When the First Initiative Foundation
hosted its night of musical merriment
on June 21 at the InterContinental Hong
Kong, the highlight of the evening was
undoubtedly the unveiling of a special
recording project featuring international
music stars and foundation members Renée
Fleming, Eason Chan and Lang Lang, with
arrangements by Hong Kong composer
Leon Ko.
The artists joined forces to record a tune
called I Want, performed in Cantonese,
Mandarin and English, based on the 1957
release of I Want Your Love by Grace
Chang. “Leon’s done a great job on the
arrangement,” said Eason of the CD, which
will be released later this year, with all
proceeds going to support the charity.
“It’s a song that was a huge hit here
a few decades ago,” said Renée, “and I
think that to revive it with all three artists
makes a very interesting statement about
collaboration.”
For foundation chairwoman Michelle
Ong, the purpose of the evening was “to
celebrate the power of music for unity and
harmony. Music is a universal language
that lets people connect, regardless of their
culture and language. I think that’s what
the world needs now.”“I THINK IT’S
FANTASTIC
TO SUPPORT
YOUNG
PERFORMERS
AND TO
INTEREST
PEOPLE IN
MUSIC IN
GENERAL”
—Renée Fleming
Scan the QR code to see
our video of Renee, Eason
and Michellehong kong tatler. september 2017 239