Hong Kong musicians to bridge borders in global orchestra

Musicians with the Hong Kong Sinfonietta will join their Korean and Japanese counterparts, as well as players from around the world, on a three-city tour in East Asia, during which they hope to transcend political differences through the power of music.

Thirty-five members of the city's flagship mid-size orchestra have been invited to take part in the prestigeous Tongyeong International Music Festival, currently underway at the South Korean seaside resort city of Tongyeong.

The Hong Kong musicians will form the bulk of the 80-strong Tongyeong Festival Orchestra, composed of musicians from 12 orchestras worldwide.

They will play with members of the North German Radio Symphony Orchestra, the United States' National Symphony Orchestra, Australia's Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Hungary's Budapest Symphony Orchestra, and others, as well as individual Korean musicians recruited for the event.

Dubbed "the Salzburg Festival of Asia", the Tongyeong festival features some of the world's top musicians paying tribute to the late Korean composer Yun I-sang in his hometown.

The Tongyeong Festival Orchestra will perform on Sunday, at the close of the 10-day festival, offering a programme of works by Yun, Finnish composer Jean Sibelius and Austrian composer Gustav Mahler under the baton of Christoph Poppen, the principal guest conductor-designate of the Sinfonietta.