Sense the power of nature through the body

In this work, Hong Kong Dance Company draws on nature as depicted under a calligraphy brush, painting an inner world beyond the confines of time and space through dance. The dancers’ bodies personify dots, dashes and vigorous strokes under the brush; they are the artist’s eye for rhyme, rhythm and internal beauty.

Sense the power of nature through the body, take in worldly beauty and meditate on the origins of life. Pass through mountains and over waters, and with a full heart, let the limits of the self and the physical world dissolve.

Premiered in 2021 to unveil the Hong Kong Dance Company’s 40th anniversary season, Shan Shui: An Ode to Nature has won wide acclaim. The Company’s subsequent three-year research has injected elements of Chinese martial arts into dance training, developing an even richer texture and elevating Shan Shui to another level. It was selected as one of ISPA 2022’s Pitch New Works.

“To yearn for, to revere, to give praise with music;  from the voice to the heart.”

“The sound of heaven, the sound of the earth, the sound of man (天籟，地籟，人籟)” is a quote from Zhuangzi’s The Adjustment of Controversies. The character 籟 signifies sounds that emanate from orifices: humans playing music, wind blowing through hag stones… but Zhuangzi was elusive when it comes to heaven. This has become our quest: to capture the sound of heaven. The Hong Kong Gaudeamus Dunhuang Ensemble is dedicated to bringing the heavenly realms of Dunhuang’s murals to life through music. Yet Dunhuang is more than ‘heavenly music’: human behaviour, the progress of time, how nature has changed hve influenced music for millennia, echoing even to this day. In ‘Music from Heaven, Earth, and Man’, the Hong Kong Gaudeamus Dunhuang Ensemble takes the audience on a journey through the murals and nature, traversing a millennium in music: from the voice to the heart.

The title Nature’s Concerto: Music from Heaven, Earth, and Man refers to Dunhuang’s 1,600-year history and the Forbidden City’s 600-year history. The concert chronicles the thousand-year relationship between heaven, earth, and mankind through music and cultural relics. The entire programme comprises works by the Ensemble’s two resident composers, inspired by the paintings and Buddhist statues inside the Dunhuang caves, as well as artefacts, architecture and stories from the Forbidden City. Some of the music is inspired by the ancient pipa score from the Tang Dynasty, performed on instruments modelled in the spirit of ‘Ancient Songs for Heritage, Ancient Scores in Practice’, reverberating both in time and space.

With its world premiere at the Salle Gaveau in Paris scheduled for November 2024, Umbra by award-winning composer Seung-Won Oh (Amsterdam/South Korea) is poised to enthrall audiences throughout Asia and around the world.

Umbra is composed especially for the extraordinary talents of Asia’s foremost string chamber orchestra, Musicus Soloists Hong Kong (MSHK), with the virtuosity of world-renowned cellist Trey Lee (Berlin/Hong Kong) and the acclaimed mastery of ondes Martenot player Nadia Ratsimandresy (Paris).

Umbra not only showcases a fusion of diverse musical elements but also serves as a testament to the transformative power of cross-cultural collaboration, inviting audiences on a transcendent journey where tradition and innovation intertwine. The double concerto can be combined in programmes with a wide range of chamber orchestral repertoire to suit audiences and venues.

This exciting new work merges the dynamic energy of the strings with the emotive depths of the solo cello and the otherworldly soundscape of the ondes Martenot, one of the oldest electronic instruments from the early 20th century. It explores the mix of aesthetics, stretching existing stylistic conceptions associated with these instruments, and for performance without a conductor. The smaller ensemble size makes this genre economically and environmentally more viable for touring than large orchestras while promoting accessibility to highly valuable, exciting and challenging live concerts for both large concert venues and more remote regional audiences internationally.

Umbra was commissioned by the Musicus Society Limited and funded by the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation

An Eternal Chant from Heaven

Bhagavad Gita, which originated from the world-renowned epic Mahabharata, is a true philosophical poem that has had a profound impact on literature and spirituality worldwide. “Bhagavad” refers to “The Venerable”;  Bhagavad Gita means the “Chant of God”. The dialogue between Krishna and the warrior Arjuna reveals the three paths of Indian Yoga: Karma Yoga, Jnana Yoga and Bhakti Yoga.

By fulfilling their “Dharma” without selfish motives, everyone can be liberated from the wheel of samsara and granted the state of moksha. Bhagavad Gita is a poem which all of us can learn the truth through life and death, helping individuals discover their path in this unsettling world.

Nobles in Long Robes is a 35-minute Chinese classical Han-Tang dance programme. It is based on the theme of ‘Touring in a chariot’, which is represented on an ancient relic—a colourfully lacquered box from the Warring States period. This box was unearthed in 1987 and is now collected in the Hubei Provincial Museum. The programme is divided into five sections: ‘Under the Tree’, ‘A Chariot and Horses’, ‘Galloping’, ‘Greeting’, and ‘Meeting’. The choreographer utilises the physical postures depicted in the lacquer paintings of noblemen on their travels as a prototype to bring ‘the past’ and ‘the deceased’ to life through imagination. The aim is to establish motifs of pre-modern dancing figurines in a contemporary theatrical space. By taking a historical perspective to examine the traditional experiences of the body, this work creates a culture of the body that emphasises its ethnic identity. At the same time, the work synthesises contemporary and international sensibilities into its bodily language to present an image of graceful nobles with restrained kinetic movements.