Beare's Premiere Music Festival 2024
Since 2009, the Beare's Premiere Music Festival ( formerly the Hong Kong International Chamber Music Festival ) brings internationally renowned musicians to Hong Kong every January for a series of world class chamber music concerts. The Beare's Premiere Music Festival brings Hong Kong audiences the richness of chamber music and its endless variety of instrumental combinations, performed at the highest international level. Alongside the best loved classical masterpieces, the Festival also introduces new music, including commissioned works, to Hong Kong audiences.
Premiere Performances is proud to present the second instalment of Musical Fairy Tales as part of the 2024 Beare's Premiere Music Festival! The centrepiece will be Prokofiev's family classic Peter & the Wolf – a fascinating story about the two title characters and a crowd of animals – performed by our wind quintet Viva! Pipers. The concert will also feature The Three Little Pigs ( in a clever arrangement of Beethoven's 5th Symphony for a string quartet ) as well as selections from Evelyn Chang's Fantasies for Children Musical Stories (played by the composer herself). All fairytales will be narrated by actress Margaret Cheung. This concert is a great way for children to experience the descriptive ability of music and to spark their imaginations!
Language
2:30pm performance: With narration in Cantonese
4:30pm performance: With narration in English
For ages 5 or above.
Programme
CHANG Selections from Fantasies for Children Musical Stories
Evelyn Chang ( piano )
HoBuCo The Three Little Pigs Answer Beethoven Five
Ruda Lee ( violin ), Kiann Chow ( violin ), Ringo Chan ( viola ), Eric Yip ( cello )
PROKOFIEV (arr. Earl C. North) Peter and the Wolf
Sharon Chiew ( flute ) Rachel Wong ( oboe ), Leung Tak-wing ( bassoon ), Edith Tam ( horn ), Linus Fung (clarinet), Brian Chui ( percussion )
Narrator: Margaret Cheung
Our festival opens with a focus on the Miró Quartet, one of America’s most celebrated and dedicated string quartets, playing the Asian Premiere of star composer Caroline Shaw’s Microfictions. Caroline Shaw is a distinctive voice in American music, and has received a Pulitzer Prize in Music and several Grammy awards. This work, Microfictions, was co-commissioned by Premiere Performances (with the support of Interlude.hk), together with the La Jolla Music Society, Carnegie Hall, Chamber Music Houston and the Shriver Hall Concert Series, and was dedicated to the Miró Quartet themselves. The work is a stimulating set of six short musical stories in the tradition of imagist poetry and the surrealist painting of Joan Miró.
This concert will also feature two beloved masterpieces for strings: the invigorating Mozart’s String Quintet in G minor (with violist Masumi Per Rostad) and the magnificent Brahms Quartet No. 1.
Programme
Caroline SHAW Microfictions (2021)
Asian premiere, co-commissioned by Premiere Performances (with the support of Interlude.hk)
Miró Quartet
MOZART String Quintet in G minor, KV 516
Miró Quartet, Masumi Rostad (viola)
BRAHMS String Quartet No. 1 in C minor, Op. 51, No. 1
Miró Quartet
The Genius of Mozart | Beare's Premiere Music Festival 2024 | Premiere Performances
Legendary conductor Karl Böhm once described Mozart as the "greatest of all musical geniuses". Now, you have the opportunity to immerse yourself in the brilliance and grace of Mozart with some of his chamber music masterpieces. Feel the joy and synchronicity between Orion Weiss and Shai Wosner as they perform the rousing Sonata for Two Pianos. Experience the luscious harmonies and stunning artistry of the renowned Miró Quartet as they play the "Dissonance" String Quartet. And to close the concert, violin virtuoso Ning Feng join hands with violist Masumi Per Rostad and cellist Gary Hoffman in the charming "Divertimento" string trio.
Programme
MOZART
Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major, KV. 448
Orion Weiss, Shai Wosner
MOZART
String Quartet No. 19 in C Major, "Dissonance", K. 465
Miró Quartet
MOZART
Divertimento in E-flat Major for String Trio, KV. 563
Ning Feng ( violin ), Masumi Per Rostad ( viola ), Gary Hoffman ( cello )
A Romantic Interlude | Beare's Premiere Music Festival 2024 | Premiere Performances
Indulge yourself in the profound emotion and expressiveness of chamber music from the Romantic period. The concert begins with the enchanting Schubert Fantasie, performed by the dynamic piano duo Orion Weiss and Shai Wosner. This is followed by the captivating melodies of the Smetana Trio, featuring the dazzling violinist So-Ock Kim, cello powerhouse Gary Hoffman and the brilliant Orion Weiss. The concert reaches its emotional pinnacle with the resplendent beauty of Brahms' String Quintet, skillfully interpreted by the virtuosic ensemble led by star violinist Ning Feng.
Programme
SCHUBERT Fantasie in F minor for piano four hands
Orion Weiss, Shai Wosner
SMETANA Piano Trio in G minor, Op. 15
So-Ock Kim ( violin ), Gary Hoffman ( cello ), Orion Weiss ( piano )
BRAHMS String Quintet in G Major, Op. 111
Ning Feng ( violin ), So-Ock Kim ( violin ), Masumi Rostad ( viola ), John Largess ( viola ), Gary Hoffman ( cello )
Concert supported by Interlude.hk
"One of the most sensitive and musical of today's younger Lieder interpreters" ( The Telegraph ) Robin Tritschler returns for our Festival Closing Gala. The acclaimed Irish tenor will be performing two song cycles – first he partners with Shai Wosner in one of Schumann’s greatest vocal works Liederkreis; later the pair is joined by the Miró Quartet for the lesser-performed but equally remarkable On Wenlock Edge by Vaughan-Williams.
In additional to these vocal masterpieces, the concert also showcases the dynamic duo of Orion Weiss and Shai Wosner in Beethoven's Grosse Fuge. And, for the grand finale of this year's Beare's Premiere Music Festival, our exceptional festival musicians come together for one of the most beloved works in the chamber music canon, Schumann's exuberant Piano Quintet.
Programme
SCHUMANN Liederkreis, Op. 39
Robin Tritschler ( tenor ), Shai Wosner ( piano )
BEETHOVEN Grosse Fuge, arr. for Piano Four Hands
Orion Weiss, Shai Wosner
VAUGHAN-WILLIAMS On Wenlock Edge
Robin Tritschler ( tenor ), Miró Quartet, Shai Wosner ( piano )
SCHUMANN Piano Quintet in E-flat Major, Op. 44
Ning Feng (violin), So-Ock Kim (violin), Masumi Per Rostad ( viola ), Gary Hoffman ( cello ), Orion Weiss ( piano )