Actors' Family and The Chinese University of Hong Kong Chorus

Building Up a Future of Cantonese Choral Classics

Campaign mission

On January 3, 2016, the CU Chorus will team up with Actors’ Family, one of the forerunning company of Cantonese musical theatre, in presenting a concert of musical numbers, newly arranged for mixed voice choir. In that way we hope to contribute to the choral repertoire by making more Cantonese music capable to be sung in this beautiful Hong Kong language.

Details

Hong Kong has an active choral scene, with top-notch choirs made up of adults and children. However, there are few choral works sung in Cantonese. Technically it is a difficult language to manage, historically it is marginalised by the choral music community. The CU Chorus pioneered two concerts that leads to the current project.

In 2014, we sang songs of Taiwanese composer Jan Tienhao, with many tasteful arrangements from Taiwanese vernacular language. Jan’s art reminds us that it is not far to manage Cantonese, just a slightly more tonal difference than Taiwanese, for chorus. Later in the year, we have staged a full concert paying tribute to Joseph Koo, the master of Cantopop, all arranged for mixed voice choir.

In this project, we take one step further by making all choral pieces for mixed voice choir and piano only, distilling the musicality of Actors’ Family wonderful output into crystalline choral voices. This will coincide with the 25th anniversary of Actors’ Family.

This concert will contribute to the Cantonese choral repertoire by turning musical theatre pieces into natively choral works by veteran composers from Hong Kong. Actor’s Family cast will also join in the production, making a narrative of the upbringing of Cantonese musical theatre.

Your support is needed so that we can find best talents to arrange the music into some best arts, pay them with respect and to stage the concert to present to the Hong Kong audience. These songs will also become part of the Cantonese choral music repertoire available for all choirs dedicated to the language and looking for new challenges. We envision a day when Cantonese songs flourish in concert halls.

Details of Concert

3 January 2016 (Sunday)
8pm
Hong Kong City Hall Concert Hall

About the Performers

The Chinese University of Hong Kong Chorus (CU Chorus)

「…唱來熱情充沛，正是年輕人的精神可貴之處。」－李歐梵《明報》

CU Chorus is a wonderful youth choir with amazing abilities! Having worked with them and their conductor - my former student Leon Chu, I will keep forever my memories about the great spirit, sensitivity and beautiful music they can create! I am happy to know you, my dear friends!

- Prof. Theodora Pavlovitch, Vice-President of International Federation for Choral Music

CU Chorus were splendid in their collaboration with Siam Philharmonic in our complete Mahler Cycle. They sang like angels — just as the composer intended!

- Somtow Sucharitkul, Music Director of Siam Philharmonic

For 40 years' pursuit of excellence, The Chinese University of Hong Kong Chorus (CU Chorus) has become one of the best local university choirs in Hong Kong. With a global vision, CU Chorus has performed not only on the local stage, but also in various cities in southern China and Southeast Asia. With its high quality performances and innovative programmes, CU Chorus is dedicated to promote the art of choral music to the general public.

CU Chorus was founded in 1972 by a group of CUHK students. In the early days, the role of conductor was taken up by students. Since the 1990s, the formal post of Music Director and Conductor is established. The post is first taken up by Dennis Ng, followed by Yeh Cheung-shing in 2000 to 2005, and currently Leon Chu from 2006. From a group that once taken part in joint-university singing contest by the Hong Kong Federation of Students, to the one that organises annual performances, CU Chorus has now developed its range of performances including two public concerts every year, free campus concerts, overseas exchange performances, Christmas caroling, conducting workshops and charity outreach performances.

CU Chorus presented a number of popular programmes with diverse themes, through which many foreign composers and their works were introduced to the Hong Kong music scene. In recent years, the Chorus presented a number of composer-portrait concerts to feature original choral works and arrangements by Eric Whitacre (2012), Ola Gjeilo (2013), Jan Tien-hao (2014) and Joseph Koo (2014). The composers also sent personal regards to the concerts.

With the American jazz legend Howard McCrary, the Chorus hosted two Christmas concerts — A Jazzy Christmas with Howard McCrary (2012) and In the Mood for Love (2013) — with all newly-arranged Christmas songs, a novel take of the festive celebrations. While making an influence in repertoire expansion in local choral scene, CU Chorus' performances also made an impact through the internet: the YouTube video of CU Chorus received coverage in the Israeli newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth, for its wide circulation and resonance in Jewish communities worldwide.

Over the years, CU Chorus has collaborated with numerous local and overseas artists, including Joseph Koo, the godfather of Hong Kong pop music scene, as well as percussionist Louis Siu, the RTHK Quartet, Taiwanese conductors Dirk DuHei and Johnny Ku, Bulgarian choral conductor Theodora Pavlovitch, American conductors Paul Hondorp and Eric Stark, and American jazz musician Howard McCrary. Since the 1970s, CU Chorus has constantly engaged in exchange activities with choirs in the mainland China and Southeast Asia, visiting cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Taipei, Tainan, Manila, Bangkok, Singapore and Johor Bahru. CU Chorus was also invited to various guest performances overseas, including the 20th Macau International Music Festival in 2006, the Thai premiere of Mahler's 8th Symphony by Siam Philharmonic Orchestra in 2013, and the world premiere of the original Moscow version of Xian Xing-hai's Yellow River Cantata in the 2015 Shanghai Spring International Music Festival.

Promoting Hong Kong choral compositions is one of the mission of CU Chorus since its establishment. CU Chorus has regularly commissioned Hong Kong composers such as Dennis Wu, Andy So, Samson Young, Tang Lok-yin and Ng Wah-hei, and Taiwan composer Jan Tien-hao for new pieces, so as to develop a unique and local voice in Hong Kong choral music. In 2008 and 2009, CU Chorus was invited for demonstrative talks in Shanghai Normal University and Dayeh University, Taiwan respectively, introducing Hong Kong Cantonese choral compositions to the mainland and Taiwanese students, receiving much acclaim.

CU Chorus released its first commercial album Spring Breeze Kisses My Face — The Choral Music of Jan Tien-hao on The Modern Audio label in June 2014. Since its initial release, the album has been well-received by music lovers, to such acclaim that it is awarded as one of the Best Sales Releases (Classical and Operatic Works Recording) in the IFPI Hong Kong Top Sales Music Award 2014. The album is now being licensed and distributed in mainland China by Tianyi Records, Guangzhou.

To lay a better foundation for its never-ending artistic pursuit, CU Chorus registered charitable organisation status with CU Chorus Association (a limited-liability company) in January 2012. The new governing body, with its finer division of labour in artistic, management and administrative aspects, better facilitates the collaboration of CUHK undergraduates, postgraduates and alumni in their efforts to raise CU Chorus – a group coming from and based in CUHK – to ever-higher artistic heights.

Actors' Family (演戲家族)

Actors' Family is established in 1991 by graduates of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. As Hong Kong’s leading musical theatre company, it is committed to produce quality original Cantonese musicals, fostering local theatre development and enriching cultural lives in the city. Actors' Family strives to produce musicals that broaden horizons and investigate daily lives with the aim to engage audiences and promote theatre arts.

Over the years, the Company has staged over 40 works including large-scale original musicals and experimental plays, many of which received nominations and awards at the Hong Kong Drama Awards, with enthusiastic support from mass media and the audience.

In recent years, the company reaches beyond Hong Kong, touring productions in the Mainland regions and Macau, facilitating genuine cultural exchange and promoting Hong Kong original musicals.