The 12th season of the City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong (CCOHK) kicks off this month. Music lovers can expect a special selection of music combined with guest appearances from prestigious soloists, conductors and composers from around the world.
Opening the season on Tuesday next week is 'Harp Extravaganza', a programme featuring multiple harp concertos and the world premiere of Mao Yuan's Dancing Reflection, performed in the presence of the legendary 85-year-old Beijing composer.
Led by chief conductor Jean Thorel, the CCOHK will join forces with acclaimed harpists Teresa Suen, Michelle Abbott, Edith Pun, Katerina Englichova, Skaila Kanga and Claire Jones for Bach's Concerto for Four Keyboards, rewritten for four harps; the Asian premiere of Karl Jenkins' Concerto for Two Harps, Over the Stone; and Granville Bantock's spectacular Celtic Symphony for Strings and Six Harps.
Among the guest harpists is Claire Jones who is the official harpist to Britain's Prince Charles and performed at the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. Professor emerita of harp at the Royal Academy of Music, Kanga boasts more than 500 film credits to her name and collaborations with Placido Domingo, Tommy Reilly, Elton John and the London Mozart Players.
On November 19, Israeli violin virtuoso Hagai Shaham performs Mozart's Concerto No 3 in a programme featuring Schoenberg's romantic Transfigured Night and music from the Oscar-winning documentary Anne Frank Remembered by Carl Davis.
Christmas is fast approaching around the corner and with it the CCOHK offers wonderful seasonal programming for families. Howard Blake's The Snowman and The Bear will be performed live with the animated films for a fifth year running. The original stories written by Raymond Briggs come to life on December 10 and 11 in narrations by Jacqueline Gourlay Grant and Henry Coombs.
Other hot picks for children include Peter and the Wolf to be narrated by Dame Edna Everage on March 31 next year. The Australian icon will give her own rendition of Prokofiev's classic and sing her way through the hilarious under-the-sea tale of Juanita the Spanish Lobster by David Haslam.