Sounding a note for Hong Kong's return anniversary

The celebration of the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region sounded a musical note on Sunday.

The chamber music concert at Carnegie Hall, called Inspirational Liaisons –Encore, featured six young musicians from Hong Kong: Cindy Ho, Sheung Lee and Stephen Hung (piano), Carol Lin (mezzo soprano), Timothy Sun (saxophone) and Hui Ti Wang (Violin).

The concert was organized by the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in New York (HKETONY).

The repertoire includes Vaughan Williams' Songs Of Travel, Ravel Violin Sonata No. 2, Gershwin's Three Preludes and Creston Sonata for Alto Saxophone and Piano were performed.

Inspirational Liaisons is a series of seven concerts in Hong Kong about the collaborative relationship of composers in music history. For this occasion, the musicians presented the final concert of the series Encore to the audience in New York.

The concert was part of a series of more than 20 events, including fashion shows, film awards and sports exchanges were produced by HKETONY this year for the celebration.

Steve Barclay, director of HKETONY, said 20 years since its return to the motherland, Hong Kong remains a dynamic business center with a rich and thriving arts and cultural scene.

"We hope to bring more Hong Kong success stories to the US, showcasing our talent and reaching out to American audiences under the theme 'Together · Progress · Opportunity'," he said.

According to HKETONY, most of the events are being held for the first time.

In February, the office worked with fashion designer Vivienne Tam, who unveiled her Hong Kong-inspired Fall/Winter 2017 Collection at New York Fashion Week.

In April, a concert titled New Music from Hong Kong featured the world and US premiere of musical pieces by seven Hong Kong composers, at the DiMenna Centre for Classical Music in New York.

In July, the From Hong Kong with Love concert, which will feature another group of distinguished musicians from Hong Kong, also will be held at Carnegie Hall. There will be at least two film events in the upcoming New York Asian Film Festival, which will feature award-winning actors and directors from Hong Kong.

Two teams (male and female) of under-23 rugby players from Hong Kong will be in New York to take part in the Hell Gate Sevens tournament in July for the first time.