Hong Kong refused Jaap van Zweden a quarantine waiver, leading HK Phil’s music director to cancel his remaining 2021 appearances with the city’s flagship orchestra
- ‘We were told the government would not consider it appropriate,’ says Hong Kong Phil chief executive of refusal to waive 21 days’ quarantine for music director
- Ironically, van Zweden’s quarantine in South Korea ahead of a concert there has been waived. Hong Kong’s stance is harming the music scene for Phil and others
Dutch maestro Jaap van Zweden is free to enter South Korea as a guest conductor without serving a coronavirus quarantine, but cannot enter Hong Kong – where he is music director of the city’s flagship orchestra – without doing 21 days’ quarantine.
While Australian actress Nicole Kidman was granted a quarantine waiver to enter the city and the Hong Kong men’s rugby sevens team an exemption allowing them to train on some days while serving 14 days’ hotel quarantine, the Hong Kong Philharmonic’s application for a waiver for Van Zweden was rejected, the Post has learned.
As a result he has cancelled his remaining appearances with the orchestra in 2021.
And it’s not just Van Zweden – performing arts groups in the city are struggling to attract international performers because of the quarantine requirement.
On October 12, the Hong Kong Philharmonic announced that Van Zweden, 60, would not conduct two sold-out Beethoven concerts on Nov 5-6 and the popular “Swire Symphony Under The Stars” outdoor performance as scheduled. The conductor’s international commitments did not allow for a lengthy quarantine in Hong Kong, it said. He will be replaced on the rostrum by Wilson Ng Wai-sai.
Van Zweden would have been flying in from the Netherlands, which is reporting thousands of new Covid-19 cases daily and is classified by Hong Kong as a high-risk “Group A” country.
Artists had to pull out of their Hong Kong engagements because they had concerts … within three weeks of their Hong Kong dates
The conductor cancelled an appearance last week with the New York Philharmonic, where he is also the music director, citing a family medical emergency.
HK Phil chief executive Benedikt Fohr explained that Van Zweden had to fly back to Amsterdam from New York because a member of his family needed medical attention. But that was not why he was unable to come to Hong Kong, Fohr said.
The emergency has been attended to and Van Zweden is about to leave the Netherlands for Seoul, where he will keep his appointment with the KBS Symphony Orchestra and conduct its season-opening concert on October 29.
The South Korean government waived the requirement for Van Zweden to serve 14 days’ quarantine in Seoul, according to the KBS Symphony Orchestra.
Fohr said the HK Phil had hoped that the Hong Kong government would grant quarantine exemptions to people working in the cultural sector, as it has those in other industries.
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“The Hong Kong Philharmonic is a world-class orchestra, and it is important for Jaap to be here to keep our players in great shape. We were told that the government would not consider it appropriate to grant exception in the present circumstances,” Fohr said.
The Philharmonic and other performing arts groups in Hong Kong are struggling to attract guest performers from abroad now that other countries have opened up their borders, he added.
Andrea Fessler, founder of Premiere Performances, which puts on chamber music performances and recitals, agrees.
“Most countries have now eliminated their quarantine restrictions for fully vaccinated travellers who test negative. So they are back to a regular performance schedule which simply does not allow for three weeks in a hotel room in Hong Kong,” she said.
“This fall we were supposed to present the Hong Kong debut of British cello superstar Sheku Kanneh-Mason – a concert that was four years in the making. But without a quarantine exemption, it was impossible for him to come.
“Other artists had to pull out of their Hong Kong engagements because they had concerts in ‘Group A’ countries within three weeks of their Hong Kong dates,” Fessler said.
After taking into account all relevant factors, we do not consider it appropriate to grant exemption [to] Maestro Jaap van Zweden in the present circumstances
The Hong Kong government’s Home Affairs Bureau, which is responsible for cultural affairs, said in a written reply to questions from the Post: “The global epidemic situation has remained severe with various highly transmissible mutant strains bringing heightened risks.
“The Government has to remain vigilant to ensure that the hard earned ‘zero case’ situation can be maintained so that arts venues can remain open with minimal risks.
“At present, the Government’s top priority is to control the epidemic so that normal cross-boundary flow of people between Hong Kong and Mainland [China] can be resumed as early as possible.
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“We have all along been observing strict quarantine measures to prevent possible Covid-19 cases from abroad. After taking into account all relevant factors, we do not consider it appropriate to grant exemption [to] Maestro Jaap van Zweden in the present circumstances.”
The government allows quarantine exemptions for personnel in a number of sectors, including directors and senior executives of listed companies and those working in financial services.
A spokesman for the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau said: “For the quarantine exemption schemes for financial services sectors and listed companies, up to 15 October 2021, 371 applications have been received, 275 have been rejected or withdrawn, while 82 have been authorised. The remaining applications are under processing.”
One senior banker who was reported to have served three weeks’ quarantine in order to enter Hong Kong is Mark Tucker, chairman of HSBC bank.
