https://www.scmp.com/rss/317632/feed The 43rd Hong Kong Arts Festival runs from February 27 to March 29, 2015. Over 34 days, 49 international and local ensembles and solo artists will stage 137 performances of music, opera, drama and dance at venues across the city. Read interviews and profiles of some of the leading performers, event previews and reviews. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com The legendary Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow will broadcast its best classic performances online for free in response to new restrictions to slow the spread of coronavirus. The Bolshoi’s decision came after the Moscow mayor last Thursday ordered the closure of all non-essential services and encouraged residents to stay home. “Our country, like the rest of the world, is experiencing a very difficult time” said Vladimir Urin, general director of the Bolshoi Theatre, announcing the digital shows. “We’ve... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3077508/our-top-picks-bolshoi-theatres-free-youtube-screenings?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3077508/our-top-picks-bolshoi-theatres-free-youtube-screenings?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 30 Mar 2020 12:00:07 +0000 Drama Queens Joyce DiDonato Cultural Centre Concert Hall Reviewed: May 6 Mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato has provided one of the highlights of this year's Hong Kong Arts Festival with a refined concert of baroque arias, backed by the esteemed Il Pomo d'Oro ensemble. The 46-year-old American chose a programme of royal-themed pieces, all taken from baroque works that portray queens or princesses. The Cultural Centre Concert Hall has never been the best venue to hear voices, especially when... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-entertainment/article/1792824/concert-review-drama-queens-refined-concert-baroque?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-entertainment/article/1792824/concert-review-drama-queens-refined-concert-baroque?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 11 May 2015 22:30:45 +0000 Organisers of the Hong Kong Arts Festival, which ended last weekend, are already planning next year's event - and hope for continued government support to produce "a world-class festival". With the curtain having barely fallen on nearly five weeks of performances, festival executive director Tisa Ho said: “We are now at the end of the current five-year funding cycle, with government subvention at less than 30 per cent. Going forward, I hope we will be supported with the necessary resources to... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/1751115/arts-festival-seeks-funds-world-class-event-next-year?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/1751115/arts-festival-seeks-funds-world-class-event-next-year?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 30 Mar 2015 09:45:15 +0000 Flames of Paris Bolshoi Ballet Cultural Centre Grand Theatre March 24, 2015 The Bolshoi Ballet made a triumphant return to Hong Kong with Flames of Paris.  Never seen here before, the ballet is packed with spectacular dancing, from folk dance to pure classicism and offers the dramatic power, panache and flamboyance which are the Bolshoi’s trademarks. The production is Alexei Ratmansky’s 2008 reworking of a Soviet classic from the 1930s.  Set during the French revolution, the plot is a farrago of... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/1746908/review-flames-paris-shows-bolshoi-ballet-its-flamboyant-best?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/1746908/review-flames-paris-shows-bolshoi-ballet-its-flamboyant-best?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 25 Mar 2015 04:00:15 +0000 Gustavo Dudamel and the LA Philharmonic Cultural Centre Concert Hall Reviewed: March 20 Conductor Gustavo Dudamel has a way of setting up a groove that creates an irresistible momentum. Vivid rhythms, colourful orchestration and shaping the dramatic arc of the music are some of the things he and the Los Angeles Philharmonic do so well together, as they showed in performing John Adams' City Noir and Dvorak's Symphony No 9 From the New World. Adams was one of the founding fathers of minimalism,... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/1745387/review-gustavo-dudamel-and-la-philharmonic?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/1745387/review-gustavo-dudamel-and-la-philharmonic?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 23 Mar 2015 22:00:00 +0000 Hong Kong Arts Festival Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall Reviewed: 19 March Playing Mahler’s Symphony No 6 is like riding a shaggy monster, but conductor Gustavo Dudamel guided the magnificent Los Angeles Philharmonic through the lurching ups and downs with passion and precision. This symphony in four movements, a full hour and twenty minutes long, is a conductor’s paradise, featuring big woodwind and brass sections and colourful percussion... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/1742601/dudamels-mahler-6-seeing-world-new-pair-glasses?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/1742601/dudamels-mahler-6-seeing-world-new-pair-glasses?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 20 Mar 2015 02:45:45 +0000 Cinderella Dutch National Ballet Grand Theatre HK Cultural Centre Reviewed: March 12 The Dutch National Ballet returned to the Hong Kong Arts Festival with a much-anticipated production of Cinderella created in 2012 by leading international choreographer Christopher Wheeldon. Visually strong, the work has some original ideas, striking moments and an enchanting Cinderella from Anna Tsygankova, but suffers from being over-plotted and under-choreographed. It's a better show than it is a... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/1739134/dance-review-dutch-national-ballets-cinderella?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/1739134/dance-review-dutch-national-ballets-cinderella?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 16 Mar 2015 22:00:00 +0000 There are three jazz gigs worth catching this week. Cassandra Wilson performs in the formal setting of the Cultural Centre Concert Hall; Latin jazz artist Mitch Frohman plays in the designer-chic surroundings of Sevva on the roof of Prince's Building; and the Wayne Krantz Trio perform in the altogether sweatier environment of Backstage Live on Wellington Street. First up, tomorrow night and on Tuesday, is Frohman on a bill presenting Latin jazz and salsa, which also features DJ Henry Knowles.... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/1736690/cassandra-wilson-mitch-frohman-and-wayne-krantz-trio-play?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/1736690/cassandra-wilson-mitch-frohman-and-wayne-krantz-trio-play?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 14 Mar 2015 14:45:30 +0000 SMASHED Gandini Juggling   Juggler Sean Gandini estimates that 40,000 apples have so far been used during the performances of Smashed. The hour-long juggling spectacle, presented as part of the Hong Kong Arts Festival, requires 80 apples of the right colour and diameter for each of its performances. "Apples are the perfect juggling fruit," says the London-based Gandini, who formed the contemporary circus group Gandini Juggling with former rhythmic gymnast Kati Ylä-Hokkala in 1992. "They are also... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/48hrs/article/1734333/circus-smashed-gandini-juggling?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/48hrs/article/1734333/circus-smashed-gandini-juggling?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 11 Mar 2015 14:30:30 +0000 Pride and Prejudice Gate Theatre Lyric Theatre, Academy for Performing Arts Reviewed: March 5 Is Jane Austen's 1813 Pride and Prejudice, by Dublin-based Gate Theatre as part of this year's Hong Kong Arts Festival, relevant to a contemporary local audience? I didn't think so until the scene in which the heroine, Elizabeth Bennet, became passionate about Mr Darcy's real estate, Pemberley Woods, rather than the tall, dark and brooding protagonist himself. According to the novel, the property "was... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/1733501/stage-version-pride-and-prejudice-still-speaks-modern?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/1733501/stage-version-pride-and-prejudice-still-speaks-modern?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 09 Mar 2015 22:15:15 +0000 PRIDE AND PREJUDICE The Gate Theatre   It is a universally acknowledged truth that a public-domain novel in possession of a larger following must be in want of an adaptation. The Gate Theatre of Dublin first staged Pride and Prejudice in 1994 — before Colin Firth and his wet Darcy shirt changed the equation in a now-classic BBC miniseries — and the company's take on Jane Austen's 1813 book has stayed popular since. " Pride and Prejudice is one of my all-time favourite novels, but it also set the... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/48hrs/article/1725022/gate-theatre-stages-pride-and-prejudice-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/48hrs/article/1725022/gate-theatre-stages-pride-and-prejudice-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 04 Mar 2015 14:45:15 +0000 William Christie and Le Jardin des Voix Academy Soloists with the Orchestra of Les Arts Florissants Hong Kong City Hall Concert Hall Reviewed: March 3 It was fascinating to hear opera as we know it emerge over two centuries of music as presented in this sparkling concert. The Les Arts Florissants orchestra played with sprightly vigour as accompanists to the young virtuoso soloists from the Jardin des Voix Academy, who sang and acted in a semi-staged performance. Early music drama in the late... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/1729236/fascinating-and-gorgeously-sung-journey-through-early-opera?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/1729236/fascinating-and-gorgeously-sung-journey-through-early-opera?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 04 Mar 2015 05:11:44 +0000 Concert etiquette has evolved over the centuries - something that was previously deemed acceptable is now a sign of a barbarian in the house. Such was the case this past weekend during the opening concert of the 43rd Hong Kong Arts Festival, when renowned German orchestra the Staatskapelle Dresden performed Richard Strauss’ Metamorphosen and,  before the 20-minute piece ended, an audience member began to clap. Conductor Christian Thielemann had an annoyed look on his face, and soon afterwards... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/1728562/sshhh-dos-and-donts-concert-goers-hong-kong-and-everywhere?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/1728562/sshhh-dos-and-donts-concert-goers-hong-kong-and-everywhere?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 03 Mar 2015 09:45:15 +0000 MUSIC ABOUT CHINA IX HONG KONG CHINESE ORCHESTRA SATURDAY, CITY HALL CONCERT HALL   The city’s flagship ensemble showed no sign of a recent mutiny as it unleashed a powerful sound in the absence of three backbone players in a performance for the Hong Kong Arts Festival. The drama of defiance and the resulting dismissal of Hsin Hsiao-ling, Hsin Hsiao-hong and Liu Yang, respectively veteran principals of the gaohu, erhu, and zhonghu sections, unfolded so rapidly that the trio were still on the... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/1727256/chinese-orchestra-shrugs-controversy-stirring-performance?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/1727256/chinese-orchestra-shrugs-controversy-stirring-performance?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 02 Mar 2015 02:00:30 +0000 The title of this new Hong Kong Arts Festival commission refers to a generation of women who, because of the decline of the handmade silk industry in Shunde, left Guangdong Province in the 1930s and 40s to become housemaids all over Southeast Asia. Most vowed not to get married and devoted their lives to serving their employer’s family. Co-written by film producer Roger Lee Yan-lam and playwright Wong Wing-sze, and directed by Roy Szeto, The Amahs revolves around three housemaids (also called ma... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/1726699/review-amahs-disjointed-storytelling-lets-down-marathon?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/1726699/review-amahs-disjointed-storytelling-lets-down-marathon?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 01 Mar 2015 01:35:25 +0000 43rd HK Arts Festival Opening Concert Christian Thielemann and the Staatskapelle Dresden Cultural Centre Concert Hall The jeering and finger-pointing familiar to followers of the city's political scene infiltrated its musical shrine on Friday - and this time the chief executive was not on the receiving end. Instead, the invective was aimed at culprits in the audience who spoiled a brilliant musical performance by clapping prematurely. The moment of shame came as the Staatskapelle Dresden, one of... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/1726512/jeers-aimed-premature-applauders-who-disrupt-german?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/1726512/jeers-aimed-premature-applauders-who-disrupt-german?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 28 Feb 2015 20:45:45 +0000 FIGHT NIGHT Ontroerend Goed and The Border Project At a time when the city is debating how the next chief executive should be elected comes Fight Night, a piece of “reality theatre” that aims to get audiences thinking about democracy, elections and political manipulation. Part of the Hong Kong Arts Festival, the interactive piece takes the format of a game show with a stage set reminiscent of a boxing ring. The five actors, or contenders, will “battle” to get the audience’s vote and sympathy,... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/48hrs/article/1722359/reality-theatre-fight-night-democracy-game-show?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/48hrs/article/1722359/reality-theatre-fight-night-democracy-game-show?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 25 Feb 2015 14:30:15 +0000 The Samuel Beckett monologue Not I, which comes to the Hong Kong Arts Festival later this month, is probably the most difficult monologue in the English language. It's not just that to perform the 1972 play you have to be strapped to a harness, blindfolded, unable to hear, with your grease-blackened face placed against a hole in a wooden board so that, sitting in the total darkness, the audience sees only your red mouth, lit by a single spotlight, seemingly suspended 2.5 metres above the... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/1711836/interview-actress-lisa-dwan-performing-samuel-beckett?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/1711836/interview-actress-lisa-dwan-performing-samuel-beckett?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 14 Feb 2015 14:45:00 +0000 THE AMAHS Hong Kong Arts Festival If you want to learn about Hong Kong's "Lion Rock Spirit" — local slang for a can-do spirit — go see the theatre production The Amahs. Showing in the 43rd Hong Kong Arts Festival, this drama follows the lives of three women who came from rural China in the 1950s to live and work in the city as housemaids. Vowing not to marry, and pledging their lives to each other, the three experienced the ups and downs of life together, witnessing Hong Kong emerge from... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/48hrs/article/1709383/amahs-explores-hong-kongs-lion-rock-spirit?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/48hrs/article/1709383/amahs-explores-hong-kongs-lion-rock-spirit?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 11 Feb 2015 14:14:55 +0000 With five weeks to go until the Hong Kong Arts Festival opens, seven events have sold out and tickets are getting scarce for a further 10, organisers said. Among the most sought after tickets have been those for performances by the Bolshoi Theatre's opera and ballet companies. The Bolshoi Ballet's performances of Georges Balanchine's Jewels, the closing events of the 34-day festival, have already sold out. The company's revival of The Flames of Paris, a Soviet-era celebration of the French... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/article/1689201/seven-arts-festival-shows-sold-out-and-several-others-almost-full?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/article/1689201/seven-arts-festival-shows-sold-out-and-several-others-almost-full?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 22 Jan 2015 09:15:00 +0000 On a quiet Friday morning, the day after Thanksgiving, Gustavo Dudamel strolled on to the stage at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, where his orchestra was already warming up. Carrying a stack of music books, and wearing a brown T-shirt and jeans, he uttered a brief good morning to the musicians and launched straight into rehearsals. Over the next two-and-a-half hours, the Los Angeles Philharmonic's famed music director bantered and laughed with his colleagues, and wielded the baton... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/48hrs/article/1675020/how-conductor-gustavo-dudamel-communicates-his-love-music-audiences?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/48hrs/article/1675020/how-conductor-gustavo-dudamel-communicates-his-love-music-audiences?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 07 Jan 2015 14:15:00 +0000 Having taken a look back at 2014 last week, it seems appropriate to look ahead at jazz events scheduled for 2015 - and the year will be getting off to a flying start with gigs from both local and international players. An event well worth supporting takes place over two nights at Grappa's Cellar on January 16-17 with the Hong Kong Jazz Family Fest 2015. This is an annual fundraiser for the Jockey Club Sarah Roe School, an international institution that supports students with special needs,... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/1672937/jazz-fans-mark-your-calendars-some-top-events-2015-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/1672937/jazz-fans-mark-your-calendars-some-top-events-2015-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 03 Jan 2015 13:00:00 +0000 Corporate sponsorship of the city's biggest annual arts event has doubled in the past 10 years. While increased support from companies reflects a greater willingness to promote arts, the state of the economy remains a factor in corporate largesse. The budget for next year's 43rd Hong Kong Arts Festival - which will feature more than 100 shows from artists around the world in February and March - will reach about HK$112 million. In line with traditional practice, taxpayers will finance 30 per... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1625702/sponsorship-goal-hk-arts-festival-tall-order-amid-market?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1625702/sponsorship-goal-hk-arts-festival-tall-order-amid-market?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 27 Oct 2014 03:41:16 +0000 The city's largest arts event has pledged to continue its diverse programming with local and international artists as it waits to hear whether government funding will be renewed. The 43rd Hong Kong Arts Festival, with a record HK$112 million budget, will kick off in February 2015. In 137 shows over 34 days, some of the biggest names in music, dance and theatre will perform - including 10 world premieres, such as a local theatre work The Amahs. Advance bookings will start tomorrow. "We sort of... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1615865/hong-kong-arts-festival-promises-stellar-line-performances?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1615865/hong-kong-arts-festival-promises-stellar-line-performances?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 13 Oct 2014 20:30:15 +0000 Hong Kong will host its largest contingent yet from Russia's Bolshoi opera and ballet and a string of artistic big names in its 2015 edition, but organisers hope to do more - if the government will increase funding. Tisa Ho, the Hong Kong Arts Festival's executive director, said the festival society was in discussion with the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) on the next five-year funding plan. She hopes government funding will be increased by 20 per cent, to about HK$40 million a... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1565204/hong-kong-arts-festival-seeks-more-funding-future-growth?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1565204/hong-kong-arts-festival-seeks-more-funding-future-growth?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 02 Aug 2014 21:45:30 +0000