Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra becomes the first Asian nominee for the distinguished UK classical music magazine Gramophone’s 2019 Orchestra of the Year Award
“You’re hearing one of the best Wagner orchestras in the world.”
– The Times on the HK Phil’s performances of Ring Cycle.
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The home-grown orchestra has scored multiple firsts and musical excellence that make Hong Kong people proud. Under the leadership of music director Jaap van Zweden, the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra (HK Phil) embarked on an epic four-year journey of performing Richard Wagner’s monumental Ring Cycle opera-in-concert in 2015. This was the first time that the local orchestra had taken on this challenging operatic masterpiece.
It’s also the first time that a Hong Kong-based orchestra had cooperated with a recording label, the indigenous Hong Kong brand Naxos, for the live recordings and CD releases of these first-ever opera-in-concert performances.
The HK Phil’s momentous achievements have culminated with the nomination for distinguished UK classical music magazine Gramophone’s “Orchestra of the Year Award” 2019, which made its debut in 2018. This is the HK Phil’s first-ever nomination for this award in the orchestra’s history.
More importantly, the HK Phil is the first orchestra in Asia to receive this nomination from the magazine. The HK Phil is one of ten nominees in this award category, including some of the world’s preeminent orchestras, such as London Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, and Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia – Rome.
Recognising exceptional music-making across the globe, the prestigious international award celebrates ensembles that have made significant recorded contributions in the past year. The HK Phil had collaborated with Naxos on several critically acclaimed recordings, such as the recordings featuring Tan Dun and Bright Sheng, each conducting their own compositions, and of course the not-to-be-missed live recordings of the complete Wagner’s Ring Cycle. No matter the concert performances or the live recordings, this four-year epic journey through the Ring Cycle with its grand finale in 2018 has been enthusiastically received by audiences and praised by critics at home and abroad.
The live recordings of the HK Phil’s Ring Cycle are available on CD/Blue-Ray individually and as a CD box set at local record stores.
Wagner’s opera-in-concert by the HK Phil
Ring Cycle is Wagner’s superb operatic masterpiece in German. It was written loosely based on characters from the Norse sagas and the Nibelungenlied from 1848 to 1874.
The HK Phil embarked on its historic four-year journey in 2015 to complete the entire Ring Cycle. Wagner’s enthralling operatic masterpiece was brought to life under the direction of the orchestra’s music director Jaap van Zweden, who was joined by a cast of internationally acclaimed Wagnerian singers and outstanding choruses. The opera-in-concert performances were in four parts: Das Rheingold; Die Walküre; Siegfried; and Götterdämmerung. The orchestra performed one installment in concert annually. The epic musical journey ended with its conclusion in January 2018.
The HK Phil’s four-year musical extravaganza received support from the HKSAR Government which granted the orchestra the contestable funding for four consecutive years. Apart from the musical performances, the HK Phil organised a series of activities to engage the public in the celebration of Ring Cycle. They included: symposia, open rehearsals, pre-concert talks, ensemble performances, demonstrations of Wagnerian musical instruments, creative art competition, workshops, podcasts, exhibitions, vocal master classes, story-telling session and film screening session. The events attracted thousands of music and arts enthusiasts.
Interesting facts about the HK Phil’s Ring Cycle performances
* Altogether the HK Phil gave a total of eight performances of the Ring Cycle's four parts – two performances for each opera, namely Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, Siegfried and Götterdämmerung – to audiences numbering almost 13,000. Over a hundred members of the media were also attracted to the performances.
* The combined length of the performances of the four parts is close to 20 hours.
* At the Beijing Music Festival (BMF) in 2017, as a co-production between BMF and the Salzburg Easter Festival (SEF), music director Jaap van Zweden conducted the HK Phil to present the Ring Cycle’s Die Walküre. 2017 was a significant year full of remarkable celebrations - the 20th anniversary of the establishment of BMF and HKSAR, and also the 50th anniversary of the SEF, which was founded by the celebrated conductor Herbert von Karajan in 1967. Maestro von Karajan not only conducted Die Walküre at the inaugural SEF in 1967. He also directed his own staging of this masterpiece – the “Salzburg production” of Die Walküre. Karajan’s widow was scheduled to attend the memorable performance at BMF.
* Götterdämmerung is the only part of the Ring Cycle to include a chorus part. Eberhard Friedrich, the chorus master of the Bayreuth Festival and the Hamburg State Opera, led the Bamberg Symphony Chorus, the State Choir Latvija, and members of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Chorus in these performances.
* For Ring Cycle’s Part 2 to Part 4, Wagner expert Sue Elliott from The Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto, Canada, was invited by the HK Phil to conduct podcast with the orchestra’s seniors, to introduce this epic opera-in-concert to a wider audience.
* To engage the public and enhance their appreciation of Wagner’s music, the HK Phil organised the “Siegfried Creative Art Competition and Exhibition” in the 2016/17 season. The contest invited anyone aged six and above to create visual artworks by drawing their inspirations from the heroic story. The winning artworks and a selection of entries were displayed at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre.
Rave reviews for the HK Phil’s Ring Cycle
Numerous positive reviews from esteemed local and overseas critics were generated:
“A ring from Hong Kong to take on the world” - Hugo Shirley of Gramophone
Das Rheingold
“… riveting performance” – Das Opernglas (The Opera Glass)
Die Walküre
“The most remarkable element of the performances was the high standard of the orchestral playing, astonishing for a band that had never tackled Wagner’s dramas in sound before.” – Hugh Canning, The Sunday Times
Siegfried
“Jaap van Zweden has rehearsed his players to an admirable level of prowess …a cogent, no-nonsense Siegfried that is always alive with interest… Siegfried offers a good, all-round performance. The scene is set for a successful conclusion of the Hong Kong Ring next year.” – Ken Smith, Financial Times
Götterdämmerung
“Götterdämmerung was his [Jaap van Zweden] crowning glory and, by most measures, a phenomenal success.” – Alan Yu, Bachtrack
The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra
Recognised as Asia’s foremost classical orchestra, the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra (HK Phil) presents more than 150 concerts over a 44-week season that attract over 200,000 music enthusiasts annually. Its music director Jaap van Zweden has been with the orchestra since the 2012/13 season and will continue to hold the position until 2022; he is also the Music Director of the New York Philharmonic since the 2018/19 season. Yu Long has been the orchestra’s Principal Guest Conductor since the 2015/16 season. The Swire Group has been the principal patron of the HK Phil since 2006. Thanks to the significant subsidy from the HKSAR Government and long-term funding from The Swire Group, the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust and other supporters, the HK Phil now boasts a full-time annual schedule of core classical repertoire and innovative popular programming, extensive education and community programmes, and collaboration with Hong Kong Ballet, Opera Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Arts Festival, among others. The HK Phil is a registered charitable organisation.