bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

sponsorType

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

factSheets

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

copyrighted

customTimezone

liveContents

Vivienne Chow

Another 58-year-old Briton has landed on Hong Kong's art scene. 
Following January's abrupt departure of West Kowloon Cultural District chief Graham Sheffield  because of 'health reasons', the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra yesterday announced Michael MacLeod as its new chief executive. 
The government-funded orchestra's artistic director and chief conductor Edo de Waart praised MacLeod as 'an outstanding leader with a strong passion for orchestras'. 
'I have known Michael for a number of years ... His appointment is an important step for the HKPO to further develop its great future and I look forward very much to our creative partnership,' de Waart said in a statement.
MacLeod will begin his new position April 1. 
De Waart, 69, previously said he would be leaving his post after the 2011-12 season. Music critic Chow Fan-fu said MacLeod would have to work with the future artistic director, and their collaboration would be  crucial for the orchestra's development. 
The South China Morning Post has reported that Dutch conductor Jaap Van Zweden,  now music director of the Dallas Symphony, the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic and the Royal Flemish Philharmonic, will fill the shoes of de Waart, on the latter's  recommendation.
The orchestra's board chairman and the chairman of the search committee, Liu Yuen-seng, said in a statement he was confident that MacLeod's presence 'will help lead and drive our fine orchestra to the best level of excellence'. 
MacLeod is the third chief executive of the government-funded orchestra in three years. Last July, So Hau-leung  left the position after a one-year stint, succeeding previous chief executive Tim Calnin.  
MacLeod was the general and artistic director of Glimmerglass Opera,  a summer festival in New York state, between 2005 and 2010. Earlier, he was executive director of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra  from 2001 to 2005. 
'As the son of a British diplomat, I am used to relocating to different countries,' MacLeod said in a statement issued by the orchestra. 'I find the variety of cultures stimulating, and I look forward to coming to a part of the world with an extraordinary economic and cultural vitality. I regard Hong Kong and China as the new land of opportunity.' 
Born in Bogota, Colombia, to an American mother  and  diplomat father, MacLeod has lived in  Turkey, Austria,  the US and Ethiopia. On his personal website, MacLeod said his interest was being an 'adventurer'. In 1983, he  cycled from London to  Scotland.



HK Philharmonic appoints new chief executive