Matteo Ricci in Memoriam


Profiles


Dr. Michael Ryan
Born to a musical family in Limerick, Ireland, Michael Ryan received his first music lessons from his father. With his family’s move to London, formal keyboard training began and Michael was awarded a music scholarship by the London Borough of Barking. He also studied singing with Norman Allin, professor at the Royal Academy of Music. Michael worked in secondary schools in London and sang in the Brompton Oratory Choir under Henry Washington. Holding an honours degree in Music from Durham University and performing diplomas in Piano and Singing, Michael also completed postgraduate work with Dr Owen Rees of The Queen’s College, Oxford, which led to a PhD in Music History from the University of London.

In Hong Kong, Ryan continues to be active as a teacher and performer. His work with Die Konzertisten has included major works of Bach, including highly successful multiple performances of all six motets for the 2011 HK Arts Festival. Ryan has also toured and worked with choirs in Europe and the U.S.A. He was, for several years, Coordinator of Postgraduate studies in Music at HK Baptist University. He continues to teach there and at the University of Hong Kong.



Dr. David Francis Urrows is an Associate Professor in the Department of Music, Hong Kong Baptist University, where he teaches music history, analysis, and composition. He received his doctorate from Boston University in 1987. He has served on the teaching faculties of the University of Massachusetts, Eastern Mediterranean University, and the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. In 1989 he established The Pipe Organ in China Project at Hong Kong Baptist University, which studies the musical and cultural history of the instrument, as well as its current revival in concert halls and churches in China. He is currently writing a book on this topic, Keys to the Kingdom: A documentary study of the pipe organ in China. He is the author of many articles which have appeared in American Music, Journal of Musicological Research, American Choral Review, and other journals. He is also the co-editor and editor of Word and Music Studies 7 (2005) and Word and Music Studies 9 (2008), respectively. Dr. Urrows’ other research interests lie in nineteenth century studies, particularly the music of Otto Dresel (1826-1890), whose collected works he is editing for publication by A-R Editions.


Die Konzertisten (Hong Kong)
In Bach cantatas there were usually two groups of singers: concertists and ripienists. The so-called concertists were the better-trained singers and therefore the soloists Bach needed for his complex music. Concertists sang throughout the cantata. Ripienists – either one per part or more – simply doubled the soloists at the less complex tutti marked sections and were needed for the singing of chorales.

Die Konzertisten aims to perform choral and vocal works to the highest of professional standards with committed and passionate singing. Founded in 2008, the group aims to promote a variety of musical styles and has presented a series of concerts ranging from music of the Renaissance and Baroque eras to romantic, modern and contemporary songs. Highlights of performances since September 2008 include Bach’s St. John Passion, St. Matthew Passion and his six motets.

After receiving high acclaim for its previous performances, Die Konzertisten has recently been invited to collaborate with professional bodies in Hong Kong. The group was invited by the Chinese University of Hong Kong to be the designated choir for its 2010 Master of Music choral conducting programme. It is currently collaborating with the Hong Kong Arts Festival as the performing choir in the “All About Bach” series, including the Bach In Situ tours involving performances of all 6 of Bach’s motets, and the master-class with Maestro Georg Christoph Biller, cantor of the world-famous St. Thomas Boys Choir, Leipzig.

In April 2011, Die Konzertisten performed two Requiems by John Rutter and Bob Chilcott with the City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong (CCOHK) conducted by the English conductor Nicholas Cleobury. In August, the choir and CCOHK will perform Bach’s B Minor Mass conducted by Helmuth Rilling, the internationally-acclaimed conductor and founder of the Bach-Collegium Stuttgart and other Bach Academies worldwide.