Author Archives: hksar gov

     Widely recognised as one of the world’s greatest living pianists, Evgeny Kissin will return to Hong Kong in October for an exhilarating recital.
 
     The programme will include a selection of exuberant and colouristic preludes by Russian composer Rachmaninov, as well as the grandest sonata Beethoven had ever written, “Sonata No. 29, Op. 106 ‘Hammerklavier'” which is considered a monumental masterpiece by Beethoven for its sheer scale and technical difficulty. The recital will be staged at 8pm on October 24 (Wednesday) at the Concert Hall of the Hong Kong Cultural Centre.
 
     Born in Moscow in 1971, Evgeny Kissin began to play by ear on the piano at the age of 2 and entered a special school for gifted children, Moscow’s Gnessin School of Music, at the age of 6. He came to international attention in March 1984 when he performed Chopin’s piano concertos 1 and 2 in the Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatory with the Moscow State Philharmonic. In 1990, Kissin made his first appearance at the BBC Promenade Concerts in London and, in the same year, made his North American debut, performing both Chopin piano concertos with the New York Philharmonic.
 
     Musical awards and tributes from around the world have been showered on Kissin. He was a special guest at the 1992 Grammy Awards ceremony and three years later became Musical America’s youngest Instrumentalist of the Year. In 1997 he received the prestigious Triumph Award for his outstanding contribution to Russian culture, one of the highest cultural honours to be awarded in Russia.
 
     “Encore Series: Piano Recital by Evgeny Kissin” is presented by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department and sponsored by FANCL. Tickets priced at $250, $400, $550, $700 and $880 are now available at URBTIX (www.urbtix.hk). For telephone credit card bookings, please call 2111 5999. For programme enquiries and concessionary schemes, please call 2268 7321 or visit www.lcsd.gov.hk/CE/CulturalService/Programme/en/music/programs_471.html.
 
     A pre-concert talk entitled “Pianism from Beethoven to Rachmaninov” (to be conducted in Cantonese) will be held at 6.45pm at the Foyer Reception Area, 4/F, Auditoria Building, Hong Kong Cultural Centre. The speaker will be Ernest Wan. Admission is free with limited seats available on a first-come, first-served basis. read more

     The Census and Statistics Department (C&SD) published today (August 15) the August 2018 issue of the "Hong Kong Monthly Digest of Statistics" (HKMDS).      Apart from providing up-to-date st… read more

     The effective exchange rate index for the Hong Kong dollar on Wednesday, August 15, 2018 is 105 (up 0.3 against yesterday’s index). read more

     The Social Welfare Department (SWD) today (August 15) invited eligible elderly persons to apply for the fourth batch of vouchers under the Pilot Scheme on Residential Care Service Voucher (RCSV) for the Elderly.
 
     A spokesman for the SWD said that letters will be sent to eligible elderly persons to invite them to join the Scheme. Elderly persons who have been assessed as moderately impaired under the SWD’s Standardised Care Need Assessment Mechanism for Elderly Services and waitlisted for care-and-attention (C&A) places under the Central Waiting List (CWL) for Subsidised Long Term Care Services for the Elderly with application dates on or before the end of December 2017 (not including those who are RCSV holders, and those whose status on the CWL is “inactive” or who are offered subvented/subsidised placement) are eligible to apply for the fourth batch of RCSVs. The closing date for applications is September 11. Successful applicants will be issued with RCSVs from the end of September onwards.
      
     The spokesman said, “Adopting the ‘money-following-the-user’ principle, the Scheme provides an additional choice for elderly persons in need of residential care service by allowing them to choose the residential care services provided by eligible residential care homes for the elderly (RCHEs) under the Scheme according to their needs. The Scheme is being implemented in three phases with the first phase and second phase launched in March 2017 and September 2017 respectively. There are, as of today, 93 RCHEs participating as Recognised Service Providers (RSPs) offering beds which accept RCSV holders. The RSPs are RCHEs providing non-subsidised residential care places in subvented homes, contract homes, self-financing homes and EA1 private RCHEs under the Enhanced Bought Place Scheme (EBPS). The third phase will be extended to cover all RCHEs meeting the requirements. The SWD has earlier invited RCHEs to join the third phase of the Scheme. Successful RSPs joining the third phase will offer service to RCSV holders in September 2018 at the earliest, and the numbers of RSPs and residential care places available for RCSV holders are expected to increase gradually.”
      
     Under the principle of “users pay in accordance with affordability”, the Scheme adopts a sliding scale of co-payment at eight levels (Level 0 to Level 7). Elderly persons are assessed on an individual basis in the means test in which both income and assets will be taken into account in determining the co-payment level. The payment percentages of the elderly users range from 0 per cent at the lowest to 75 per cent at the highest. The current voucher value under the Scheme is $12,609 per month while voucher value will be adjusted to $13,287 per month with effect from October 1. The RSPs has to provide a “standard service package” under the voucher value for RCSV holders. The scope of the package is comparable to that of subsidised C&A places under the EBPS.
      
     The spokesman added that the Residential Care Service Voucher Office of the SWD will assist RCSV holders to select suitable RSPs and provide follow-up support for them after admission, such as regular visits and assistance with change of RSPs when necessary. If elderly persons or their carers/family members have enquiries about application, they may contact the above-mentioned office on 3107 3280 or 3107 3290. The telephone lines will be operating from 9.30am to 1pm and 2.30pm to 5pm on Mondays to Fridays, except for public holidays.
      
     For details of the Scheme and the list of RSPs, citizens may visit the SWD website (www.swd.gov.hk). The SWD will update the list of RSPs in the website from time to time. Citizens may also browse the SWD Elderly Information Website (elderlyinfo.swd.gov.hk) to get more details such as information on manpower and facilities for each of the RSPs.
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     The Correctional Services Department (CSD) today (August 15) released a video showing the highlights of a special football match between persons in custody of Pik Uk Correctional Institution (PUCI) and youth team members of the Hong Kong Football Association. The match, which took place at PUCI, was held ahead of the Hong Kong football representative team’s participation in the Asian Games in Jakarta.
      
     The video, entitled “Learn from a Referee to Judge Right or Wrong”, shows 12 young persons in custody who have completed the Football Referee Training elementary course organised by the Association. In addition to being awarded certificates, they also gained the opportunity to join a friendly soccer match to play with youth team members of the Association. In addition, the persons in custody took turns to act as referees on the day to put their training into practice.
      
     Narrated by multimedia producer Mr Ng Ka-him, the video is interesting and entertaining. He said that the young persons in custody have not yet passed the first half of the match of life, and expressed the hope that they can continue the second half of life with smiles.
      
     PUCI jointly held the training course with the Association for the persons in custody in the middle of this year. The aim of the course was to enable them to learn to judge right and wrong and to understand the community’s care and support so as to strengthen their determination for rehabilitation.
      
     Members of the public are invited to watch the video, which has been uploaded to the CSD YouTube Channel at youtu.be/FiEs3GdAMdU.