A Pre-Tour Concert featuring Jaap and Ning Feng

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[15 March 2017, Hong Kong] Led by Music Director Jaap van Zweden, the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra (HK Phil) will undertake an ambitious five-city international tour during April and May 2017 in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). The Hong Kong audience will have a chance to enjoy the first tour programme when it is performed as part of the orchestra’s 2016/17 season on 14 April, for one night only.

This pre-tour concert showcases Hong Kong’s creativity and musical culture. The programme includes Quintessence by Hong Kong composer Fung Lam, as well as masterpieces by Bartók and Brahms. Internationally renowned violinist Ning Feng will appear as soloist.

Commissioned by the HK Phil, Fung Lam’s Quintessence was composed back in 2014 to celebrate the 40th Anniversary Gala of the HK Phil. The work explores the magical substance referred to in ancient philosophy which was in all the gods and gave being to all living things.

Our favourite violinist, Ning Feng (“impresses not only with his technical skill but also with a warm, inspired and consistently full and lyric tone”; Pizzicato magazine), returns to dazzle in Bartók’s virtuoso  passages and sensuous Gypsy rhythms. This is a performance which promises to be truly enthralling.

And as the last item before the orchestra sets off on its tour, we will hear Brahms’ First Symphony. No composer in history gave the world such a powerful first symphony as Brahms. Maestro van Zweden will immerse the audiences in the drama of this gripping masterpiece — from the opening pulsing rhythm to the jubilant finale’s noble horn calls and brass chorales.

Masterworks: Jaap & Ning Fengwill be held on 14 April (Fri) at 8PMin the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall. Ticket prices: HK$680, $480, $380, $280 are now available at URBTIX. For enquiries, please call +852 2721 2332 or visit www.hkphil.org

Masterworks: Jaap & Ning Feng is an accredited event celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

The HK Phil Tour 2017 will then begin in Seoul (16 April) followed by Osaka (18 April) and Singapore (1 May) before heading to Melbourne (4 May) and Sydney (5 May).

The tour is financially supported by the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (Tokyo, Singapore, and Sydney).

Cathay Pacific is our Airline Partner.

The Wall Street Journal is our Tour Media Partner.

The Langham Melbourne is our Hotel Partner Melbourne.

Artists
Jaap van Zweden, conductor [full biography]
Jaap van Zweden has risen rapidly in the past decade to become one of today’s most distinguished conductors. Starting with the 2018/19 season, he will be the Music Director of the New York Philharmonic. Currently, he is Music Director of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra since 2008, and has been Music Director of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra since 2012. Van Zweden was named Musical America's 2012 Conductor of the Year. Born in Amsterdam, Jaap van Zweden was the youngest ever concertmaster of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. He began his conducting career in 1995.

Ning Feng, violin[full biography]
Established at the highest level in China, Ning Feng performs regularly in his native country with major international and local orchestras, in recital and with the Dragon Quartet which he founded in 2012. Now based in Berlin and enjoying a global career, Ning Feng has developed a reputation internationally as an artist of great lyricism and emotional transparency, displaying tremendous bravura and awe-inspiring technical accomplishment.


MASTERWORKS: JAAP & NING FENG
14 | 4 | 2017
FRI 8PM
Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall
HK$680 $480 $380 $220
Tickets are now available at URBTIX
For ages 6 and above

Artist

Jaap van Zweden Photo Credit: Cheung Chi Wai/HK Phil	Ning Feng Photo Credit: Felix Broede
The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra Photo Credit: Keith Hiro/HK Phil

Programme

Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra
Music Director: Jaap van Zweden
Principal Guest Conductor: Yu Long

The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra (HK Phil) is recognised as Asia’s foremost classical orchestra. The Orchestra presents more than 150 concerts over a 44-week season and attracts more than 200,000 music lovers annually.

Jaap van Zweden, one of today’s most sought-after conductors, has been the Orchestra’s Music Director since the 2012/13 concert season, a position he will continue to hold until at least 2022. In addition, Maestro van Zweden will also be the next Music Director of the New York Philharmonic starting with the 2018/19 season.

Yu Long was appointed for an initial three-year term in the 2015/16 season as Principal Guest Conductor.

Under Maestro van Zweden, the HK Phil is undertaking a variety of initiatives including a four-year project to perform and record the complete Ring of the Nibelung (Richard Wagner). The Orchestra is in the third of this four-year journey, performing one opera annually in concert. The performances being recorded live for the Naxos label are winning rave reviews internationally; and mark the first performances by a Hong Kong or mainland Chinese orchestra of the entire Ring cycle.

Also under van Zweden, the orchestra has toured to Taiwan, Europe and Mainland China. The orchestra will undertake an ambitious five-city tour to Seoul, Osaka, Singapore, Melbourne and Sydney in April and May 2017 in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the HKSAR.

Conductors and soloists who have recently performed with the orchestra include Yo-Yo Ma, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Ning Feng, Matthias Goerne, Lang Lang, Yu Long, Yundi Li, the late Lorin Maazel, Anne-Sophie Mutter and Yuja Wang.

The HK Phil promotes the work of Hong Kong and Chinese composers through an active commissioning programme, and has released recordings featuring Tan Dun and Bright Sheng, each conducting their own compositions, on the Naxos label. Its acclaimed community engagement programme brings music to tens of thousands of children annually. A recording was issued free to schoolchildren throughout Hong Kong of Britten’s The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf and Leopold Mozart’s Toy Symphony.

The Swire Group has been the Principal Patron of the HK Phil since 2006. Through this sponsorship, which is the largest in the orchestra’s history, Swire also endeavours to promote artistic excellence, foster access to classical music and stimulate cultural participation in Hong Kong, and to enhance Hong Kong’s reputation as one of the great cities of the world.

Thanks to a significant subsidy from the Hong Kong Government and long-term funding from Principal Patron Swire, the Hong Kong Jockey Club and other supporters, the HK Phil now boasts a full-time annual schedule of classical music concerts, pops concerts, an extensive education programme, and collaborations for staged opera with Opera Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Arts Festival.

The Orchestra celebrated its 40th season as a professional orchestra in 2013/14.


The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra is financially supported by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
SWIRE is the Principal Patron of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra.
The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra is a Venue Partner of the Hong Kong Cultural Centre.