Seasons of Love

The Annual School Concert ‘Seasons of Love’ brought the house down at the Hong Kong City Hall on 10 April. Altogether, including the honourable guests, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of HKU SPACE Professor Edward K.Y. Chen; former Chairman Dr Darwin Chen; former Director Professor Enoch C.M. Young; two members of the Board of Directors Mr Paul W.Y. Poon and Mr Vincent C.H. Chan, almost 1,000 HKU SPACE teachers, students and alumni turned up to bask in an evening of love and romance.

The 5-piece indie rock band Chochukmo got the show off to an emotional start with one of the Carpenters’ biggest hits, ‘Masquerade’, “We're lost inside this lonely game we play…”, then picked up the tempo with ‘Love Ain’t Red’, “Don’t teach me how to love” and then hit their stride with pulsating drums and bass guitar in ‘One O’clock’, which brought roars of approval from the audience.

The Chung Brothers then took the spotlight with Sam Hui’s much loved classic ‘Unforgettable You’《難忘你》, followed by their distinctive jazz pieces ‘High Fidelity’《黑膠•人生》and ‘Fast Train’《高速鐵路》. Next up were a number of HKU SPACE alumni who brought waves of applause with a string of Cantopop favourites. Angel Ng told a story of everlasting love with a beautifully arranged medley including ‘Promise’《約定》 and ‘Ripple’《漣漪》. Then Catherine Liu, and her friends Xavier Kan and Sunny Chan, revisited hits from the 1980s-90s with an impressively melodious performance of ‘Love Notice’《戀愛預告》, ‘The Root of Love’《愛的根源》 and ‘In This Life’《今生今世》.

In the second half of the concert, students from HKU SPACE Community College set the stage alight with an abridged version of the Tony Award-winning rock musical RENT-School Edition, directed by our very own alumna Michelle Li from Rooftop Productions. The story was about a group of impoverished young artists in New York struggling to find love and meaning in the big city. Like the trials of love itself, the songs filled the spectrum from romantic slow dance moments, to the dulcet diva’s whisper, and moments of raw, rip roaring rock.  In song after song, the cast unfolded their musical tales of spontaneity and the unpredictability of true love. It was a captivating performance by the young singers, and touched the audience with its powerful and, at times, deeply sympathetic exploration of the meaning of love, friendship, alienation and redemption. A true and lasting tribute to the ‘Seasons of Love’. After the show, many of the guests clamoured for photos with the talented cast.

We would like to express our deepest gratitude to the musicians, bands, alumni and CC students for their extraordinary efforts and captivating performance. Our sincere thanks also goes to the event sponsor, Mr William Au Weng-hei, SBS, JP and all other patrons, for their generous sponsorship.