https://www.scmp.com/rss/514188/feed Giorgio Biancorosso is Professor of Music and Director of the Society of Fellows, The University of Hong Kong. He is active as both a scholar and a dramaturg. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Giorgio Biancorosso Giorgio Biancorosso The high point of the August 1 concert by the newly formed Asian Modern Symphony Orchestra turned out to be neither particularly symphonic nor modern. Deep into the second half of the Hong Kong concert, principal violin Gyoon Kim intoned the slowly paced, melancholy motif that opens the second movement (Andante non troppo) of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto no 2 in G major. The tentative phrasing – which might have been deliberate – gave the solo section a diaphanous quality. Principal cello Joonho... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts/article/3320658/pianist-bruce-liu-joins-asian-modern-symphony-orchestras-debut-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts/article/3320658/pianist-bruce-liu-joins-asian-modern-symphony-orchestras-debut-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 04 Aug 2025 07:14:14 +0000 Peter Brook’s swansong, the “Tempest Project” is less a culmination of a life’s work than a quiet, discreet farewell. In fact, those expecting an apotheosis, or a definitive interpretation, might be surprised by the casual, open-ended treatment of Shakespeare’s The Tempest. In typical fashion, Brook and his long-time collaborator Marie-Hélène Estienne injected new life into the play by paring it down. Whole sections are left out, while others – the wedding between Miranda and Ferdinando, for... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3256608/peter-brooks-tempest-project-gives-shakespeares-tempest-new-life-paring-it-down-theatre-des-bouffes?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3256608/peter-brooks-tempest-project-gives-shakespeares-tempest-new-life-paring-it-down-theatre-des-bouffes?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 25 Mar 2024 08:15:20 +0000 Follow nature, learn from water – this is the best way to capture the gist of The Book of Water, a complex stage work with drama, live music and film created by composer and director Michel van der Aa. For all its intricately rendered mesh of live and recorded performances, The Book of Water is at heart a work with one big idea: that, far from being merely a threat, impending natural disasters are an opportunity for personal renewal and reconciliation. Taken at face value, van der Aa’s linking... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3211806/melodrama-reinvented-ted-talk-operatic-stage-book-water-starring-samuel-and-timothy-west-multimedia?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3211806/melodrama-reinvented-ted-talk-operatic-stage-book-water-starring-samuel-and-timothy-west-multimedia?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 28 Feb 2023 09:45:11 +0000 Conceived as an add-on for another comic opera (The Dupe), Domenico Cimarosa’s L’impresario in angustie (best translated as “The impresario in distress”) soon took on a life of its own to become one of the most successful comic operas of the latter part of the 18th century. The opera premiered in Naples in 1786, the same year as Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro. It then enjoyed performances across the Italian peninsula and eventually all of Europe –Vienna, Lisbon, Copenhagen – and even the then... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3206220/italian-comic-operas-intelligent-staging-hong-kong-grand-opera-bodes-well-companys-future?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3206220/italian-comic-operas-intelligent-staging-hong-kong-grand-opera-bodes-well-companys-future?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 10 Jan 2023 09:15:11 +0000 One could spot them hundreds of metres away. Purse or jacket in hand, trotting along at a brisk pace, one eye on the watch, music lovers came out of the woodwork to gather at Hong Kong City Hall for the duo recital by Maximilian Hornung (cello) and Alexander Krichel (piano) on November 15. Inside, the atmosphere was electric in the lobby as the crowd waited in the slow-moving queue going into the concert hall. We have to thank Covid-19 for the extraordinary surge of interest in cultural... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3199850/energetic-beethoven-and-dramatic-brahms-pianist-and-cellist-hong-kong-duo-recital-show-their?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3199850/energetic-beethoven-and-dramatic-brahms-pianist-and-cellist-hong-kong-duo-recital-show-their?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 16 Nov 2022 10:45:12 +0000