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On 8th June 2003 we held a
successful concert of music for children.
Classics For Kids was tailormade for very young children.
The orchestra played short excerpts of music from the classical
repertoire and demonstrated the sounds and effects created by
the different orchestral instruments.
The children sat on the floor, moved around, squeaked, shouted
and sang! After the concert the children chatted to the
musicians and enjoyed the chance to touch and try out some of
the instruments.
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The concert raised funds for La
Leche League Hong Kong, the international breastfeeding support
group, and was sponsored by My Musikbox. Tickets for
Classics For Kids sold out very quickly and parents were begging for
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We decided to have a concert to
raise funds to finance ourselves so that we can continue to be
of service to other charitable organizations. On Sunday
18th May 2003 we performed at the Quarry Bay School Hall.
Y. S. Liu and
Cheng Siu Sing played the Bach Double violin
concerto BWV1043. The soloists were superb and well
supported by a small string ensemble. The relatively small
school hall gave an air of intimacy which was most satisfying.
The first half continued with Beethoven's 5th symphony and the
second half was the 1st symphony of Brahms.
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Both symphonies
went off very well but the Brahms 1st was more confidently
played reflecting the advantage of having had more rehearsals
and a previous "performance". This is not to say
that the Beethoven was at all bad but we did not do ourselves
justice!
A total of $60,000 was raised
reflecting the generosity of the audience and many members of
our ensemble. This will ensure that we can continue to
support worthy causes to raise funds while at the same time
having fun in making music together amongst friends.
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On 22nd January 2003 our ensemble was invited by the
H.K. Sanatorium and Hospital to play in their 80th
Anniversary and
Dr.S.P.Li's 100th birthday celebrations. That
was an unique request and for once we broke our rule of playing for fund
raising purpose only. Our conductor K.K.Chiu
partnered Joseph Ngan in Vivaldi's concerto for 2
trumpets in C and then conducted another exhilarating performance of
Mozart's Divertimento for strings K136. This concert was
held at the Convention Centre.
The next concert would have been on 30th March 2003 to
raise funds for the H.K.Council for Early Childhood Education
& Services, at the APA Lyric Theatre. Unfortunately, this has
been postponed due to the outbreak of Severe Acute Atypical Pneumonia (SAAP;
our chairman Dr.Wong refuses to call it SARS as he believes it was
deliberately named to draw people's attention to the H.K. SAR which WHO
thought was the origin of the disease). Nevertheless, we had a
"performance" for ourselves on the day at Quarry Bay School Hall and our
members had a good time both at the concert and the dinner afterwards.
Music is the best antidote to all the doom and gloom. |
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On 3rd December 2002 our
ensemble was asked to perform at St. John's Cathedral at their
annual fund raising concert for Hospice Care.
The programme:
1. Heinreich
Baermann (1784-1847) Adagio for clarinet and strings Op.23
Susan Edwards - clarinet
2. W. A. Mozart (1756-1791) Divertimento for strings K136
This annual concert is very close to Dr. Wong's heart.
The concert first started while he was chairman of the H.K.
Medical Association Orchestra and he has only missed one
performance in over 10 years. It is an informal
concert and signals the start of Christmas season. Usually
quite a number of young children would be running about during
the entire evening and the whole congregation joins in when the
Carols are sung and we accompany as best as we can but often
drowned by the massive cathedral organ!
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A
concert was held for the Matilda Child Development Centre
on
29th September 2002 also Loke Yew Hall, H.K. University
and the programme was:- |
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L. v. Beethoven: Overture Leonora III. |
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G.F.
Handel (1685-1759): Lascia chˇ¦io pianga from Rinaldo |
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J.S. Bach (1685-1750): Erbarme Dich from St.
Matthew Passion BWV 244 |
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F. Lehar (1870-1948): Viljalied from the
Merry Widow |
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G. Puccini (1858-1924): O mio babbino
caro from Gianni Schicchi |
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F. Schubert (1797-1828): Symphony No.9 in
C (Great) D944 |
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This time, the
very well known Soprano Katusha Tsui-Fraser sang with us.
She also had to accommodate her voice in order to sing (at
Y.K.Wongˇ¦s request) the Erbarme Dich from St. Matthew Passion
which was, of course, written for alto. |
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