Explore Dream-Inspired Music With The HK Phil

The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra (HK Phil) will showcase six dream-inspired works at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall on 24 & 25 May, under the baton of Jun M rkl, one of the finest French music interpreters, together with the Hong Kong musicians Piano Duo Ping and Ting and the HK Phil's Principal Oboe Michael Wilson.

Debussy was one of the most influential composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and his music is often labelled as Impressionist . His famous Prelude to The Afternoon of a Faun had a profound impact on subsequent composers well beyond the borders of his native France and deeply inspired the Japanese composers Takemitsu and Takashi Yoshimatsu. This concert includes the China premiere of three works by Takemitsu and Yoshimatsu which show the influence of Debussy.

Takemitsu composed traditional Japanese music as well as 93 film scores, but also wrote works in honour of his beloved Japan, and one of which is Quotation of Dream. Written in 1991, it comprises 12 sections which depict the outline of dreamland. Twin sisters Chau Lok Ping and Chau Lok Ting have earned wide recognition and numerous international awards through their musicality and their fascinating matching of sound. They are the laureate of the prestigious ARD International Music Competition. The twin sisters will perform the China premiere of this double piano concerto.

Also receiving their China premieres are Takemitsu's Day Signal and Yoshimatsu's Dream Colored Mobile II. Landscapes, birds and flowers figure, and dreams always linger in Yoshimatsu's music. He explains the work Dream Colored Mobile II in this way: Born of a dream, it describes a gentle curve, and then blends once again into a dream .

The HK Phil will also perform Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier Suite and Ravel's La valse in the same programme.

Richard Strauss's three-act opera Der Rosenkavalier has been popular since its first staging in 1911. Its success inspired the composer to extract the main melodies from the opera in 1944 and compile them into Der Rosenkavalier Suite. Ravel's La valse was his first masterpiece after the trauma of the World War I, and harks back nostalgically to a more peaceful time when Vienna was the Waltz Capital of the World.

Let's forget the strains and stresses of daily reality and share this beautiful night with the HK Phil, conductor Jun M rkl, the excellent local musicians Piano Duo Ping and Ting and our Principal Oboe Michael Wilson.

Classics: Quotation of Dream will be held on 24 & 25 May (Fri & Sat), 8PM in the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall. Tickets priced: HK$480, $380, $280, $180 are available at URBTIX. For enquiries, please call +852 2721 2332 or visit hkphil.org.