THE JOY OF MUSIC FESTIVALThe Chopin Society of Hong Kong Ltd organizes every three years the Hong Kong International Piano Competition.Three Competitions have been held so far, in 2005, 2008 and 2011 and the fourth one will be held in October 2014. The Competition has established itself as a major event in Hong Kong’s musical calendar and is considered now as the top competition in Asia and among the premier competitions in the world.To ensure continuity between these triennial events, the Society has organized the annual Joy of Music Festival in the intervening years, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011 (coinciding with the third competition) and in 2012. The core of these Festivals is music and musical events presented by the past first prize winners and members of the jury of the Hong Kong International Piano Competition as well as by invited world-class musicians.In this Festival we celebrate Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring 100th anniversary with a brilliant version for two pianos and two cellos (arranged by Giuseppe Andaloro) as well as other compositions featuring the first prize winners of our Competition Ilya Rashkovskyi ( 2005), and Giuseppe Andaloro ( 2011 ) together with the sensational cellists Giovanni Sollima and Monika Leskovar.Giuseppe Andaloro and Giovanni Sollima will then regale us on a separate evening with a selection of compositions for piano and cello duos spanning several centuries bringing old and new together.Paintings and ballet are also sources of inspiration in this Festival. Jinsang Lee, the 2008 first prize winner of our Competition, plays a programme of piano compositions inspired by paintings while Ilya Rashkovskyi “dances”, so to speak, his way through a piano recital of well-known ballet music.The Society has always promoted young and promising musicians, and this Festival is particularly focused on our local pool of talented pianists as well as new-comers from abroad.A very special evening focuses on our Hong Kong home and showcases the superbly talented students of professor Eleanor Wong of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts: Colleen Lee, Rachel Cheung, Chau Lok Ping and Chau Lok Ting, Tsang Hin Yat and Li Zhong Xing.Then the first prize winner of the prestigious 2013 Queen Elisabeth International Piano Competition held in Belgium, Boris Giltburg, joins us in our Winners’ Series. Last but not least, we welcome back Alvaro Pierri, one of the world masters of guitar, in a solo recital of a specially selected programme of the best that Spanish and Latin American guitar music has to offer.Like all previous Festivals, the The Joy of Music Festival 2013 will also have an important educational component, primarily in master classes in piano, this time by each of the first prize winners of our Competition so far, and guitar by master guitarist Alvaro Pierri, as well as a specially designed lunchtime series of five presentations on aspects of music by the acclaimed musician, author and teacher Jeremy Siepmann. The piano and guitar classes are free of charge and are open to the public to audition, and are now attracting advanced students from all over Asia and China in particular, thus enhancing Hong Kong’s status as a major musical and cultural centre in Asia.The Society hopes that you will join in all these activities and wishes you happy listening!