Hing yan chan biography sample
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From Constraints to Creativity: Musical Inventions through Cantonese Contours in Hong Kong Contemporary Music
Introduction
Tonal languages depend on variations in pitch and inflection to differentiate word meanings. Since the same sound may carry very different or even conflicting meanings at different pitch levels, the perception of pitches as high or low in a musical melody fundamentally affects the perception of the corresponding text. Research on the tone-melody interface in Cantonese opera (Yung 1989) and Canto-pop (Ho 2010;Wong and Diehl 2002) has revealed that Cantonese texts are only intelligible in a musical setting if the pitches of successive syllables are appropriately distanced. However, no one to date has mapped out the manifold possibilities in contemporary Cantonese compositions to understand how composers deal with text-setting constraints. This study fills the gap by investigating the tone-melody relationship in Cantonese text settings as exemplified in the creat
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When the Hong Kong Arts Festival approached Professor Chan Hing-yan in 2015 to compose a del av helhet to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover and the festival’s own 45th anniversary, it seemed a straightforward assignment: pick a theme, create a structure and compose around that. Little did he know.
Those första talks gave way to a bigger vision of leading a group of young composers, advising on musicians and singers, incorporating modern pop music, working with a video artist – in effect, seeing the project through from conception to page to stage.
“It turned out to be a lot of work and preparation. I had to compile the text, make sure there was a good balance in the use of the different performers and musicians, and manage things like the number of percussion instruments on stage,” Professor Chan sighed. “I’d never done anything like this before.”
Nonetheless, the task sparked his curiosity and passion. He sought inspiration from written works and dug through cou
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Q & A: Maria Natale on Portraying Judith in ‘Bluebeard’s Castle’
Opera has been a “western” art for centuries. But when the “eastern” world produces it, the experience can be truly riveting.
Such is the case with “Datong: The Chinese Utopia,” composer Chan Hing-yan’s three-Act work that took Hong Kong by storm and is set to do the same in just a few days.
Following the story of philosopher Kang Youwei and his daughter Kang Tongbi, the opera spans almost a century of history looking at a number of major issues that powered and changed the 20th century. The opera was such a huge hit in 2015 when it first had its world premiere at the Hong Kong Arts Festival that it now has the chance to make a similar impact in London when it premieres in the “Western” world at the Richmond Theatre on July 27 and 28.
From Hong Kong to London
What makes “Datong” unique is that it combines musical traditions from the west with those of Asia to create a universal del av helhet of