Taking place in the Jockey Club Auditorium at the Asia Society Hong Kong Center in Admiralty, The Beat of the Dragon Boat is an original sextet especially commissioned for both Chinese and western instruments.
The work combines lyrical chamber music and bilingual narration – English and Cantonese, as it describes the origin of the Chinese Dragon Boat Festival by telling the legend of the Chinese patriotic poet Qu Yuan through words and music. The composition features six talented local musicians playing Chinese traditional instruments (sheng, suona) alongside western classical instruments (viola, double bass, harp) and percussion.
The Beat of the Dragon Boat is the second collaboration between composer Alexis Alrich and author Christina Matula-Häkli, the same pair who created the popular Shadow in the Moon, which told the story of the mid-Autumn Festival.
Two performances will take place on May 28, one at 3pm and one at 5pm.