​2016 International Conference on
Performance and Creativity

Ensemble: Collegium Musicum Hong Kong
Conductor: Johnny M Poon
Soloist: Louise Lai-Ling KWONG, Soprano
            Robert BLOCKER, Piano
            Melvyn TAN, Piano


$250 / $100
Half-price tickets available for full-time students, senior citizens, people with disabilities
全日制學生、長者及殘疾人士可獲半價優惠

適合6歲或以上觀眾
For age 6+

Tickets available at URBTIX from 18.10.2016
節目查詢 Programme Enquiries : 3411 7504
門票查詢及購票 Ticketing Enquiries & Bookings : www.URBTIX.hk | 2111 5999 / 3761 6661

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Programme:

A. CALDARA - 
Overture to 'Le Cinesi'
Aria: Prenditi il Figlio
Aria: Stil Pastorale
Aria: Ad un Riso, ad un occhiata

Louise Lai-Ling KWONG, Soprano


W.A. MOZART -
Piano Concerto No. 12 in A major, K.414 
I. Allegro 
II. Andante 
III. Rondeau. Allegretto

Robert BLOCKER, Piano


W.A. MOZART -
Piano Concerto No.9 in E-flat major, K.271, “Jenamy”
I. Allegro
II. Andantino 
III. Rondeau. Presto

Melvyn TAN, Piano

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Louise Lai-Ling KWONG, Soprano

Louise Kwong is the prize winners of numerous singing competitions, namely the 2nd prize, Audience prize and the Best Soprano prize in the 18th International Singing Competition Ferruccio Tagliavini in Austria, 1st prize in the Singing Competition Salice d’oro 2015 in Italy; 1st prize in the Singing Competition Città di Iseo 2015 in Italy; 2nd prize in the 7th International Singing Competition Bell’arte in Belgium. 

Louise graduated from the Dutch National Opera Academy, the Conservatory of Amsterdam, the Netherlands and the Royal College of Music, London. Her operatic roles include Cio-cio-san in Puccini’s Madame Butterfly, Micaëla in Bizet’s Carmen, Liù in Puccini’s Turandot, Santuzza in Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana, Anna in Donizetti’s Anna Bolena and La Contessa in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro and Fiordiligi in Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte.

Locally, Louise’s achievement was recognized by the Hong Kong SAR Government by being awarded with the Young Artist Award in Music (2014) and in the Commendatory Scheme of the Secretary of Home Affairs (2015). She has been invited to perform in several music festivals, including the roles of Xiao Hong in opera Heart of Corals, Tong-bi Kang in opera Datong in the Hong Kong Arts Festival and Fiordiligi in opera Cosi fan Tutte in the Grachtenfestival Amsterdam. 

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Robert BLOCKER, Piano

Robert Blocker began his study of piano at the age of five, presenting his first public recital two years later. Today, he concertizes throughout the world. His engagements have included performances in the United States, Europe, Mexico, China, and Korea, Thailand, and several Pacific Rim countries. Recent orchestral engagements include the Beijing Symphony Orchestra, Shanghai Symphony, Houston Symphony, Monterey Philharmonic, Prague Chamber Orchestra, Moscow Chamber Orchestra, Korean Symphony and Daejeon (South Korea) Symphony.

His 2007 performance at the International Great Mountains Festival with the Sejong Artists was broadcast throughout Korea twice on KBS. These appearances have won him critical acclaim as noted in the Los Angeles Times review: “…great skill and accomplishment, a measurable virtuoso bent and considerable musical sensitivity… mesmerizing moments.” This year, Naxos will release a CD of three Mozart concerti performed by Blocker with the Biava Quartet.

Robert Blocker, has been the Henry and Lucy Moses Dean of Music at Yale University, since 1995. In 2006 Blocker was named honorary Professor of Piano at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. In 2000, Steinway and Sons featured Robert Blocker in its film commemorating the tercentennial year of the piano along with Billy Joel, Van Cliburn and others. He appears regularly on national radio and television as both artist and commentator. In 2004 the Yale University Press published The Robert Shaw Reader, edited by Robert Blocker. Now in its third printing, the volume is presently being translated for publication in Korea.

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Melvyn TAN, Piano

Exploration, insight and imagination are vital ingredients in Melvyn Tan’s blend of artistic attributes. He established his international reputation in the 1980s with pioneering performances on the fortepiano and continues to cast fresh light on music conceived for the piano’s early and modern forms.

Performing on the modern piano today, Tan is acclaimed for the wit and poetry in his playing. His refreshing interpretations of everything from Bach and Rameau to Chopin and Debussy are directly informed by his knowledge of historical playing styles and intuitive feeling for the modern piano’s timbres and textures.

Tan’s work as recitalist, chamber musician and concerto soloist has been heard at many of the world’s leading concert halls, from the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Vienna Konzerthaus to London’s Wigmore Hall, Royal Festival Hall and New York’s Lincoln Center. He has appeared in major international festivals in Salzburg, Edinburgh, La Roque d’Anthéron, Bath’s Mozartfest and City of London Festival and has performed with such prestigious ensembles as the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Academy of St Martin’s in the Fields, the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, Salzburg’s Camerata and Mozarteum orchestras, Melbourne Symphony and on tour with the Australian Chamber Orchestra.

More recently, Tan has made regular appearances with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra and with the London Chamber Orchestra, recording Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 12 and Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 2 on the orchestra’s LCO Live label.

Tan marks his 60 birthday in 2016 with tours to four continents including a UK tour with the Bruckner Orchestra Linz, and appearances in South Africa, Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia. He gave the world premiere of Jonathan Dove's piano work Catching Fire at the Cheltenham Music Festival, followed by the release of his new CD "Master and Pupil" (themed on the teacher-student relationship between Beethoven, Czerny and Liszt) on the Onyx label. 

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JOHNNY M POON, Music Director and Conductor

Johnny M Poon is currently professor and head of the Department of Music at Hong Kong Baptist University. He is an elected fellow of the Hong Kong Academy of the Humanities. He is also music director and conductor of the HKBU Symphony Orchestra and Collegium Musicum Hong Kong. Previously, Poon held positions as Director of Operas and Choral Activities at the University of Evansville, Music Director of the Evansville Collegium Musicum, Associate Conductor of OperaFestival di Roma, Artistic Director of Harlaxton International Chamber Music Festival and the Manhattan-Hong Kong Music Festival.

Poon has appeared in many of the world’s leading festivals and concert halls including the Carnegie Hall, Glinka Cappella Hall, Novgorod Philharmonic Hall, Gnessin Institute of Arts, The National Centre for the Performing Arts and the Forbidden City Concert Hall (Beijing, China), Operafestvial di Roma and Hong Kong Arts Festival. He has guest conducted such ensembles as the Moscow State Philharmonic Orchestra, the St. Petersburg State Capella Symphony Orchestra, Sudwestdeutsche Philharmonie, Filarmonica Mihail Jora Bacau, Kammarkoren Svenska Roster, Kammerchor Stuttgart, Slezske divadlo Opava, Sinfonica dell’ International Chamber Ensemble, New England Symphonic Ensemble, Beijing Central Conservatory Symphony Orchestra, Tsinghua University Philharmonic Orchestra, Manhattan School of Music Symphony Orchestra, Xiamen Philharmonic Orchestra, Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra and the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra.

Poon’s credentials in education include a doctoral degree in conducting performance from the University of Iowa and a distinguished collegiate teaching career complemented with a long and illustrious record of teaching and scholastic awards. Among numerous distinctions, Poon was twice included in Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers. He was the recipient of the Chi Omega Professor of the Year Award and the Sadler & Sydney Berger Award for Outstanding Scholastic Achievement at the University of Evansville. Poon was twice honored with artistic citations for Outstanding Orchestral Performance and Music Direction at the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival.

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Collegium Musicum Hong Kong

Collegium Musicum Hong Kong is a chamber ensemble consisting of some of the most energetic and committed musicians from Hong Kong. Members of the Collegium Musicum share a special congruence of purpose and dexterity with inimitable flair and style, giving rise to the group’s reputation as one of the most exciting chamber ensembles in Hong Kong. The artistic personality of the group can be seen through its creative approach to programming with a rich offering of the 17th and 18th century repertoire alongside new compositions with strong cross-cultural flavors. The ensemble has appeared in the Central Conservatory Music Festival (Beijing), Harlaxton International Chamber Music Festival (UK), and the Hong Kong Arts Festival. Other concert engagements have taken the group to London, Vienna, Salzburg, Leipzig, Munich, Prague, and throughout China. CMHK has also worked with such guest artists as violinist Gottfried von der Goltz, fortepianist Bart van Oort, Baroque specialist Christophe Rousset, organist Douglas O'Neill and fortepianist Carole Cerasi. Since 2006, CMHK has collaborated with Beijing’s Central Conservatory of Music in a series of Baroque performances. Some significant Baroque revivals include the complete Messiah in Beijing (2007) and Ningbo (2008), and the first-ever Chinese production of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas (2010) in Beijing, China. In February 2014, the ensemble made its New York debut at Carnegie Hall to critical acclaim.