ABOUT US
L’Artiste
Established in 2013 by versatile musician Joseph Lee, L’Artiste specializes in performing music from the 12th Century to the 18th Century. With intensive research and continuous refinement, the ensemble aims at introducing to the audience the beauty of these underappreciated early music and unfamiliar musical instruments.
Since its establishment, L’Artiste has performed for thousands of audiences in different occasions and venues, including universities, churches and local schools. In February 2015, members of the group performed in a live TV show in Osaka, Japan. In December 2015, the group successfully organized the Recorder Day Hong Kong 2015, featuring the world-renowned recorder virtuoso Dan Laurin and the famous recorder maker Hiroyuki Takeyama.
2016 was a fruitful year for the ensemble. Cooperating with the University Museum and Art Gallery of the University of Hong Kong, L’Artiste presented four full audience concerts in the museum with music from High Gothic to High Renaissance. A series of concerts and master classes followed, including “Muses Good Music” at The Education University of Hong Kong, “Lunch Time Music Platform” at Sir Run-run Shaw Hall of The Chinese University of Hong Kong and “Midday Oasis” at Chung Chi College. In April, the ensemble launched its first full-costumed concert A Musicall Banquet in the Lee Hysan Hall of CUHK. In mid-2016, the group launched a challenging and on-going project: making online video clips of their instrument collection, with the objective to introduce to music lovers the history, mechanisms and characteristics of these rarely seen instruments.
2017 has seen another prosperous period of L’Artiste. In March, the group was invited by the City University of Hong Kong to present a concert for the Discover European Languages and Culture Week. In April, L’Artiste was again invited to give a concert series entitled Fabrique en France at the HKU University Museum and Art Gallery, to enhance their feature exhibition. Later that month, L’Artiste performed in the concert Late Night with Early Music at the CUHK. Later that year, the group presented two concerts at the Chung Chi Chapel, CUHK: I Piaceri della Vita, presenting a repertoire of early western art music, and Italians meet Germans, the first ever live concert broadcast in the Science Park, on Trio Sonatas from the Baroque period. In September 2017, L’Artiste was invited to become the artist-in-residence of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Centre for the Arts, and has presented a series of Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque concerts and workshops throughout the academic year.
In April 2018, the group held a spectacular event featuring Medieval and Renaissance music, dance and games and enjoyed a wonderful afternoon with the local residences in a Medieval market, in collaboration with the Shatin District Council and Shatin Arts Association. The summer of 2018 has seen another vibrant season of L’Artiste. Besides performing again in the HKU University Museum and Art Gallery on a program of Renaissance music entitled The Glory of Mankind - Humanism, L’Artiste was invited by the Macau Band Directors Association to give a well-received concert in their Band Fair in August. In mid-September, the concert The Great Machaut for the Chung Chi Chapel “Midday Oasis” brought a perfect cadence to the season.