The Works
Last week, we introduced a concert by the jazz string Korvi Quartet, presented as part of Le French May, that featured music inspired by cocktail pairings. Today we’re featuring French music, specifically French chamber music by 19th to 21st century composers. First though we turn to dance, with music by another French composer, Jean-Madeleine Schneitzhoeffer. “La Sylphide”, one of the world’s oldest surviving romantic ballets, was initially choreographed by Italian Filippo Taglioni to showcase his own daughter Marie. That choreography is long since lost, but another version of the dance was performed in Hong Kong in early March as part of the Hong Kong Arts Festival.
The number eight takes centre stage at this exhibition at The University of Hong Kong’s University Museum and Art Gallery. To illustrate the ubiquity of eight, several objects, each consisting of eight sections, have been selected from the museum and art gallery’s collection. Titled, “8 times 8 stories. series. systems in mythology & art”, the exhibits show how eight interrelated elements are often brought together in the form of serial narratives, supplemented by motifs of pairs, figures or scenes from stories, landscapes, plants.
The “French Music Project”, a programme initiated by the Chinese University of Hong Kong’s Department of Music, brings faculty performance members and students together to explore French music. Project members are giving an upcoming concert as part of Le French May Arts Festival. A few of them are with us now to tell us more.
