Young voices resonate through Bach in Hong Kong Oratorio Society performance
A double-bill concert offers surprises as refined young voices resonate the music of Bach in the New Territories
The Hong Kong Oratorio Society, one of the city's oldest choral institutions, celebrated its 60th anniversary by presenting an all-Bach concert to mark 330 years since the great German composer's birth that offered a rare treat of baroque music at Tsuen Wan Town Hall.
Professor Chan Wing-wah, a well-known composer and the society's music director since 1995, warmed up the crowd by conducting the first movement of the double concerto. Despite intonation issues, the concertmaster and the principal second violin of the Hong Kong Strings Orchestra together with their colleagues performed in good flow and with admirable musicality.
Nearly 100 choristers joined the orchestra to perform excerpts from Bach's cantata A Mighty Fortress is Our God and Magnificat. Under the baton of guest conductor Kemuel Wong - Chan's counterpart in the Vancouver Oratorio Society - they delivered with great effort, but the German-Latin diction and four-part harmonies were as challenging to the chorus as to the orchestra. The solid bassline played by organist Wong Kin-yu secured a musical structure for the voices and instruments to blend with.