"Sound of Summer" Musical Conversations

Beat the summer heat with musician-led exhibition journey with xiao or kunqu, and immerse in the lively conversations between today's world and the late Ming dynasty.

Venue: Art Museum

Session 1: Xiao｜11:00 - 12:30

Today, some people quit their jobs on a whim, while others dream of being slashers. Back in the Ming Dynasty, some scholars were entangled in bureaucracy, while some left to live in seclusion, and many more cherished a reclusive ideal while still serving as officials. Join musician Sun Chung as he takes us on a journey 400 years back to late Ming Jiangnan with the soothing sounds of the xiao, exploring where we can find our place in this fast-paced world.

Sun Chung

Xiao

Studying the qin & xiao under Master Sou Si-tai with the fervent exploration of musical world, Chung has earned the artistic momentum from the renowned pianist Ms. Nancy Lo and Mr. Lai Kam-bill as a teen for early music training. By giving performances in Japan, United States, Taiwan, Shanghai and conducting talks and demonstrations, Chung has put himself into a more intensive position as a traditional qin and xiao practitioner.

Photo: Tam Chi-wing

Session 2: Kunqu｜13:30 - 15:00

Session 3: Kunqu｜15:30 - 17:00

Time presses, dreams elude. Modern women, though free from Du Liniang’s inner chambers, still navigate new constraints. Eugenea Cheung, actress of Jingkun, bring the audience to the Peony Pavilion from the "Transcending Transience" exhibition, responding to late Ming opulence with kunqu excerpts, mirroring contemporary lives’ contradiction between dreams and reality.

Cheung Ching Man, Eugenea

Young Actress of Jingkun Theatre

Specializing in “Guimendan” (high-born lady roles)

She was trained under renowned Hong Kong Peking Opera and Kunqu artist Tang Yuen Ha, and benefited from the coaching of masters Lu Yongchang and Geng Tianyuan. She graduated from the School of Journalism and Communication at The Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2011. In 2024, she was admitted with outstanding results to the Peking Opera and Kunqu Opera Department of the National Academy of Chinese Theatre Arts for a full-time master’s program in "Chinese Opera and Quyi – Peking Opera and Kunqu Opera Performance". That same year, she was honored as one of the inaugural“Rising Stars in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area”, making her the sole representative from the Hong Kong Chinese opera scene.

Yao Siyuan

Dizi Player

Graduate student in Composition for Chinese Opera at the National Academy of Chinese Theatre Arts.

He is trained under renowned Kunqu performance artist Lu Yongchang; national class one musician and composer, also a national representative inheritors of intangible cultural heritage (Kunqu) Wang Dayuan; and Wang Xiaobing, the head of the Music Department at the National Academy of Chinese Theatre Arts, as well as a national class one composer.

Quota: 25 each session (Free of Charge)

Sponsor: Bei Shan Tang Foundation

Online Registration: Click Here

Registration Deadline: 16 June 2025, 11:59

^ Each application is for at most two quotas only. Each email can only be registered once. 

^ Lots will be drawn to allocate places if applications received exceed the quota. Successful applicants will be notified by email by 20 June 2025. Applicants who do not receive our reply should consider their applications unsuccessful.