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The Sregnis Singers Unaccompanied, the third concert in the Musicarama series, was held at Sheung Wan Civic Centre Theatre on15 November 2009, featuring one of Hong Kong's best a cappella groups: The Sregnis Singers. The group performed 13 works, 8 ofwhich were written by Hong Kong composers. Ricky Tse's commissioned work 'Two Short Pieces for Voice' (2009) explored vocalsounds without lyrics. Li Cheong's commissioned piece 'Coming Home' (2009) blended the sheng, performed by Pang Hong-tai,and a cappella singing, portraying the wishes by the participants in the democracy movement in 1989. Austin Yip's 'Lu Chai' (2009),which explores extended vocal techniques, depicted the isolated experience suggested in the poem of the same title by Wang Wei.Tam Chin-fai's commissioned piece 'Kuang Fu' (2009) makes use of the yangqin, performed by Bryan Lai, and singing using effectsfrom microphones and megaphones, portraying poet Du Fu's mocking himself as being "an insane man". Joyce Tang'scommissioned piece 'There's a Certain Slant of Light' (2009) depicted the desolate sentiment of a poem by Emily Dickinson. ViolaYuen's 'Nostalgia' (2008) depicted the imagery of the poem by Yu Kwang-chung. It was followed by excerpts from 'All That the ManLeft Behind' (1965) by the Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu. Issac Hui's 'Two Lines' (2008) was based on Zhou Ruchang's literarywork and from which the lyrics were based on "The Dream of Red Chamber". Julian Chan's 'Three Pussy Cats' (2008) was a lightheartedpiece inspired by cats. Apart from the above works, the Sregnis Singers also performed some arrangements of popularworks. These engaging introductions to contemporary works served to educate the audience about new music.NOV03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20Serenades by Laurel Ensemble, the fourth concert on 18 November 2009 atthe Hong Kong City Hall Theatre featured the Laurel Ensemble, a sextet fromSan Francisco, USA. The performers of the sextet, Sarah Holzman (Flute), AnnLavin (Clarinet), Christina Mok (Violin), Jenny Douglass (Viola), KrisanthyDesby (Cello), and Lori Lack (Piano), masterfully performed seven works,four of which were premières. The concert opened with Lai Sheung-ping'scommissioned piece 'Serenade' (2009), a mix of different stylistic elements,is intended to be "a crossroad between traditional and contemporary music".Victor Chan's 'Two Studies for Violin & Cello' (2004) explored both rhythmicand chordal materials for the two instruments. Alexis Alrich's 'DisturbedGround' (2009), a minimalistic four-movement piece making references toChinese modes, was written in response to the earthquake in Sichuan. LamLan-chee's commissioned piece 'La Defense' (2009) was inspired by thecolour changes reflected on the buildings at La Defense, Almere in theNetherlands. Aenon Loo's commissioned work 'Towards the Air' (2009) wasa slow and quiet piece for flute, violin and piano with video projection. LamPui-kwan's 'Unicorn' (2004) explored the timbres of the solo clarinet. Theconcert concluded with the American composer Jennifer Higdon's energeticwork 'Smash' (2005) for the whole ensemble. The group delivered the piecesconvincingly and with great attention to colour.Laurel Ensemble