GLITTERING prizes and plaudits have been heaped upon Portuguese pianist Maria Joao Pires and French violinist Augustin Dumay. In 1970 Pires won the First Prize in the Beethoven Competition commemorating the composer's bicentenary; Dumay came to fame when Herbert von Karajan invited him to play on Radio France's tribute to the conductor, and then performed Bartok's Second Concerto with the Berlin Philharmonic under Sir Colin Davis.
In recent years the talented pair have linked up to record Mozart and Brahms sonatas, praised by the critics as mature and refined, although when they visit the Cultural Centre Concert Hall on July 21, they will perform Grieg's Sonata No 1 in F, Op 8, Debussy's Sonata in G minor, Ravel's Tzigane and Franck's Sonata in A. Tickets are available through Urbtix and 734 9009.
Thursday night sees an evening dedicated to percussion in the Chinese Instrumental Series at the Cultural Centre Concert Hall. The featured soloists are An Zhishun, a renowned contemporary percussion virtuoso, Pei Deyi, the concertmaster of Nanjing Folk Music Orchestra, and Yim Hok-man, the percussion principal of the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra. Tickets available through Urbtix.
Formed four years ago, the semi-professional Hong Kong Sinfonietta has performed regularly, giving local musicians orchestral support. On July 23, violinist Kwan Lap-hok, a co-founder of the Sinfonietta, and saxophonist Kenneth Tse, a founder of the Hong Kong Saxophone Quartet, will perform at the City Hall. While Kwan will perform Sarasate's Gypsy Airs and Tse plays Tomasi's Concerto for Saxophone and Orchestra, the concert also includes Weber's Overture, Oberon, Dvorak's Symphony No 8 in G. Tickets available through Urbtix.
Before they embark on a tour of the United States and Canada, the Hong Kong Children's Choir bid farewell at the Cultural Centre Concert Hall on Sunday with a presentation which includes Western and Chinese folk songs, works by Hong Kong composers as well as standards such as Ave Maria. Tickets available through Urbtix.
JAZZ lovers will want to spend An Evening with Maynard Ferguson, the trumpet virtuoso backed by his Big Bop Nouveau Band on Tuesday July 26 at the City Hall Concert Hall. With more than 60 albums under his belt during a 50-year career, which includes spells with Stan Kenton and Jimmy Dorsey, Canadian Ferguson is said to have redefined big band jazz for the 1990s. He and his band will draw upon be-bop, swing, funk, classical and contemporary music. Tickets are available through Urbtix.