Happy Birthday, Brahms!
Hong Kong Chamber Music Society
proudly presents
Happy Birthday, Brahms!
Concert by clarinettist Andrew Simon, pianist Warren Lee, and cellist Richard Bamping
Date and time:
Thursday 4 May, 2023
(Concert at 7:15pm/ Dinner at 8:30pm)
Location:
Central
Admission:
$425 (concert only); $820 (concert & dinner)
Programme:
Brahms: The Clarinet Sonata No. 1 in F minor, Op. 120
Brahms: The Cello Sonata No. 2 in F major, Op. 99
Intermission
Brahms: The Clarinet Trio in A minor, Op. 114
About the musicians:
Andrew Simon (clarinet)
Boasting a distinguished career spanning over three decades, New York-born clarinettist Andrew Simon has appeared as soloist and guest lecturer on four continents.
As Principal Clarinet of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra (since 1988), Simon has recorded solo works by Baermann and Stravinsky and has performed concerti over 70 times, including John Corigliano’s Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra which he studied with the Academy Award-winning composer.
Notable concerto performances include those with the Mainly Mozart Orchestra (US), the Singapore Symphony, as well as giving the Australian and Asian premieres of the original, unpublished version of Copland’s Concerto. One of his most memorable stage experiences was playing Mozart’s Concerto on the basset clarinet at a few hours’ notice when a soloist became suddenly indisposed. He subsequently gave a performance that was hailed as “outstanding” by C for Culture magazine.
Simon has been Guest Principal with the Mainly Mozart Orchestra, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, and the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, to name a few. As a former National Chairperson of the International Clarinet Association and an Artist Laureate of the Clarinet and Saxophone Society of Western Australia, he was profiled in Gianluca Campagnolo’s The Great Clarinettists. Meanwhile, following the success of his first recital CD, “HOT” (“This is a five-star recording”- The Clarinet), he recently released “Ebony and Ivory”, for NAXOS (“A Winner”- Fanfare Magazine).
Simon’s artistry has earned wide acclaim from audiences, peers and critics. Michael Tilson Thomas has noted his “formidable technique, flair, and musicianship”, while the New York Times music columnist Allan Kozinn compared him favourably to the late clarinet legend, Benny Goodman, in reviewing his Carnegie Hall debut. In addition, American Record Guide applauded Simon’s recordings with the HK Phil for his “dark rich sound and flawless technique [that] do wonders for the clarinet works”.
Apart from his life as a performer, Simon is also a committed music educator, regularly writing articles, lecturing at conventions, and serving on the faculties of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and Hong Kong Baptist University. As guest lecturer, he frequents institutions such as Yale University and the New World Symphony in the United States, the Sydney Conservatorium, the Royal College of Music and the Southbank Sinfonia in London, and the Central Conservatory in Beijing.
Having recently given his concerto debuts in Taiwan, New Zealand, and Lithuania (with the Grammy Award-winning Sinfonietta Riga), Simon’s upcoming projects include works for clarinet and orchestra by John Corigliano and Felix Mendelssohn with Jaap Van Zweden as well as solo works by Richard Strauss with The SAR Philharmonic Orchestra.
Warren Lee (Piano)
Hailed by The Straits Times as a musician with “a wonderful sense of colour and impeccably controlled articulation” and lauded by critics of his recital-presentation at Carnegie Hall in celebration of Leonard Bernstein’s Centennial as “ingenious” and “compelling”, Warren’s artistry has brought him to five continents, gracing stages of all sizes and forms and in collaboration with international artists and leading orchestras in Asia and beyond.
Warren made his televised début with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra at the age of six and was the first-prize winner of the 1995 Stravinsky Awards International Piano Competition and Grand Prix Ivo Pogorelich. A Steinway Artist since 2009, Warren’s discography includes 11 acclaimed solo and chamber music albums and is also featured on the Steinway Spirio catalogue. The American Record Guide calls him a “first-rate artist”.
Off the stage, Warren is a respected cultural leader, a devoted educator and an award-winning composer. In recognition of his contributions to the arts, Warren received the Ten Outstanding Young Persons Award in Hong Kong in 2012, an Associateship from the Royal Academy of Music in 2015 and the Ian Mininberg Distinguished Alumni Award by the Yale School of Music in 2017. A modern-day Renaissance man and lifelong learner, Warren also holds multiple postgraduate degrees in business administration, sports and media law and international property law.
Richard Bamping (Cellist)
Richard Bamping has been Principal Cellist of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra since 1993. He has performed with many of the finest musicians of recent history – Lord Yehudi Menuhin, Leonidas Kavakos, Mstislav Rostropovich, Carlo Maria Giulini, Valery Gergiev, Leonard Bernstein, Lorin Maazel, Sir Colin Davis and Claudio Abbado, to name but a few.
Bamping has performed many of the staples of the solo cello repertoire with orchestras from Europe to the Far East. He has a great passion for playing chamber music with friends and colleagues whenever he gets the chance.
Bamping’s cello, dated 1674, was made in Cremona by Andrea Guarneri and is one of only nine surviving examples of his work.
Bamping’s chair is sponsored by C. C. Chiu Memorial Fund.