Piano Solo Storytelling – Spirits

5 stories of spirits. 5 episodes of unrequited love. Piano Solo Storytelling Spirits combines elements of piano solo, monologues, poems, light and shadow to re-enact the stories of spirits and love in classical music.

Spirits is adapted from Before the Sunrise (2019) performed in Taiwan by Sylvia Chang - a renowned playwright/ director/ actress, Yen Chun-Chieh - a young pianist who won the Taiwan Golden Melody Award for Best Classical Performance, and Chiao Yuan-Pu - a classical music critic. In Hong Kong's theatre space, with a revised stage design by cross-disciplinary multimedia theatre creator Mathias Woo, while Chang as the narrator mesmerizes the audience with her theatrical voice in the Hong Kong Cultural Centre, Yen's piano performance will be live-streamed from Taiwan, revealing to the audience the desire and fervor for love and spirits embodied by the music.

As the audience listens to Liszt, Rachmaninoff, Saint-Saëns and Ravel, a dialogue between music and poetry opens before them. Be ready to experience a "literary and music programme about music and spirits".


"After performing 'Lenore', I am in love with sound performances in recital style."

• Sylvia Chang

"Pop singer's concerts have glamorous stage effects; piano concerts can also jump out-of-the-box to be presented in a spectacular way."

• Yen Chun-Chieh

"In fact, art is about interconnectivity. If you consider music and literature as separate entities, you have missed the point."

• Chiao Yuan-Pu

"I am always interested in non-narrative media, such as sounds and visuals, In 'Spirits', what we want to experiment is how to bring out poetic sentiments. Together with such a magical voice, music team, and the newly designed visuals, I look forward to the new and exciting sparks we create."

• Mathias Woo

Music
Mendelssohn/Rachmaninoff: Scherzo from "A Midsummer Night's Dream"
Ravel "Gaspard de la nuit"
Charles Camille Saint-Saëns "Danse Macabre"
Franz Liszt "From Années de Pèlerinage: 2ème Année: Italie"
Franz Liszt "Lenore"

Co-presented by Kwang Hwa Information and Culture Centre
A Highlight of Taiwan Culture Festival 2020