Hyperreality (2023)

Installation concert in collaboration with Keith Lam (media artist)
Duration: 70 min
Scoring: two soprano saxophones, two pianos, cello and “TV cello”, with soundscape and sound design
World premiere: 2 March 2023 / Fung Lam (cello/piano), Keith Lam (“TV cello”/piano),
Timothy Sun & Charles Ng (soprano saxophone)

Information is all around us, but while most people view data such as Hong Kong’s weather conditions as quite mundane, media artist Keith Lam sees a resource that can be harnessed to create kinetic, immersive performances.

In Hyperreality, Keith Lam partners with composer and musician Fung Lam to create a multimedia experience powered by such unexpected information and accompanied by original music composed by Fung Lam and George Crumb’s Black Angels. Fung Lam’s music is performed live by the Hong Kong Contemporary Music Group while Crumb’s work was pre-recorded by the Cong Quartet.

Crumb’s Black Angels was written during the time of the Vietnam War. Its three movements, “Departure”, “Absence” and “Return”, echo the world’s current turmoil, while the dialogue between the turbulent music and Keith Lam’s video art and installation adds a layer of complexity to the performance. Fung Lam’s new composition Four Realities for ensemble and electronics responds to Black Angels’ sobriety and Keith Lam’s visual landscape with music for this new age performed by saxophones, cello and an electronic soundscape.

Hyperreality is a mesmerising musical experience that explores the real state of the world beyond mass media images. Come and discover the invisible mindscape of music.