HONG KONG (SE): “I am deeply moved. It is the first time to witness a festival of hymns in Hong Kong. It is a culture worth promoting. I am happy to see so many young people joining the performance. And a big attraction is the variety of hymns.” Bishop-elect Father Chow Sau-yan told the Sunday Examiner after watching the opening concert of the first Hong Kong Hymnos Festival on November 10 at City Hall.
The Hymnos Festival Society debuted with two concerts, the first on November 10 at City Hall and the second, at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre on November 15. The society, a Catholic lay association in Hong Kong, was founded in April this year to promote hymn-singing through public performances, new compositions and training programmes. Over 1,200 tickets were issued for the opening concert, performed by over 200 artists from different schools, parish choirs and music bands.
Celebrated pianist, Colleen Lee Ka-ling; pianist and music director, Phoebus Chan Chun-hin; the Good Hope School Choir; Hong Kong-based choral bands, GsM, Wah Yan College Kowloon Boys Choir, as well as St. Benedict Parish Choir; performed during the during opening concert. Special guests that night included Father Christopher Chor Yuk-wa, Father Slawomir Kalisz, Reverend Arther Ho Kam-tim and Reverend Frankie Lee Yat-fan.
Showcasing the religious elements found in classical music, Colleen Lee performed Robert Schumann’s Widmung, the composer’s wedding gift for his wife with the lyrics of the original piece quoting some of the words from Ave Maria.
The version played by Lee was arranged by 19th-century composer, Franz Liszt, who added an extra coda of high technical difficulty featuring quick hand-crossing and arpeggios.
The audience was elated by the prospect of listening to a concert of hymns even before the start of the event. Ip Wai-yee, a parishioner from Holy Cross Church, Shaukiwan, expressed her joy saying, “I love listening to concerts and I think I must come to this one as it is the first in which we can listen to hymns in a public place.”
The challenges were beyond our imagination, but the path that leads us to where we are today can only be expressed in one way: God will make a way
Angela Hui
Sister Vicky Victorino, pastoral sister of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish, Wanchai hoped that this would give her a good chance to pray “while listening to the heavenly songs!”
The closing concert, at the Cultural Centre, featured performances from composer, Anthony Cheng Yu-sum; music educator and conductor, Professor Chan Wing-wah; French lyric tenor, Matthieu Sachot; songwriter and singer Vansie Kwok; the Cecilia Choir from St. Anthony’s Church; music bands AMDG, Vox Antiqua, and the newly formed chamber music ensemble NEXUS. Representatives from community partner, the Caritas Rehabilitation Service, also performed.
As part of the event, a special workshop on Gregorian chant was also organised on November 14 at the Caritas Institute of Higher Education, conducted by Felix Yeung Yan-lok.
Melody Tang Hei-yan, conductor of the Good Hope School Choir, which performed the traditional hymn, Salve Regina, in the opening concert said that the members of the choir were excited to take part as it was not easy to get a chance to perform in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic.
She said that while it is not difficult for choir members to sing in Latin or even an African language, singing in a mask required some skills as they needed to breathe extra hard and enunciate with more effort to make their voices clear.
Tang said that from time to time she would let the students take a break while doing rehearsals.
The Wah Yan College Kowloon Boy’s Choir joined the Good Hope School Choir for the opening song of the opening concert, performing, Gather the People, a hymn by Dan Schutte, and later an African hymn, BabaYetu [Our Father].
Maria Chee Yuen-ting, a committee member of the St. Benedict Choir, which made its debut, with the Latin song, Ubi Caritas, by Ola Gjeilo, said singing the song without accompaniment came with a certain level of difficulty as the 40 choir members were volunteers without previous musical training.
She said they had to practise the song more than 10 times before the performance, adding that performing in the festival was different from serving during the Mass as there were people watching which could make choir members nervous.
Father Chor, who began his performance by striking a singing bowl and chanting a prayer in Chinese to lead the audience to meditation, told the Sunday Examiner that he added the Eastern tradition to his performance to bring together the characteristics of Eastern and Western traditions. The idea was “a gift of the Holy Spirit”, Father Chor said.
Father Slawomir Kalisz was interviewed on stage after singing Your Raise Me Up, accompanied by Phoebus Chan on the piano. The priest, who was part of the seminary choir for six years, said tha during the time when physical Mass was suspended, he had more time to develop his singing. He clarified that while many priests can sing well, that talent was not a must for being a priest!
Angela Hui Wing-man, chairperson of the executive committee of the Hong Kong Hymnos Festival Society, told the Sunday Examiner after the opening concert that it was challenging to organise the festival during the pandemic. The organisers, as well as the performers, worried about another wave Covid-19 infections leading to the show being cancelled or a large portion of seats at City Hall having to be left empty to maintain social distancing.
The pandemic also made it difficult for overseas performers to come. Father Ray Kelly from Ireland, was scheduled to take part, but could not make it due to the long quarantine requirements.
“The challenges were beyond our imagination, but the path that leads us to where we are today can only be expressed in one way: God will make a way,” Hui said.
She thanked the performing artists, special guests and volunteers for contributing to the festival.
She also thanked all who attended in support of the festival. She explained, even as a non-profit making organisation, the Hymnos Festival Society could not give away too many free tickets as it needed to make both ends meet, considering the high production costs in renting the performance and rehearsal venues, equipment and promotion.
Yet the society gave tickets to the members of the Good Hope School Choir and Wah Yan College Choir to express their gratitude to the young people, who will one day take over the promotion of hymns. “And it is necessary to give the young people a chance to watch the performance of others to further develop their talents,” she said.
Free tickets were also given as a sign of gratitude to parish priests and sisters who allow the society to do promotion work in their parishes.
The members of the society are all volunteers and many made donations to support the event as well. She said if there is any profit, it will be used to fund the next festival, which will be scheduled after taking audience feedback into account, the availability of the performers or perhaps in support of the pastoral work of the diocese.
