Ensemble

Selections from The Dagger Society – Prelude & Bow Dance

Pipa Solo

Falling Flowers Colouring the Green

Snow in Springtime

Pipa Tutti

High Mountains and Flowing Water

Three Variations of Plum Blossoms

Instrumental Ensemble

Flowery Moon Light of Spring River

Guqin Solo

Memories of an Old Friend

Flowing Water

Tune of Jiangnan

Tune of Purple Bamboo

The Jasmine

Erhu Solo

Autumn Moon in the Han Palace

Pipa Solo

King Chu Doffs His Armour

Ensemble

Dance of the Yao Tribe

Days of Joy

Lui Pui-yuen

Conductor/Guqin/Pipa

A native of Jiangsu, Lui Pui-yuen has first trained in the ancient repertoire of pipa under the instruction of Xiao Yunge and Xia Baochen in Shanghai before resettling in Hong Kong and has turned to learning the guqin under Wu Zonghan. He is known for his virtuosity not only in pipa and guqin, but also in many other types of Chinese string and wind instruments.  His style, a fine blend of strength and delicateness, exemplifies both the traditional techniques of Jiangnan string and wind music and the new fingering of pipa of the last decade or so.  Lui is an esteemed figure in the Hong Kong Chinese music circle, being one of the pioneers and recognized for his seminal influence on the genre.  He is the founder of the Chinese National Music Troupe in 1961, and over the past 20 more years, has trained numerous musicians and discovered new talents in Hong Kong.  He has also been instrumental in bringing the Chinese music section to the Hong Kong Schools Music Festival.  Lui has settled in the United States in 1973, and since then, he has been teaching in many music institutions there.  He has also given highly acclaimed concerts in many cities in North America and Asia.

Yu Lun

Conductor

A veteran music-maker in Hong Kong films, Yu Lun graduated from the Guangdong Arts School with a specialism in music. He began scoring for films in 1953, and since then has written the scores for and recorded the soundtrack music of dozens of films.  He was also formerly an adjudicator for the Hong Kong Schools Music Festival and guest conductor of the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra.  Yu has written the songs and theme songs of many television dramas (The Tragedy of Cheung Lam’s Wife, The Reincarnated and The Flying Fox on Snowy Mountain), the film starring the Cantonese Opera legends, Yam Kim-fai and Pak Suet-sin (The Tragedy of the Poet King), a theatre production (The Legend of the White Snake – A New Version), and radio plays of RTHK, as well as the theme song for the Giant Buddha of Po Lin Monastery. The theme song he wrote for the Hong Kong film, The Story Between Hong Kong and Macau, topped the chart for the “100 Golden Oldies - Hong Kong Classic Selections” of Radio Television Hong Kong.  Yu was presented with the CASH Hall of Fame Award by the Composers and Authors Society of Hong Kong in 2010.

Chan Ching-chee

Erhu

Chan Ching-chee is a seasoned huqin virtuoso.  He developed an interest in the erhu when he was young, and began acquiring the performance techniques by first receiving training, then continuing to perfect them on his own by borrowing some of the violin playing techniques and inventing new ones, such as the "wavy bowing" style. After resettling in Hong Kong in 1961, he continued his career in music and scored for many film studios in Hong Kong.  He has a wide-ranging discography that covers folk songs sung in Putonghua and Cantonese, Mandarin Pops, and Chinese and Western Pop etc..  In 1963, he created Chinese music history by playing The Butterfly Lovers Concerto on the gaohu instead of on the violin in an epoch-making concert at the Hong Kong City Hall.  It was followed by performances in many parts of the world, including the United States, Japan, Taiwan and Southeast Asia.  On resettling in the United States in 1973, he turned to business and stopped making music.  His interest is rekindled through the invitation of old friends and the occasion marks his return to music after a respite of more than thirty years.

Kwan Lun-kwong

Xiao

Kwan Lun-kwong first learned music and conducting under Hui Yee-man, then woodwind and music theory under Wong Ching-kuen, Fung Hang and Wong Kwong-ching.  He has been engaged in music education since the late 1950’s and has groomed many music workers.  He was a woodwind musician with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra in the 1960’s, and taught woodwind and dongxiao at the United Academy of Music during the 1970’s and 1980’s.  When the former Education Department launched the Hong Kong Schools Music Festival, Kwan led his students to compete in the School Chinese Orchestra and Individual classes with flying results. In the early 1970’s, he cut two solo albums of dongxiao music, entitled Song of the Frontier and A Beautiful Night, under the pseudonym of "Hung Kuk".  He also wrote and compiled two volumes of A Guide to Dizi Playing, published under the name of "Wu Wing-kwong". He has been the Adviser and Conductor of the Hon Wah College Alumni Chinese Orchestra in the last few years.

The Hong Kong Arts Society

The Hong Kong Arts Society is formed by a group of professional musicians in Hong Kong on the framework of the former Hong Kong Arts Troupe.  After five years of strengthening and expansion, it was officially registered in 2006.  The aims of the Society are to promote music and arts activities, improve communication and exchanges within a social context, and enhance local culture and the arts indigenous to the southern part of Guangdong.  The ensemble under the Society is famous for its repertoire of light music, performed with a lively, delicate and elegant appeal.  It is also the Society’s mission to introduce works written and arranged by local composers.