What a year: The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra received a whopping HK$36 million donation for its next three seasons from the Swire Group Charitable Trust; the Hong Kong Museum of Art showcased more than 50 masterpieces from Centre Pompidou in Paris; and a Hong Kong Dance Company performer took part in a flying stunt that went horribly wrong. Our reviewers look back at the events that splashed ... and crashed
Dance/opera
City Contemporary Dance Company (CCDC) produced a steady stream of new work, variable in quality, but always well-performed and well-designed. Resident choreographer Helen Lai Hoi-ling's Testimony, a powerful, full-length work based on the life of Dmitry Shostakovich, combined dance with theatre and video to striking effect.
Other highlights were Daniel Yeung's soaring, imaginative Feng (Wind) and Noel Pong's witty portrait of Hong Kong life, Rainy Days and Mondays.
Hong Kong Ballet (HKB) saw artistic director Stephen Jefferies depart after 10 years and his swansong, Suzie Wong, was a hit with local audiences. Successor John Meehan's first programme, Balanchine and Beyond, was a bold statement of his ambitions to take HKB 'to the next level'.
Yuri Ng Yue-lit had a vintage year, notably with Yeah Yeah Xi Men Qing and his re-working his 1998 Butterfly Lovers into a stunning new one-act ballet, The Story of Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai, for the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts.
Hong Kong Dance Company continued to flounder, although there were encouraging signs of a revival with the likes of Dream Dances and Red Poppies.