“ALL EARS, NO BOUNDS” Improv Workshop & Concert

“ALL EARS, NO BOUNDS” Improv Workshop & Concert

Wuji Ensemble cherishes the belief that music is an art form imbued with vitality. Music originates from “pouring from the heart and expressing naturally”. As the medium of communication, sheet music should be opened for modification. From time to time, improvisation cropping up during a performance are conducive to unexpected effects of music. Apart from live gigs, Wuji Ensemble proactively arranged school workshops.

Instructed by Mavis Lam - leader of Wuji Ensemble - and jazz musician Lui Ngao-yuen, students could have a taste of improvisation techniques both in jazz and Chinese music. Eschewing the conventionally fastidious approach of reciting the score, students are allowed to enunciate their inner thoughts and feelings through their improvised notes that are free and volatile.

Mavis Lam and Nui Ngao-yuen used to be secondary school schoolmates of the same grade. While one of them was a liberal arts student practising Chinese music, the other pursued science and jazz. Despite such sheer dissimilarities, the two managed to develop chemistry immediately upon conversing about the collective memory of their middle school life.

Mavis Lam Pipa Lui Ngao-yuen Double Bass

Joining and founding Wuji Ensemble in 2003, Lam currently takes the role of Music Manager. Graduated from The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, Lam specialises in pipa and yuan. Collaborating with choreographers, theatre directors, and various art groups, Lam has performed in live shows and improvised at shows. Lam’s recent performances include Finland’s Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival 2016, Hong Kong Dance Company’s Reveries of The Red Chamber and Vipassana, Jiangsu Province Performing Arts Company Opera and Dance Theatre’s Xiangjun-Dream, Wuji Ensemble’s Boundless Groove, and the multi-media music theatre performance To Someone Alike. Apart from performing, Lam is a music educator as well as frequent pipa recording artist for TV. Recently, she is active in music meditation activities, hoping to use music from the heart to help audiences find their inner peace. Lui studied Jazz Performance and Composition at the Leeds College of Music under the tutelage of Stuart Riley in double bass, Graham Hearn in composition, and Didrik Ingvaldsen in improvisation and composition. Apart from participating in multiple jazz festivals, Lui collaborated with motely musicians, artists, and art organizations including Hong Kong Sinfonietta, Hong Kong Bach Choirs, Chung Ying Theatre Company, Wuji Ensemble, Theatre Fanatico, and Bel Canto Singers. Lui was the producer of Music Fairground in 2013 and 2016 and curator of a throng of musical projects. In 2019, Lui established the Hong Kong Youth Jazz Collective, proactively promoting the education of jazz music. He produced and composed music for the multi-media theatre work To Someone Alike in 2020. He currently teaches in Hong Kong Design Institute as a part-time lecturer in popular and jazz music.

Unique Trust and Chemistry

Lam’s and Lui’s involvement in the experimental theatre production - O You Heavenly Creatures! - paved the path for their reunion years later. Out of surprise, the two realised the uniqueness of their partnership in music. The 3-hour-long concert was played solely by the duo, who conducted not only every music piece but also the acting section. Without music intonation, they improvised everything: sound, interaction, and the means of performance. Chemistry has been cultivated between them since then.

A Joy Shared is a Joy Doubled

Having a companion, performers could support and complement each other; they no longer walk in solitude. Through communicating, they create music with enriched layers. On the contrast between presenting a solo and a tutti, Lam and Lui compared it figuratively to a football game.

“The difference is like training by yourself and playing with a team. With peers, you could remind each other and practise assorted formations. When we are improvising an ensemble piece, we bring up ideas, taking references, and imitating each other. Performing as a group also feels less anxious.”

“I treat the audience as my friends. To perform means to share with them my music and thoughts. That’s what genuine communication is about.”

– Mavis Lam

“Our collaboration does not involve any form of comparison. Instead, we allow disparate qualities of music to merge together.

– Lui Ngao-yuen