“The premiere of Hong Kong’s first symphonic musical will go ahead tonight, its composer and conductor have pledged, offering a moment of catharsis from the heat of the protests outside,” writes Oliver Chou in Thursday’s (10/2) South China Morning Post. “The full Hong Kong Sinfonietta—with 54 musicians rather than an ensemble of 20 to 30 players, as at most musicals—will perform the score” of the Cantonese-language musical The Passage Beyond at the City Hall Concert Hall. “Composer Leon Ko Sai-tseung said he had seen music made in far worse conditions than those created by the Occupy Central blockade outside…. ‘My only concern is the closure of City Hall,’ he said. ‘Otherwise our motto is, the show must go on.’… City Hall closed its doors for the first time since 1962 on Sunday as police fired tear gas into crowds of protesters nearby. Yip Wing-sie, conductor of the Hong Kong Sinfonietta, which will perform at the premiere and five subsequent shows until Sunday, said her orchestra was no stranger to adversity.… For Ko, staging the musical in the midst of Occupy Central made it like a show within a show. ‘I think there is a connection between the social movement outside and the cultural programme inside.’ ”
Posted October 3, 2014
