ABOUT A DECADE AGO, organisers of the Hong Kong Arts Festival posed an important question as they conducted a policy review: with foreign performances dominating the festival every year, did the event really merit its title? The answer was not clear at the time. But pose that question to many local artists today and they would probably give a definite 'yes'.
The Hong Kong Arts Festival appears to have matured. Until the mid-1990s, the event had always been the domain of foreign artists. Today, it is an international platform catering to both local and foreign acts. Of 38 shows this year, 10 are local. The ratio is similar to the 11:36 last year. But what sets the 2003 festival apart from its predecessors is its range, says programme director Grace Lang Cheung-wai.
'We have a variety that is bigger than ever,' Lang says. 'Taking music as an example, we have folk music from overseas and from Beijing, rock, classical and local pop. The presence of Hong Kong and foreign programmes is equally prominent.' One of the most prominent local performances is the Hong Kong Sinfonietta's first appearance at the festival, which apparently has been made possible by the conspicuous absence of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, which will be on tour during the festival. The Sinfonietta's concert, titled The Creation Of The World, will feature three works under the baton of Yip Wing-sie, including Quiet Waters, a specially commissioned work by composer Aenon Loo and two prize-winning pianists, Sa Chen and Colleen Lee Ka-ling.
Loo, considered one of the most promising composers in Hong Kong and winner of the Young Composers Award 2000, says the piece is distinguished by its post-minimalist style - a simpler version of traditional classical music. 'It delivers a sense of calmness,' says the 23-year-old. 'I try to express that there are still ways to find peace and tranquillity despite the current political instability worldwide.'
Another programme that deals with inner emotions is A Lover's Discourse by experimental theatre group Zuni Icosahedron, a multimedia show that seeks to interpret love based on French philosopher Roland Barthes' book Fragments D'un Discours Amoureux. The performance is a 90-minute love song accompanied by electronic images, movements and poetic lyrics. The show sold out last month, thanks in part to the celebrity cast, which features alternative musician-singer Anthony Wong Yiu-ming as music director and rising Canto-pop star Denise Ho Wan-sze as lead singer.
Wong, who has been a Zuni member since 1987, says the presence of celebrity in the show has helped boost ticket sales, but that it is not an artistic compromise. 'We can't say it's a compromise to have pop stars perform an arts show or that would be disrespectful to them,' he says. 'Ho is outstanding among the new generation of Canto-pop singers. Besides, the boundary between pop and arts is getting increasingly blurred.'
Wong says his biggest challenge is writing a 90-minute piece of music - the longest he has ever had to compose - to match Barthes' complicated notions about love. 'Some of Barthes' ideas are inscrutable to me,' he says. 'But others are touching, such as how you delight at the sight of something that has been looked at by someone you love. I will adopt some theme songs of Hong Kong TV programmes in the 1970s to add a nostalgic touch.'