The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra launches milestone 51st season with a stellar line-up of world-renowned artists

The curtain rises on the new season with a celebration of Austrian composer Anton Bruckner’s 200th birthday week. The programme features his masterpiece, ‘dem lieben Gott’ (To the Beloved God), in the unfinished Symphony No. 9. Leading this challenging performance is HK Phil’s Music Director Designate Tarmo Peltokoski, who will collaborate with Swedish violinist Daniel Lozakovich. The eagerly anticipated debut of Lozakovich with the HK Phil promises to be a memorable event.

Peltokoski, currently the Music and Artistic Director of the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra, was named "Young Talent of the Year (Conducting)" by OPUS Klassik, Germany in 2023. Rémy Louis of Diapason, enthuses about the gifted artist: “Look out – here comes a genius! … Peltokoski not only has phenomenal technique, but an energy, a musical instinct, a stylistic and expressive clarity as well as fiery dynamics, all of which leave one speechless.”

Another outstanding young talent, Lozakovich – among the most sought-after violinists worldwide – is expected to captivate the audience with Sibelius’s ethereal Violin Concerto. Regarding Lozakovich’s artistry, Gramophone quotes President of Warner Classics & Erato, Alain Lanceron, as noting, ”While very much a young player of today, he is an artist whose poetry and integrity place him in the great tradition of the 20th-century violinists who set the benchmarks for the recorded catalogue.”

National Day concert: Vasily Petrenko and Li-Wei Qin

Huang Ruo’s Folk Songs for Orchestra
Haydn’s Cello Concerto No.1
Delius’s On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring
Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring
 
September 20, 2024 (Friday), 8 pm
September 21, 2024 (Saturday), 8pm
Hong Kong Cultural Centre, Concert Hall

Composer Huang Ruo has reimagined four beloved folk songs, seamlessly incorporating them into the vibrant Folk Songs for Orchestra. Luciano Feliciani of Kathodik Webzine describes Huang as “one of the most interesting contemporary compositional voices on today's scene … With orchestral writing rich in dissonance, timbral and rhythmic contrasts, sometimes also inspired by folk music.”

The upcoming concert offers music lovers a unique opportunity to immerse themselves in Huang’s distinctive work, under the baton of Vasily Petrenko. Cellist Li-Wei Qin will join the performance of Haydn’s Cello Concerto, as well as spring-inspired compositions by Delius and Stravinsky.

Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring will come alive under the baton of Petrenko, Music Director of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London and Conductor Laureate of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. The maestro has received rave reviews for conducting this iconic piece. “With modern ears, it’s more a case of admiring The Rite’s revolutionary musical aspects; and there is much to admire here in Vasily Petrenko’s menacing vision for the work delivered by the RLPO with thrumming, fearsome energy,” says Catherine Jones for Liverpool Echo.

Petrenko was honoured with the Artist of the Year Award at the prestigious annual Gramophone Awards in 2017.

Chinese-Australian cellist Li-Wei Qin is among the most sought-after musicians of his generation. He captivates audiences worldwide both as a soloist and a chamber musician. In this upcoming concert, Qin will once again perform Haydn’s Cello Concerto No. 1. On his performance of this much-loved work in collaboration with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra at the Sydney Opera House in October 2023, Steve Moffatt of Limelight writes, ‘Qin’s finely nuanced performance nearly lifts the roof off the Concert Hall.’"

Swire Proudly Sponsors Belt and Road – Vasily Petrenko and Anna Fedorova

Rakhmadiyev’s Kudasha-Duman
Grieg’s Piano Concerto
Bruckner’s Symphony No.7
 
September 27, 2024 (Friday), 8pm
September 28, 2024 (Saturday), 5pm
Hong Kong Cultural Centre, Concert Hall
 
The celebration of Bruckner continues as Petrenko returns to conduct arguably the composer’s best-known symphonic work. The Symphony No.7 not only brought Bruckner widespread international recognition, but is also considered a tribute to his main musical influence, Richard Wagner.
 
World-renowned Ukrainian pianist Anna Fedorova will play Grieg’s wonderfully romantic and passionate Piano Concerto. Gramophone describes Fedorova’s previous performance of this concerto as “unfailingly sensitive, poetic and tasteful.”
 
The late internationally acclaimed German-American pianist and teacher, Menahem Pressler, said, “Fedorova’s beautiful sound and natural freedom in making music with total technical security makes for one of the finest Chopin performances I have heard in a long, long time.”
 
As a soloist, Fedorova has collaborated with some of the world’s premier orchestras. Her live recording of Rachmaninov’s 2nd Piano Concerto has garnered more than 41 million views on YouTube and received high praise from critics and world-renowned musicians.
 
The concert will be opened with Kazakhstani composer Erkegali Rakhmadiyev’s orchestral showpiece Kudasha-Duman.

Long Yu | Brahms Double Concerto

Brahms’s Double Concerto for Violin and Cello
Brahms’s (arr. Schoenberg) Piano Quartet No.1

October 17, 2024 (Thursday), 8pm
Hong Kong Cultural Centre, Concert Hall
 
An unmissable collaboration between esteemed artists awaits music lovers. The HK Phil’s Concertmaster, Jing Wang, and Principal Cellist, Richard Bamping, will breathe life into the musical intimacy and joyful interactions of Brahms’s captivating Double Concerto. Accompanied by the HK Phil’s Principal Guest Conductor Long Yu, this performance promises to showcase Brahms as a progressive composer, bridging tradition with innovation. Additionally, Schoenberg’s orchestral adaptation of Brahms’s Piano Quartet No.1 adds to the programme’s richness. Both works culminate in spirited Gypsy dances.
 
Hailed by The New York Times as “the most powerful figure in China’s classical music scene,” Yu has devoted his career to steering China’s growing connection to classical music while familiarising international audiences with the country’s most eminent musicians and composers.
  
Critic Alan Yu of Bachtrack.com wrote in 2016 of Yu’s performance with the HK Phil, “When maestro Long Yu is in command, there’s bound to be variety, energy and drama.”

Sparks are expected to fly in this collaboration between Yu, and critically acclaimed violinist Jing Wang – one of the most versatile and dynamic violinists of his generation – as well as Richard Bamping, Principal cellist of the HK Phil since 1993.