Who says opera’s boring? Hong Kong music enthusiast aims to stage classics with a fun and modern twist

Tell Hong Kong opera enthusiast Lucy Choi Ting-ting that her beloved genre of the performing arts belongs only to the rich and privileged, and expect to face down a vehement assertion to the contrary.

Choi, co-founder of More Than Musical, a local non-profit group established in 2016 to make opera more accessible, champions the “human connection” of the experience, no matter how complex or difficult to understand a work may seem.

“What’s so special about it is that we use music and human voice to express emotions and that is something that cannot be achieved by words alone,” she says.

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In this regard, Choi sees parallels between opera and wine.

“It’s something that’s been filtered down in history, only because it’s good,” she explains. “Any classical opera music you hear today was written many years ago, for many years to come, to be passed down for generations to come.”

Choi’s love of music ignited when she was 10 years old, and by her second year in college, what was an early interest blossomed into a deep and abiding passion.

A piano student, she was forced to stop playing the instrument due to an arm injury.