Asia Pacific Harmonica Festival 2000

1 - 4 Aug 2000

Olympia Hotel, Seoul, Korea

Press Release (2 September 2000)

Young Local Harmonica Players Shine in Asia Pacific Festival	English	Chinese
Hong Kong - Asia Pacific Harmonica Festival (2004)	English	Chinese
Hong Kong Harmonica Community Connecting to the World	English	Chinese
The Variety of the Harmonica Festival	English	Chinese

Report

The third Asia Pacific Harmonica Festival was held in Seoul from 1 to 4 August 2000. Our treble harmonica player Ho Pak Cheong was invited to act as the adjudicator of the competition. We have performed in the gala concert (together with our resident pianist Miss Nerissa Yeung) and conducted a workshop on the art of harmonica quintet. We have also brought some of the talented harmonica players in King's College and Hotung Secondary School to enrich their experience.

In the gala concert in the evening of 3 August 2000, we, together with our resident pianist Miss Nerissa Yeung, premiered the first and third movements of Dvorak's Piano Quintet in A Major Op.81.

In the morning of 2 August 2000, we conducted a 90-minute harmonica ensemble workshop on the art of 5 harmonicas. Following an introduction of the form of harmonica quintet and a brief description of the specific techniques in playing treble, tenor and bass chromatic harmonicas in the context of a harmonica ensemble, we focused on the demonstration of ensemble effects. We used Gershwin's "Bess, You Is My Woman Now" to demonstrate various points that should be noted in harmonica ensemble playing: the beginning and ending of a section, the change in tempo, volume and tone colour, maintaining balance in various situations, and connection between phrases.

29 students of King's College and Hotung Secondary School have entered 25 entries in 7 of the 13 categories of the competition, namely, orchestra (15 or more persons), group (7-14 persons), ensemble (4-6 persons) (youth), duo (youth and adult), chromatic solo (youth and adult). A total of 8 prizes were awarded:

Category	Position	Name of competitor	Name of music	Composer
Chromatic solo (adult)	Co-second	Sum Siu Cheong	Serenade and Dance	Paul Lewis
Chromatic solo (youth)	First	Hui King Lam	Pictures of a Woman	Pete Pedersen
	Third	So Lok Hang	Cuban Masquerade	G. Romani
Duo (youth)	First	Lam Ho Wai & So Lok Hang	Allegro from Duo 1	L. Jansa
	Second	Hui King Lam & Stephen Yu	Allegro moderato and Andante	L. Jansa
Group	Second	King's College	March: Seventeen Come Sunday	Vaughan Williams, arr. Johnny Kuan
	Third	Hotung Secondary School B	Il Bacio	L. Arditi, arr. Hans Luders
Orchestra	Special Prize (*note)	King's College & Hotung Secondary School	Dance of the Yao Tribe	Mao/Liu, arr. P.C. Ho

* The team obtains the highest mark. However, due to a different interpretation of the regulation by the organiser, the top 3 prizes are given to the primary school orchestras.