Music

A concert entitled “Sticks and Strings” by the Hong Kong String Quartet and percussionist Li Biao will be staged in May. The concert is presented by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department as part of its “City Hall Virtuosi Series”.

The programme will include works by Rosauro, Shostakovich and Reifeneder. There are also works arranged by Li Biao, the Hong Kong premiere of Guo Wenjing’s “Rite” as well as Piazzolla’s “La Muerte del Angel”, “Libertango” and “Escualo”. The members of the Hong Kong String Quartet performing at the concert will be Wong Sze-hang (first violin), Cheng Li (second violin), Ni Lan (viola) and Anna Kwan (cello).

The Hong Kong String Quartet was founded by Wong Sze-hang in 1993. All members of the Quartet are musicians from the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. The Quartet has served as the resident quartet of Radio Television Hong Kong’s Radio 4 and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. The Quartet has also collaborated with various local and overseas musicians, and has performed extensively in Hong Kong, including at major music festivals. High critical acclaim has been won in Hong Kong, the Mainland and Macau. Apart from Hong Kong, the Quartet will also perform at the National Centre of the Performing Arts in Beijing later this year.

Li Biao has won world acclaim as an exceptional solo percussionist in the contemporary era by virtue of his extraordinary musicality and stylistic uniqueness. Li has given numerous solo recitals at various music festivals and worked with renowned orchestras and chamber ensembles including the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra, the China National Symphony Orchestra and the Beijing Symphony Orchestra. He has also worked with leading conductors such as Mstislav Rostropovich, Christoph Eschenbach, Lawrence Foster and Jonathan Nott. As a soloist, Li has performed in more than 70 countries or cities. He is a regular percussion concerto performer at “Pay Attention to Classical Music”, an influential European classical music programme, and has recorded percussion albums with labels such as EMI and Teldec.