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RECREATION
Entertainment highlights have again been provided by visits of internationally renowned artists arranged by local impresarios. In the City Hall alone 35 overseas artists or groups gave a total of 49 performances. These included Hans Hotter, Paul Olevsky, Pro Musica Antiqua et Moderna of Germany, Paul Taylor Dance Company, Vienna Boys Choir, The Tintookies, Paul Makanowitzky, Niedzielski, I Solisti Veneti, Michigan Glee Club, Max Adrian, Walter Hautzig, Harvard Glee Club, Joseph Bloch, Omar Atreo, Berliner Camerata Musicale, Vienna Academy Chorus, New Vienna String Quartet, Janos Starker, Gerard Sousay, Jane Russell and Johnnie Ray.
Admission prices for concerts are said to be a major factor inhibiting a more rapid and general development of music apprecia- tion. The Urban Council has offered a partial, but successful, solution to this problem by presenting local and overseas artists at low admission prices with programmes appealing to both novice and expert. The City Hall Popular Concert series has been extremely well received. With admission fees at $1, most of the 20 concerts presented were attended by capacity audiences.
The fine arts exhibition organized by the City Hall museum and art gallery in connection with the fifth anniversary festival_included about 150 paintings, sculptures and pieces of calligraphy, selected from about 800 entries. The tremendous variety of form and content of the works exhibited testified to the vitality of the artistic spirit in Hong Kong and reflected the fruitful cross-cultural contacts made in recent years. Some 300 schools participated in the children's art exhibition—the fourth organized by the museum and art gallery since its opening. For the first time, a section on crafts, mainly pottery and textiles, was included. The photographic exhibition was of the high standard expected of a city which has achieved an international reputation in this field.
Of the other exhibitions at the museum and art gallery during the year, the most important were those of rubbings of Han Dynasty carvings and of Hong Kong currency. Other exhibitions which attracted considerable interest during the year were: the City Hall art gallery's collection of paintings and sculptures by local artists; advertising design, USA; modern Japanese prints; "The Blue Rider' (reproductions); reproductions of early Chinese paintings;