story" and "Madama Butterfly".
Currently principal percussionist of the City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong since 2013, Raymond Vong obtained a Bachelor of Music (Honours) degree and a Master of Music degree with distinction from the HKAPA. He has given many percussion solo and ensemble concerts in Hong Kong and Macao, and has been regularly invited to perform with the HKS, HK Phil, Macao Orchestra as well as the North Carolina Symphony in the US.
In 2015, Vong undertook a European tour with the HK Phil under the baton of Jaap Van Zweden. He formed a percussion duo Re.MIX with Emily Cheng in 2010. A devoted performer of contemporary music, he has been invited by the University of Hong Kong to participate in a multimedia concert with violinist Yao Jue. Vong was selected as a "Bravo Macao!" Artist at the 32nd Macao International Music Festival in 2018.
"City Hall Virtuosi Series: The Hungarian Connections" will be held at 8pm on December 13 (Friday) at the Concert Hall of Hong Kong City Hall. Tickets priced at $150 and $200 are now available at URBTIX (www.urbtix.hk). For telephone credit card bookings, please call 2111 5999. For programme enquiries and concessionary schemes, please call 2268 7321 or visit www.lcsd.gov.hk/CE/CulturalService/Programme/en/music/programs_834.html.
Ends/Friday, October 25, 2019
Issued at HKT 11:30
Issued at HKT 11:30
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