“Under the Same Roof: Origin and Art of Lingnan Traditional Architecture” Exhibition, "Gender Revealed - Not a Party But An Exhibition” at at 480.0 Gender & Art Space & In the Studio : “SOUND OF MUSIC”

Art Basel & In the Studio : Violinist Chloe Chan

Opening programme of Le French May Arts Festival, M+ “Noir & Blanc – A Story of Photography, “The Monster” exhibition at Yrellag Gallery & In the Studio : Jazz singer Rachel Sung

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University School of Design is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year. To mark the occasion, it’s presenting the exhibition “One to Ten”, featuring ten former students, to highlight the achievements of its alumni in the design industry. Visitors will be guided through a range of design disciplines, including lighting design, product design, industrial design, architectural design, communication design, design management, automotive design, Chinese culture-inspired design and brand identity design. The exhibition will incorporate physical and digital elements such as text, images and sounds, as well as interactive and virtual reality components. Together, these elements will illuminate the design concepts and processes of each alumnus, highlighting the creativity, innovation and impact of PolyU design school alumni.

The exhibition “Green Snake: women-centred ecologies”, focuses on art by women as its name suggests. It draws on the potency and symbolism of the snake in the myths, stories and women-oriented narratives of different cultures.

Last year, to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the birth of Sergei Rachmaninoff, the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts organised six free concerts of the composer’s works for solo and two pianos. This year, the Academy is presenting more piano pieces, this time in a festival called ‘Prokofiev Meets the Great Romantics’. The Academy’s Head of Keyboard Studies Gabriel Kwok tells us about it.

On the show later, composer and vocalist Keith Wong will be here to tell us about his debut album, “Intertwined” and why he likes to intertwine choral music, theatre and the jazz tradition in his music. Turning to music with a perhaps more local emphasis, last year’s re-run of the original Cantonese musical “The Impossible Trial” was a smash hit, so much so that many were unable to get tickets. For those who couldn’t make it last time, there’s good news: the production is set to return to the stage in 2025. But before that happens, the same creative team behind the script and music for “The Impossible Trial” recently presented another original musical at this year’s Hong Kong Arts Festival.

Among the many guests we’ve invited into the studio or featured in our filmed reports, many of the talented and upcoming younger musicians in Hong Kong are focusing on jazz. One of them is Keith Wong, a vocalist and composer who integrates the jazz tradition with choral music and theatre. A resident artist with the local a capella theatre company Yat Po Singers from 2012 to 2018, Wong went on to study jazz vocals in the Netherlands. He recently released his debut album, “Intertwined” which contains eight of his own original compositions.

The relationship between painting and photography hasn’t always been cordial. Some painters did use precursors of the modern camera such as the camera obscura to compose their works, but many people felt that the invention of the photograph itself in the early 19th century threatened the position of painting as a mirror of reality. The French poet and art critic Charles Baudelaire called photography “art’s most mortal enemy”. Today though, the relationship between the two forms has often become a dialogue, with both painting and photography benefitting from the opportunities brought by the cross fertilization of techniques and visions.

17th March is Saint Patrick’s Day, an official Christian feast day since the early 17th century. It commemorates the life of the Roman-British Saint Patrick, or Patricius, who is said to have not only brought Christianity to Ireland but also to have driven all the snakes out. Today, the festival celebrates Irish heritage, traditions and culture and it includes public parades, dance, Gaelic folk music, food, and alcohol.
In Hong Kong this year, St Patrick’s Day is also being celebrated by a two-day Irish Festival. With us right now are the festival organiser and members of the band Black Velvet Collective.

Currently based in Helsinki, Hong Kong-born artist Sheung Yiu is interested in algorithmic image systems such as computer vision, computer graphics and remote sensing. It might all sound very technical, but for his latest project he’s using this computer technology to reflect on that most human of experiences, the experience of home.

At the Hong Kong Heritage Museum until September, a wide variety of exhibits bring back memories of Cantopop singer Anita Mui’s position as a cultural icon in the Hong Kong music and film industries. The exhibits cover the period from her debut in a singing contest in 1982, to 2003, the year that she died.

Organised by 4321 Music, “Visible Music, Touchable Notes” is a project that promotes a new and immersive musical experience. It incoporates a series of concerts that bring together contemporary, jazz, and classical music, in combination with visual art and new technologies. The project’s first group of concerts, “The Evolutions” took place in August last year. Curated by Thomas Lo, it featured composer and guitarist Tsui Chin-hung and multi-media artist Desmond Leung. The second group of concerts in the series, “Rebuild” runs from Friday to Sunday this week. This time, Leung will work with curator Thomas Lo, pianist Patrick Lui, drummer Dean Li, and double bassist Wong Tak-chung to take the audience on a journey to reconnect with nature.

Traditional Chinese bird cages range from the basic to the sophisticated and often feature fine craftsmanship and materials. Their shape and design can vary from region to region and according to the bird species for which they are made. Keeping caged birds and showing them off was particularly popular In Hong Kong during the 1920s and 1930s, and remained a popular leisure and entertainment activity for decades. It was also an inseparable and sometimes competitive part of Chinese tea culture, as owners took their birds to traditional teahouses in the morning. But the number of dedicated bird lovers has dwindled, and the art of birdcage making is disappearing with them.

Sit Tak-yung, also known as Monkey, is an Indonesian Chinese singer-songwriter and illustrator. Monkey describes his life and upbringing as ordinary. He says that as he’s not too good with words alone, he’s made music his way of recording his everyday life. His music journey started with busking on the streets, but in 2018 he formed his own label and has now made music his full-time career.

Kung Hei Fat Choy!

Welcome to The Works. I’m Ben Tse, and of course joining me and Ben Pelletier this week to wish you a Happy Year of the Dragon is Billy Lee, the host of The Works Chinese language version 艺坊星期天. As you can see, we’re introducing a new set to ring in the Lunar New Year. Later on the show, we have a song written especially for us in the naamyam or Southern Song style to bless the brand-new stage. Don’t go away. Before that though, for the new year, a look at an initiative to inject new ideas and nurture new talent. We’re talking to a group of young jazz musicians who’ve joined forces to set up a platform to promote jazz and make it more accessible to Hong Kong audiences.

The lion dance, Chinese acrobats, music, and Chinese opera, are all indispensable parts of the festivities as we celebrate the Lunar New Year. Originating in Guangdong, “naamyam”, also known as “southern song”, is a genre of narrative singing that was most popular in Hong Kong in the 1940s and 1950s. It was a major form of entertainment, often sung in tea houses. Many also liked to listen to “naamyam” during the Lunar New Year celebrations as well as at birthday banquets. Cantonese opera performer Gregory Kwok Kai-fai has been practising the art for almost 15 years and has played a variety of roles and characters. He has roles in several shows coming up as the new year begins, including two operas being presented to mark the fifth anniversary of The Xiqu Centre. For the Year of the Wood Dragon, he has written something especially for us. He and erhu musician Nero Lee are with us right now.

Joining us later on the show to welcome the Lunar New Year are two acclaimed South Korean musicians, violinist Yoon Soyoung, and cellist Woo Jiyeon. They’ll be here with local pianist Alex Wun to introduce us to their upcoming concert to celebrate the year of the Wood Dragon. First though, Chinese tradition is the foundation of Ma Yansong’s architectural design. He’s particularly interested in the residential compounds known as the “siheyuan”, usually a quadrangle of buildings enclosing a courtyard. He also believes in the philosophy of “shanshui” which emphasises the idea of achieving a balance between the natural environment, the urban landscape, and society to design and build future cities.

On show at the 3812 Gallery in Hong Kong, is “Seeking Connections”, a group exhibition by four young artists from Hong Kong and one from Macau.

To celebrate Lunar New Year, the Korean Cultural Centre is organising a concert to bring Chinese and Korean cultures together. Joining a group of young musicians from the Hong Kong Generation Next Arts are acclaimed violinist Yoon Soyoung and cellist Woo Jiyeon. They’ll be playing a variety of pieces from the classical repertoire, as well as Chinese and Korean folk songs. They’re here with pianist Alex Wun to tell us more.