Debra Li

debra_lidan@163.com

SHENZHEN Concert Hall has launched a two-month program to mark the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to the motherland, which will fall on July 1.

To foster cultural exchanges between Shenzhen and neighboring Hong Kong, the concert hall has arranged 12 live performances as well as workshops, master classes, meetings with artists and online shows in cooperation with the Hong Kong Arts Development Council (HKADC), Hong Kong Leisure and Culture Services Department, and other agencies.

Over the past weekend, Zhang Haochen and Du Tianqi, former students of Shenzhen Arts School’s Dan Zhaoyi, gave two piano recitals at the venue. Zhang, now 32, won the gold medal at the 13th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 2009, and in 2017 received the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant, which recognizes talented musicians with the potential for a major career in music. Du, two years Zhang’s junior, is also a multiple award winner. The two have performed many a time in Shenzhen and Hong Kong.

Then, on July 29, Hong Kong-based violinist Yao Yue, who plays on a 1713 Stradivarius, will also perform a solo concert.

On July 23, Shenzhen Concert Hall will arrange the screening of “Cinderella,” which will be performed by Hong Kong Ballet at its chamber hall.

Ten public-benefit concerts, themed around cultural exchanges between the Pearl River Delta region and Hong Kong, will also be staged. The concerts will include a vocal concert performed by Shenzhen Concert Hall’s Chanson de Montagne Children’s Choir and children’s choirs from Guangzhou and Zhongshan, and a piano concert featuring the works of Igor Astrow, a Latvia-born Russian musician who lived in Guangdong and its neighboring areas in the 20th century.

Shenzhen-based composer Yao Feng will share stories behind his works written for Guangdong and Hong Kong. Wang Youdi, a guqin (ancient Chinese string instrument) teacher from the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts, will perform a Chinese music concert with several Shenzhen musicians, and a Shenzhen band will bring back memories with an acapella concert of Hong Kong pop songs.

A series of documentaries on Hong Kong’s intangible cultural heritages will also be screened and audiences are invited to attend workshops on such subjects as Cantonese opera.

Online events will feature screenings of the “Hong Kong Take Off” project presented by Hong Kong artists commissioned by the HKADC.

The concert hall is also enlisting the youth to compose original song lyrics themed on this anniversary. Local musicians will compose the music and the songs will be performed by local choirs online in July.