PolyU Orchestra • Music Connects - Violin Solo - Lei Zhenbang: Why Are The Flowers So Red

Music Connects is an online music programme of the PolyU Orchestra. Members of the Orchestra have continued to produce music despite the pandemic.
 
Under the guidance of Mr Leung Kin-fung, the Artistic Director and Conductor, the PolyU Orchestra is presenting to you a wide range of musical genres in this series of Music Connects.

Lei Zhen-bang (1916-1997) was born in Beijing, and in early childhood developed a love for Peking Opera and folk music. After studying music and composition in Japan, he returned to China in 1943, and was appointed a composer with the Changchun Film Studio in 1955. Among the many scores he wrote for films made by the Changchun Studio was that for a 1963 a spy movie, set during the Civil War, called “Visitors to the Icy Mountain”. Much of the music Lei wrote incorporated genuine folk tunes, including an old Tajik folk song (called “Gulbita”) which he transformed into a sorrowful and deeply expressive love song, which we hear today performed on the violin, called Why are the Flowers so Red?

Violin Solo
Lei Zhen-bang    ︳Why Are The Flowers So Red

Performed by:
Kelsey Liang Yuan · Violin
Alumna, Faculty of Humanities

Dr Virginia Li Meng · Piano
Staff, Confucius Institute of Hong Kong