28 May 2017 (Sunday) 8:00pm
Hong Kong City Hall Concert Hall
Program
C.P.E. Bach (1714 – 1788)
C.P.E. 巴赫
Sinfonie in D, Wq 183/1
D大調交響曲，作品Wq 183/1
J.S. Bach (1685 – 1750)
J.S. 巴赫
“Symbolum nicenum” (Credo) from Mass in B-minor
尼吉亞信經 (《B 小調彌撒曲》)
C.P.E. Bach (1714 – 1788)
C.P.E. 巴赫
Magnificat
尊主頌
Artists
Soloists
Alison Lau, Soprano 劉卓昕 女高音
Samantha Chong, Mezzo-soprano 張吟晶 女中音
Stephen Ng, Tenor 吳智誠 男高音
Caleb Woo, Baritone 胡永正 男中音
Jerome Hoberman, Music Director & Conductor 何博文 音樂總監兼指揮
The Hong Kong Bach Choir & Orchestra 香港巴赫合唱團及管弦樂團
Introduction
On 9th April 1786 the aged Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, son of the great, but by then almost forgotten Johann Sebastian, presented a benefit concert in Hamburg on behalf of a local medical institute. C.P.E. Bach designed the concert as a retrospective of his own career, including important music from various periods in his life as well as excerpts from major works by his father and by the most celebrated composer who had until then appeared: George Frideric Handel. On the first half of the programme, following a brief instrumental prelude, was the ‘Symbolum nicenum’ [or ‘Credo’] from J.S. Bach’s Mass in B minor – quite possibly the work’s first performance – and two excerpts from Handel’s Messiah. The second half of the program was devoted to C.P.E. Bach’s own music, including a symphony (precisely which of his many such works is today unknown), his Magnificat, composed in 1749 perhaps as an audition piece to accompany a prospective application to succeed his father in Leipzig, and the grandiose Heilig (the German form of the Latin ‘Sanctus’), for double chorus, written in 1776.
This was one of the first documented projects to draw connections between music’s past and its present by means of a “historical concert.” While such programming is the norm for The Hong Kong Bach Choir – and for many other ensembles (though certainly not all) – it is good to remind ourselves that there are limits to our creativity, and that many of our innovations have a long and distinguished history.
Our upcoming concert re-imagines the atmosphere of that momentous event. However, concerts in those days were much longer than we are accustomed to today, lasting as much as four hours. Therefore, our programme will be a digest of the original, so to speak: it will comprise the most extended works from each half of the 1786 concert, and perhaps the greatest of C.P.E. Bach’s symphonies, which may have been the one played at that event. This will enable us not only to bring to our audience a programme of acceptable length, but will also focus attention on The Hong Kong Bach Choir’s core repertory, which, by its name, the choir assumes the responsibility of maintaining.
Tickets
Tickets Available: 16 April 2017
Online Booking: www.urbtix.hk
Ticket Reservation: 3761 6661
Credit Card Booking: 2111 5999
Discounts
10% off:
Members of the Law Society of Hong Kong
Members of the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers
Members of the Hong Kong Institute of Architects
Members of the Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors
Members of the Hong Kong Arts Administrators Association
15% off:
Friends of the Hong Kong Bach Choir
50% off:
Full-time students, senior citizens, people with disabilities and the minder, and CSSA recipients
Group Discount schemes
5% off: Purchase of 6 to 9 tickets
10% off: Purchase of 10 or more tickets
Email info@bachchoir.org.hk for details
The Hong Kong Bach Choir 