This concert explores the contrast between the light music of French musician Paul Mauriat and selected passages of Chinese composer Bao Yuankai's Chinese Sights and Sounds celebrating the lightness of French music and the heaviness of Chinese classics.

Paul Mauriat was a famous light musician in the 20^th century. Every note in his music is permeated with a romantic sentiment unique to the French nation. His music is gorgeous but not glitzy, romantic but not frivolous, rough yet delicate, and tranquil in the midst of passion. The Asian Chamber Orchestra has chosen Mauriat's fresh, clear, and unpretentious repertoire, in the hope of bringing the poetry of life to people through music and demonstrating the lightness of music.

Bao Yuankai's work Chinese Sights and Sounds is an artistic classic of Han Chinese folk songs with Western orchestral music. The work takes the popular Chinese folk melody and interprets a vivid picture of the life of the Han people through colourful orchestral timbre. The Asian Chamber Orchestra will lead the audience on a journey through a symphonic landscape formed by the orchestra, encountering the richness of the Orient. 

Conductor of Asian Chamber Orchestra: Eric CHAN

Director of Asian Chamber Orchestra: Miranda LI

Conductor of Children's Choir: Miranda LI and Yi LIU

Conductor of Children's Percussion Orchestra: Wen Xin OUYANG

Stage Manager: Xiaoyu XING, Carole LOK , Lawrence LAU, Rena REN, Lillian LI, Emily BIAN, and Lisa LI

Designer: Fory YANG

Photographer: Jacky WONG

Arrangement assistant: Jayden CHEN

Emcee: Zhao Zhao LI, Darin LAU and Dylan LOK

Programme

MAURIAT El Bimbo

MAURIAT Isadora

MAURIAT Love is Blue

MAURIAT Alla Figaro

BAO Yuankai Jasmine

BAO Yuankai River flowing water

BAO Yuankai Put the horse folk song

BAO Yuankai Embroider the purse

BAO Yuankai The sun out of joy

BAO Yuankai Purple bamboo tune

BAO Yuankai Lantern Festival

BAO Yuankai Watching Yangko

Chan Man Tat, Eric

Music Director and Conductor of Asian Chamber Orchestra 

As a music director and conductor, Mr. Chan leads the Asian Chamber Orchestra's group of talented players to demonstrate their passion for music. Mr. Chan started with French horn at the age of eleven and later graduated from the Music Department of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts in 1991. Soon after, he grew interested in conducting and studied with Yu Feng, the artistic director of the Central Opera House in Beijing. In 2008, he then joined Japanese conductor Fukumura Yoshikazu as an assistant conductor of the Vietnam Opera House Orchestra. Currently, Mr. Chan serves as a member of the Hong Kong Board of Directors of the Chinese Horn Association, Music Director and Principal Conductor of the Asian Chamber Orchestra and the Asian Music Association Symphony Orchestra.