50th Anniversary Concert:
Bach Mass in B Minor
Tuesday December 7th, 2021 | Concert Hall, The Hong Kong Cultural Centre
We are finally back!
Hong Kong – The Hong Kong Bach Choir & Orchestra, silenced for almost two years by Covid-19, returns to life on 7th December with the “B-minor Mass” by J.S. Bach.
Hong Kong’s performing ensembles have been enjoying a renaissance after their lengthy dormancy, responding to pent-up demand and playing to full houses. Some have treated this moment in a business-as-usual manner, while others have used the occasion to mourn the world’s dead.
The Hong Kong Bach Choir – one of Hong Kong’s longest-established vocal groups, founded in 1970 – offers a different approach. According to its music director and conductor, Jerome Hoberman, “there will be opportunities later to memorialize the pandemic’s losses. Now is a time to celebrate life.” Especially since the Choir has had to wait to commemorate its 50th anniversary, which passed during the year of silence in 2020.
Bach understood well that he was the culmination of the musical style we now call “Baroque.” He assembled the “B-minor Mass” late in life as a summation of his unprecedented mastery. Bach, a devout Lutheran, was far from an ecumenical individual. But in composing his setting of the Roman Catholic Mass, he indirectly created an ecumenical work – one that can draw together people of all nations and faiths. For The Hong Kong Bach Choir, whose membership includes more than a dozen nationalities, it has become a signature work.
Fittingly, the “B-minor Mass” has marked several of The Bach Choir’s significant anniversaries – its 25th, 35th and, most recently, its 40th anniversary, in 2010. So, the upcoming presentation is doubly auspicious.
Joining The Hong Kong Bach Choir and Orchestra, and making her Hong Kong debut is soprano Anna Zhang, together with mezzo-soprano Samantha Chong, tenor Wesley Lam, bass-baritone Isaac Droscha.
This concert is generously supported by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council and the Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany Hong Kong.
Past Concerts
A Symphony of Praise
Monday December 16 2019 | Concert Hall, The Hong Kong Cultural Centre
A Symphony of Praise sets in illuminating opposition two superb but rarely performed works from 18th- and 19th-century Austria by two of music’s greatest masters, and a new work by one of Hong Kong’s most respected musicians and composers. The programme is in fact a symphony in three movements — from the dark tempestuousness of Haydn Symphony No. 95 in C minor, to OZNO Cantata Nr. 3 “Gabriel”, to the brilliant jubilation of C major in Bruckner Te Deum.
A Symphony of Praise is generously supported by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council.
The new work, OZNO Cantata Nr. 3 “Gabriel”, is commissioned by Hong Kong Bach Choir in 2019 with sponsorship from CASH Music Fund.
The Hong Kong Bach Choir 