Hakka* guzheng** player and heritage activist Rao Shuhang is set to perform with the Macao Chinese Orchestra (MCHO) for a concert titled “1,000 Years on the Strings” next Saturday at Dom Pedro V Theatre, the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) said in a statement yesterday.
The concert is part of the Macao Chinese Orchestra Concert Season.
According to the statement, Rao, who has performed in the mainland and other countries, was born into a family of generations of guzheng players and grew up immersed in Hanyue (Guangdong Hakka music). He was voted one of the most popular musicians of the Guangzhou Xinghai Concert Hall.
Rao has been invited as the artistic director for the concert and will perform traditional Hakka guzheng solos such as “Lotus Emerging” and “Yashan Ai”, the statement noted. Moreover, several traditional Chinese music pieces such as “Dragon Crossing the River” and “North to the Palace” will be performed with the orchestra.
The statement added that a free lecture by the orchestra titled “Ethereal Timbre - Guzheng Playing Techniques and Appreciation of Guangdong Hakka and Cantonese Guzheng Music” will be held at the Macao Conservatory Auditorium next Wednesday, starting at 7 p.m. Registration details for the around hour-long lecture can be found on the “Macao Chinese Orchestra OCHM” WeChat account and “Macao Chinese Orchestra” Facebook page.
Concert tickets are priced at 120 and 150 patacas, and one can go to www.macauticket.com for ticketing.
*The Hakka people are a Chinese ethnicity. Originally, the Hakka were northern Chinese, but they migrated to southern China during the fall of the Nan (Southern) Song Dynasty in the 1270s. Worldwide they are thought to number about 80 million today, although the number of Hakka speakers is believed to be considerably lower.
**The guzheng is a Chinese plucked zither, Wikipedia notes, adding that the modern guzheng commonly has 21, 25, or 26 strings, is 162 cm long, and is tuned in a major pentatonic scale.
This poster provided by the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) yesterday shows the upcoming“1,000 Years on the Strings” artistic director and Guangdong Hakka guzheng player Rao Shuhang.
