Media

HellHOT! New Music Festival at HKU: Jo Kondo 65th Anniversary Portrait Concert

09 Jul 2012

 

In collaboration with the HellHOT! New Music Festival, the Faculty of Arts is offering a series of concerts to the HKU community. For the first concert held on 8 July, Hong Kong New Music Ensemble together with Conductor Paul Zukofsky performed selected works by Japanese avant-garde composer Jo Kondo to celebrate the 65th anniversary of his birth.

The concert featured six pieces, three of which were performed in Hong Kong for the first time. Jo Kondo’s music is characterized by a unique personality which synthesizes Japanese aesthetic sensibility and western harmonic structure.

The event was co-organized by the HellHOT! New Music Festival with the support of the Hong Kong Arts Development Council, and was held as part of the Faculty of Arts’ Summer Institute in the Arts and Humanities.

About Jo Kondo:
Jo Kondo was born in Tokyo in 1947 and graduated from the Tokyo University of Arts in 1972. At present he is Professor of Music at Ochanomizu University in Tokyo. In January 2012, he was made an honorary foreign member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

About the Conductor:
Paul Zukofsky is an American violinist, conductor, and chamber musician. He is generally associated with the advancement and performance of modern music, having premiered and recorded works by Wuorinen, Glass, Carter, Babbitt, and other numerous 20th Century composers.

About the Hong Kong New Music Ensemble:
The Hong Kong New Music Ensemble (HKNME) was founded in 2008 with an aim to present high quality performances of contemporary music to Hong Kong audiences. Since its inception, the group has been widely praised for its innovative programming and interdisciplinary collaborations with artists from different mediums. The group’s versatile repertoire includes works by local and overseas composers, as well as contemporary pieces that are seldom heard in Hong Kong. The HKNME was featured at Hong Kong’s New Vision Arts Festival 2010, and in 2011, the group has toured to Australia, Taiwan, Singapore, Thailand, and Cambodia.

Media enquiries, please contact:
Ms Georgina Challen, Public Affairs Manager, Faculty of Arts (tel: 2219 4250 email: gchallen@hku.hk) or Ms Phyllis Mak, Programme Manager, Faculty of Arts, HKU (tel: 2859 8048, email: kpmak@hku.hk).