top of page

IN DIALOGUE WITH BEETHOVEN 2020

Updated: Apr 9, 2021

Curatorial Statement


Goethe-Institut Hongkong partners with Hong Kong New Music Ensemble and The University of Hong Kong in celebrating Ludwig van Beethoven's 250th birthday.


Hong Kong New Music Ensemble celebrates Beethoven in 2020 through exploring the dimensions of the miniature, the embryonic and the intangible: three short programmes featuring transcriptions, rarely-performed works by the great German master, and works that bear traces of his influences (from Liszt to the The Beatles). The series culminates with the exploration of Beethoven's compositional sketches and drafts treated as raw materials for new music.


Co-Curators:

William Lane/ Artistic Director, Hong Kong New Music Ensemble

Prof. Giorgio Biancorosso/ Professor (Music) & Director, Society of Fellows in the Humanities, The University of Hong Kong


 

In Dialogue with Beethoven 2020 concert no.1: LEGACY


This programme honours and showcases Beethoven's breathtaking originality, as well as his lasting influence on future generations of composers. The elegiac first movement of the "Moonlight" Sonata finds its sentiments echoed here in the last movement of Shostakovich's Viola Sonata; meanwhile, the highly demanding transcription of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony finds its diametrically opposed counterpart in the 2020 REMIX of John Lennon's Because, written in 1969.


Programme:

L.v. Beethoven: Piano Sonata no.14 in C♯ minor “Moonlight” (1801) - I.

2020 REMIX of John Lennon’s Because (1969)

L.v. Beethoven, arr. F. Liszt: Symphony no.5 in C minor (1804-08/1837) - I.*

D. Shostakovich: Sonata for Viola and Piano (1975) - III.


Performers:

Linda Yim, piano

Shelley Ng, piano*

William Lane, viola


 

In Dialogue with Beethoven 2020 concert no.2: THE UNKNOWN



Recorded on the day of Beethoven's birthday, this concert features the rarely performed Serenade for flute, violin & viola by a young Beethoven, preceded by Hong Kong composer Charles Kwong’s early chamber work Here the world expires, which features the same instrumentation. The concert opens and closes with a miniature-hommage for electronics by Angus Lee, which is accompanied by behind-the-scenes footages of preparations for Crossroads, the final event in this series, which unravels Beethoven's creative process through examining and decrypting a number of primary source documents, including manuscripts.


HKNME YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dW45fidPcvk

HKNME Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hongkongnewmusicensemble

Goethe-Institut Hongkong Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/goetheinstitut.hongkong


Programme:

Angus Lee: Waiting for Ludwig van (memegraphic tribute to Alexander DeLarge) (2020) for electronics

Charles Kwong: Here the world expires(2012/15) for flute, violin and viola

L.v. Beethoven: Serenade in D major (1795-96) for flute, violin and viola


Performers:

Angus Lee, flute

Patrick Yim, violin

William Lane, viola


Production:

Giorgio Biancorosso & William Lane (co-curators)

Chris Tam (audio)

Kal Ng & New Breed Concept (video)


Venue support:

Music Department, University of Hong Kong


 

In Dialogue with Beethoven 2020 concert no.3: CROSSROADS


The third event Crossroads is expected to take place in April 2021 and will be presented in the form of a multimedia concert installation.


 

PARTNERS






68 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Curating contemporary music has never been a trivial task. The aesthetic & conceptual diversity present in the repertoire means that, in order to begin to conceptualise how one work may relate to anot

bottom of page