14
STATE OF THE ARTS
theatre in Kowloon, the Queen Elizabeth stadium in Wan Chai and the Coliseum in Hung Hom - in all offering more than 20 000 seats - were built.
Again, the streak of rugged independence displayed by Mr Sales launched the Urban Council into a field of activity that places it today as the leading cultural agency in the territory, not only in its virtual monopoly of venues (most of which it manages) but also in the way it has sponsored, and in other cases, created orchestras, as well as dance, choral and repertory groups. Among its major initiatives coming to fruition following completion of the Cultural Centre at Tsim Sha Tsui this November is its imaginative custom-built 'hands-on' Museum of Science and Technology, as well as a Museum of Art able to house the 4 300 objets d'art and the 2 360 Western and local paintings and drawings it has carefully collected over the years.
Western Music
The Urban Council also runs the Space Museum, and an outstanding, and indeed unique Museum of Teaware in Hong Kong's oldest building (completed in 1846) - the former Flagstaff House, home of the Commander British Forces as well as the Museum of History. It is alsò building a Visual Arts Centre on Hong Kong Island at a cost of $20 million for artists to work on prints, lithography, sculpture and ceramics.
-
One of Hong Kong's most successful ventures in the field of Western music is the Philharmonic Orchestra, once an amateur group known as the Sino-British Orchestra, which has evolved into a highly-sophisticated professional body of 86 players. Not only does it give regular well-attended concerts numbering 130 in a season, and feature top international soloists, but it also tours overseas, and backs up top visiting orchestras invited to play at the annual International Arts Festival. This orchestra, now the responsibility of the Urban Council, has grown from 60 players in the early 1980s to the point where it is destined to reach full strength with eight more players this season. It has been a costly running this year to $36 million - and has generated much controversy at the player and conductor level, as well as among the audience and the orchestra's backers. But it appears today to be solidly on its feet, and able to hold its own with all but the best in Asia. It is an isolated achievement and far from representative of the cultural field as a whole, however.
venture
―
Arguably, the greenest jade in the crown of the Urban Council's performing groups, is the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, founded 12 years ago, and with an establishment of 85, making it the largest of its kind in the world, and enjoying an average 83 per cent attendance rate during its three-to-six month season, with seat prices ranging from $20 to $55. It has toured overseas to Australia, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Beijing and Taiwan. About 70 per cent of the members have had their music education in China, but increasingly with graduates coming from the Academy for Performing Arts, more places will be filled by 'home-grown' artistes.
A dance group of 35 performers and a repertory group of 24 performers make up two other professional companies run by the Urban Council. The Hong Kong Repertory Theatre Company does about seven productions a year which include Chinese plays, Western classics translated into Chinese, and original plays by local writers. The Hong Kong Dance Company, founded in 1981, concentrates on traditional dance but is keen to pioneer new works by local choreographers and to show its skills at modern dancing as well.
There are other dance and drama groups not run by the Urban Council, notably the Chung Ying Theatre, subvented by the government and receiving its initial impetus from