Chopin, Joy of Music Festival, Music Festical, Piano, Guitar, Music Competition
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Chopin, Joy of Music Festival, Music Festical, Piano, Guitar, Music Competition
Chopin, Joy of Music Festival, Music Festical, Piano, Guitar, Music Competition

The Chopin Society of Hong Kong Ltd.

The Chopin Society of Hong Kong, first registered under the Societies Ordinance in 1995 and now incorporated since 2006 as a non-profit making company, is a well-established institution in Hong Kong, dedicated to the promotion of classical musical activities, including the organization of public recitals and concerts, master classes and a major international piano competition, which has helped to augment further the reputation of Hong Kong as a major cultural centre in Asia.

The Society believes that classical music is neither an elitist nor a minority interest in Hong Kong. The success of the Society’s activities is based precisely on the notion that Hong Kong audiences deserve nothing but the highest quality that the international music scene can offer. In return, the audiences reward these activities with their loyalty and growing size of attendances. The combination of world- class artists centering their activities in Hong Kong and working closely with the wonderful pool of talent available in the territory, achieves the twin aims of fostering the musical arts at home while drawing on the best that the world can offer.

In 1999 the Society launched an annual series of recitals, The Winners Series, which brings to Hong Kong the first prizewinners of major international music competitions. The Society believes that Hong Kong, a city of winners itself, should have the opportunity to experience the performance of these young and promising artists at an early stage in their careers. Important bodies, such as CLP Holdings, Bank of America and BNP Paribas, as well as individuals, such as Teresa Li-Lai, have sponsored the Series.

In 2001 the Society launched a new series: the Masters Series. These events bring to Hong Kong master teachers to perform in recitals and to run workshops/master classes for music students in Hong Kong, and whenever possible, from the PRC and from other countries in Asia. The series so far has featured masterclasses in piano, cello, guitar, string quartet and conducting, all open to students and teachers completely free of charge. The Masters Series has been mostly sponsored by the Kadoorie Family Fund and it has been lately renamed The Master Series in memory of Lady Muriel Kadoorie.

In September 2005, in October 2008 and in October 2011, the Society ran its biggest event to date: The Hong Kong International Piano Competition, a triennial event, the next one of which will take place between the 10th and the 27th Oct. 2014. The Hong Kong International Piano Competition has been sponsored by, among others, the Kadoorie Family Fund, the Government of Hong Kong (through its Leisure and Cultural Services Department), CLP Holdings, Teresa Li-Lai, Tom Lee Music, the Tom Lee Music Foundation, Cathay Pacific (in 2005) and Tom Tang (in 2008 and 2011).

In the years between Competitions and in the period within each Competition, the Society presents the Joy of Music Festival, which ran in 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 with the next one scheduled to run between the 14th and 20th October 2013. The Festival brings together the artists from the two Series mentioned above: The Winners Series and The Masters Series (including the first prize winners and members of the Jury of the HK International Piano Competition as well as invited world-class musicians), to perform, to give masterclasses and run workshops.

In 2008 the Chopin Society launched its own recording label, the Alpha Omega Sound, which is releasing a varied and unusual series of archival CDs, re-mastered at the famous Abbey Road Studios, as well as recordings made specifically for its label.

Adding one more record label to the plethora which already exists in a crowded field needs some explanations. Ours are very simple:

  • We start with an exclusive and exciting set of recordings, some truly unique, which we will be releasing in a steady stream over the years to come. This is not a “one-off” label.

  • We have the agreement of a number of internationally known artists who are, and will be, recording for us. We are determined that purely commercial considerations will not limit the repertoire and recordings which we will be presenting, thus ensuring that our audience will hear unusual, rarely recorded and exciting combinations of composers and of instruments.
    We encourage our artists to record what they would like to record rather than impose programmes on them, thus ensuring originality and artistic integrity.

  • All our original recordings are done by top recording engineers in top studios and then all these recordings are re -mastered at the famous Abbey Road Studios in London, where we have established a close and long-standing relationship. To ensure the best sonic quality right across the spectrum of our productions, our CDs are pressed by Sony DADC in Austria. We plan to release carefully selected titles from our catalogue on vinyl LPs also specially mastered at the Abbey Road Studios.

  • Last but not least, this is a recording label registered and trade-marked in Hong Kong, emphasizing the Society’s commitment to its home base and home audience.

The Society is particularly proud of its exclusive series of archival recordings from the superb, and totally unknown, collection of SODRE, the state TV and radio organization of Uruguay.

These are live recordings from the 1950s and 1960s carefully re-mastered at the Abbey Road Studios, introduced by the honorary president of our Society, maestro Vladimir Ashkenazy, and featuring never-before-released recordings of J. Heifetz, D. Oistrakh, L. Kogan, M. Elman, A. Segovia, C. Arrau, W. Gieseking, F. Gulda, L. Kraus, and M. Anderson.

Music Festival Music Festival
Already released: From the SODRE COLLECTION:
Music Festival Music Festival
* The Sampler
* JASCHA HEIFETZ ( violin) - Brooks Smith ( piano)
* DAVID OISTRAKH (violin) - Vladimir Yampolsky (piano)
* LEONID KOGAN (violin) - Andrei Mytnik ( piano)
* MISCHA ELMAN (violin) - Joseph Seiger (piano)
 
Specifically recorded for its label:
 
Music Festival Music Festival
*
Alvaro Pierri (guitar). Guitar Sonatas, Vol. 1, works by Paganini, Ponce, Torroba and Ginastera.
  With the present CD, Alvaro Pierri, one of the best guitarists in the world, is embarking on a long term project with The Alpha Omega Sound, to record a comprehensive series of sonatas specifically composed for guitar and spanning the 19th to the 21st centuries. This Cd was recorded as well as mastered at the Abbey Road Studios in London.
   
* Ilya Rashkovskiy (piano). Fantasias for Piano. Works by Mozart, Chopin, Liszt and Scriabin.
 

Ilya won the first prize in the first Hong Kong International Piano Competition organized by the Society in 2005.
This is a studio recording made in Hong Kong and remastered at the Abbey Road Studios.

   
* Rachel Cheung (piano). Compositions by Mozart, Chopin, Schubert, Liszt and Poulenc.
 

Rachel is an exceptionally talented young pianist from Hong Kong. Having studied piano under Eleanor Wong in Hong Kong, she is now continuing her studies with Peter Frankl at Yale University. A first prize-winner of several competitions, she is a frequently sponsored artist by the Chopin Society of Hong Kong Ltd. This is a studio recording made in Hong Kong and remastered at the Abbey Road Studios.

   
* Jinsang Lee (piano) . Hiller-Mendelssohn-Chopin: Making Music among Friends.
  This is a double CD containing piano music by these three composers, played on Steinway period and contemporary pianos. Jinsang won the first prize in the second Hong Kong International Piano Competition organized by the Society in 2008. This is a studio recording made in Hong Kong and re-mastered at the Abbey Road Studios.
   
* The Society has also issued a CLP Holdings sponsored double CD, later to be released under the Society’s own label, featuring Li Mingqiang, one of the leading piano teachers and music advisors in Hong Kong who was, at the time of these recordings, one of the major pianists in the PRC.
 

We hope that music lovers in Hong Kong will continue to support the Society’s future activities.

 

Dr Andrew Freris
Chairman,
The Chopin Society of Hong Kong Ltd.

 

 

 

 
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