The Happy Family
Picture Perfect Happy Family...in Portrait

What makes a happy family? With Hong Kong ranked 77th in world happiness, is having a warm and perfect family a foregone conclusion?

After the chamber opera Women Like Us, composer Daniel Lo and novelist Wong Yi continued their successful collaboration in music and literature with The Happy Family. The contemporary music composition ponders on the intimate topic of “family” through a typical middle-class Hong Kong household of five and their dog. They may appear to be the picture-perfect family, but behind this shiny veneer are the cracks and hollows of their repressed desires. The Happy Family features an all-new riveting score for a seven-player instrumental ensemble and narrator Yau Chung-wai as well as projection by media artist Yu Wing-yan. This beautiful encounter of music and literature is a nuanced portrait of the intricate entanglements and the inevitable sacrifices made in Hong Kong families.

Creative and Production Team
Artistic Concept & Composer: Daniel Lo 
Text: Wong Yi
Media Artist: Yu Wing-yan 

Devising Performer / Narrator: Yau Chung-wai 
Conductor: Angus Lee 

Lighting Designer: Coco Chung
Sound Designer: Candog Ha
Surtitles Translation: Jennifer Feeley

Ensemble
Violin: Mark Hui 
Viola: William Lane 
Cello: Pun Chak-yin
Flute: Hui Wing-hang 
Clarinet: Stephenie Ng 
Piano: Ng Yu Ching Shelley 
Percussion: Karen Yu