LCSD to present “The Andrew Tuason Orchestra pay tribute to Percy Faith and Henry Mancini” concerts in October (with photos)

     The Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) will present "The Andrew Tuason Orchestra pay tribute to Percy Faith and Henry Mancini" concerts in early October. Renowned local musician Andrew Tuason will take the stage with the Andrew Tuason Orchestra (ATO) to perform 40 classic easy-listening and film songs composed or arranged by renowned film and television music composers Percy Faith and Henry Mancini, paying tribute to the two great musicians with ethereal melodies and rhythms.
 
     Rising in the 1950s, Percy Faith and Henry Mancini have collaborated with various famous singers and artists. Easy-listening music, movie and television theme songs composed by them still linger among music lovers today. Striving for excellence in these concerts, Tuason has selected elite musicians from his big band together with other talented players to form the ATO with 41 players, including 23 string musicians, 11 wind musicians and seven rhythmists, to deliver the authentic musical style of the two composers.
 
     In the first concert on October 2, the Orchestra will play works composed or arranged by Faith, such as the movie theme of "A Summer Place", which won a Grammy Award for Record of the Year in 1960, as well as music from the Oscar-winning films "Doctor Zhivago", "The Sound of Music", "Gone with the Wind" and more.
 
     The second concert on October 3 features the works of Mancini, including the familiar rhythms of "The Pink Panther"; the film song "Days of Wine and Roses" that won an Oscar for Best Original Song in 1963 as well as Grammy Awards for Record of the Year and Song of the Year in 1964; the original soundtrack from the movie "Charade", and Mancini's version of the classic song from the film "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" and many more. Guest singer Maria Rosa Tuason will also perform with her alluring voice in the two concerts.
 
     Percy Faith was one of the most popular easy-listening recording artists of the 1950s and 1960s. As a child piano prodigy, Faith gave his first recital at the age of 15, and provided live soundtracks to silent films in various movie theatres. Later he began his career in music arranging and recording, and subsequently earned a place in radio broadcasting. Many records and singles under his name became popular hits. He was also responsible for arranging hits by Tony Bennett, Doris Day, Johnny Mathis and more as the musical director for Columbia Records in the 1950s.
 
     Henry Mancini was one of the greatest composers and arrangers in the film and television music industry. Over his five-decade career, Mancini created numerous masterpieces of music for films. Songs he composed were staples of the easy-listening radio format from the 1960s to the 1980s. Mancini was nominated for 72 Grammy Awards, winning 20. He also won four Oscars. In 1995, Mancini received a posthumous Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
 
     Andrew Tuason is a renowned local musician who has worked as a record producer, composer, arranger, conductor and music director in the local Canto-pop business since the 1980s under the guidance of the late music maestro Joseph Koo. Tuason has been the producer and music director for many notable pop artists. In the 1990s, many productions under the record label of Tuason became top-selling Canto-pop albums. He has received numerous accolades from various music award ceremonies. With the objective of bringing the sound of big band music back to Hong Kong's mainstream music scene, Tuason founded the Andrew Tuason Big Band in early 2021. In September 2022, he led his band to perform in the well-received "Jazz Up" Series: "The Andrew Tuason Big Band" concert presented by the LCSD.
 
     The two above-mentioned concerts will be staged at 8pm on October 2 (Wednesday) and October 3 (Thursday) respectively at the Concert Hall of Hong Kong City Hall. Tickets priced at $220, $280, $360 and $420 are now available at URBTIX (www.urbtix.hk). For telephone bookings, please call 3166 1288. For programme enquiries and concessionary schemes, please call 2268 7321 or visit www.lcsd.gov.hk/CE/CulturalService/Programme/en/music/programs_1758.html.