Music

On 18 November 1881, the famous cabaret ‘Chat Noir’ opened in the Bohemian neighborhood of Montmartre in Paris. Like the popular café-concerts, it represented the artistic and social activity of a kind that brought together a fantastic mixture of writers and painters, musicians and politicians, employees and high-livers, as well as students and grand dames searching for exotic experiences. On the ‘chic day’ and Friday evening, people come for music, songs, theatrical sketches, or even shadow puppet shows with alcoholic beverage served. This event will bring you a cultural experience in the only cabaret in Hong Kong, with woodwinds and piano music by French composers Camille Saint-Saëns, Jacques Ibert, Jean Françaix and Francis Poulenc. Each work will be introduced in a short explanatory speech. Presented by woodwind quintet Viva! Pipers and Hong Kong pianist Poon Kiu-tung

Kiu Tung Poon, named a Young Steinway Artist, has performed recitals and lectures/recitals in the US, Germany, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Macau; has appeared in international music festivals in Tanglewood, Aspen, Wiener Konzerthaus and the Great Wall in Beijing; and broadcasts on RTHK Radio 4, Austin’s 89.5 KMFA and Teledifusão de Macau. She was privileged to work with some of today’s foremost American composers, including Daniel Godfrey, John Harbison, George Tsontakis and Dan Welcher, and has premièred with the Penderecki Quartet among others. Her world première of Mark Morris/Samuel Barber’s Excursions with the Mark Morris Dance Group at the Tanglewood Music Festival received enthusiastic reviews by critics writing for The New York Times and the Boston Phoenix. A graduate of Indiana University Bloomington and the University of Texas at Austin, she currently teaches at the Chinese University of Hong Kong as a Lecturer in music performance.

The Viva! Pipers is an ensemble of talented musicians from Hong Kong who have all received overseas training. The five wind players were recruited through a public audition process and have received extensive training from the professional musicians from Musica Viva Australia to deliver the same interactive and engaging program that Musica Viva is famous for. The Viva! Pipers perform as part of Premiere Performances’ Chamber Music In Schools program, and their performance has been carefully developed to showcase a range of musical styles and genres (and fun!). Since their first school tour in April 2015, they have given many live performances at kindergartens and primary schools around Hong Kong, for more than 5,000 students.