A Spring Fiesta with the HK Phil with Music from Germany to Argentina
Best of Brahms (10 April)
Swire Sunday Family Series: Carnival of the Animals (11 April)
Swire Denim Series: Piazzolla at 100! (16 & 17 April)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact: 
Meggy Cheng
Director of Marketing 
Tel: (852) 2721 9035
Email: meggy.cheng@hkphil.org 

Flora Fung
Media Relations and Communications Manager
Tel: (852) 2721 1585
Email: flora.fung@hkphil.org

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[8 April 2021, Hong Kong] The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra (HK Phil) is excited to present an abundance of music for the blossoming of spring. Argentinean conductor Mariano Chiacchiarini will lead the orchestra in three consecutive programmes, alongside an array of artists – the orchestra’s Principal Bassoon Benjamin Moermond in “Best of Brahms (10 April)”; pianists Rachel Cheung and Anson Wong Ying-shun, as well as presenter Vivek Mahbubani, in “Swire Sunday Family Series: Carnival of the Animals (11 April)”; and HK Phil Concertmaster Jing Wang and tango dancers Raymond Chu and Lily Cheng in “Swire Denim Series: Piazzolla at 100! (16 & 17 April)”.

Tickets are now available on URBTIX. Join the orchestra for a spring musical fiesta!

Best of Brahms (10 April; ONE performance only)

Argentinean conductor Mariano Chiacchiariniwill lead the HK Phil in the music of Brahms and Weber. HK Phil Principal BassoonBenjamin Moermond will be featured in the Bassoon Concerto by Weber. Theatrical and triumphant, this concerto reveals the versatility of the bassoon.  

The concert will begin with Brahms’ Hungarian Dance no. 1, inspired by a Hungarian violinist with whom the young Brahms toured. It is a lively gypsy dance, and will make an invigorating and exciting start to the concert.

Brahms’ last symphony, Symphony no. 4, will be the concert’s grand finale. This symphony is a rare jewel, filled with progressiveness which greatly differs from Brahms’ early works. As the famous critic Eduard Hanslick said, listening to this piece is “like [looking into] a dark well; the longer we look into it, the more brightly the stars shine back”.

Best of Brahms will be presented on 10 April 2021 (Sat) at 8PM in the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall. Tickets are HK$380, $280 and $180 and are available at URBTIX. For enquiries, please call +852 2721 2332 or visit hkphil.org.

Swire Sunday Family Series: Carnival of the Animals (11 April, 3PM; ONE performance only)

The HK Phil takes the audience on a grand zoological adventure on a Sunday afternoon with conductor Mariano Chiacchiarini, Hong Kong pianists Rachel Cheung and Anson Wong Ying-shun, and presenter Vivek Mahbubani. This concert is just perfect for families and friends to enjoy some light music for a relaxing holiday.

The music depicts a true menagerie of animals, ranging from fish in the sea to birds in the sky. The concert begins and ends with pieces by French composers – an excerpt from Milhaud’s ballet Le Bœuf sur le Toit (“The Ox on the Roof”), and Saint-Saëns’ The Carnival of the Animals respectively. The latter is a musical picture of a peculiar assortment of animals, including elephants, kangaroos, swans, and even pianists! The audience will discover in the concert how it is that the two pianists join this carnival as well.

Other pieces featured in this concert are Vaughn Williams’ The Wasps Overture, Rimsky-Korsakov’s Flight of the Bumblebee, and Haydn’s Symphony no. 82, TheBear: 4th movement.

Swire Sunday Family Series: Carnival of the Animals will be presented on 11 April 2021 (Sun) at 3PM in the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall. Tickets are HK$380, $280 and $180 and are available at URBTIX. For enquiries, please call +852 2721 2332 or visit hkphil.org.

Swire Denim Series: Piazzolla at 100! (16 & 17 April 2021)

Conductor Mariano Chiacchiarini and the HK Phil will celebrate the 100th anniversary of Argentinean composer Astor Piazzolla’s birth, with two thrilling performances featuring tango dancers Raymond Chu and Lily Cheng, who will bring the stage alive with impressive tango sways and steps in perfect synchronicity with the music.

HK Phil ConcertmasterJing Wangwill perform two movements from Piazzolla’s The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires: Invierno Porteño (Winter) and Primavera Porteña (Spring).The work is a tribute to Vivaldi’s Four Seasons but with the flavours of Argentina, and like Tangazo and Libertango, other works in the programme also by Piazzolla, conveys the raw emotions of the tango and the rhythmic passion that is symbolic of Argentina.

This concert also features passionate dance music by other Latin American composers influenced by Piazzolla – Estancia: Four Dances by Ginastera, La Cumparsita by Rodríguez, and Nocturna by Plaza.

Swire Denim Series: Piazzolla at 100!will be presented on 16 & 17 April 2021 (Fri & Sat) at 8PM in the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall. Tickets are HK$420, $320 and $220 and are available at URBTIX. For enquiries, please call +852 2721 2332 or visit hkphil.org.

Artists (Best of Brahms)
Mariano Chiacchiarini, conductor [full description]
Mariano Chiacchiarini won First Prize at the Teatro Colón Conducting Competition in Argentina at the age of 25, and his subsequent international career has included collaborations with many of today’s leading conductors. He has worked with many orchestras including the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, Lucerne Festival Academy, Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, Russian State Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre National de Lyon, Royal Flemish Philharmonic, Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern, WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne and Ensemble Modern. He has been invited to participate in major festivals and at leading concert halls including the Lucerne Festival, Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Young Euro Classic, Donaueschingen Music Festival, the Elbphilharmonie, Konzerthaus Berlin, the Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow and l’Opéra Bastille. A concert he conducted in China was chosen as Event of the Year and broadcast live worldwide.

Benjamin Moermond, bassoon [full description]
Benjamin Moermond has been Principal Bassoon of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra (HK Phil) since 2010 and is active teaching and performing in Hong Kong and throughout the region. As a soloist with the HK Phil he has performed Haydn's Sinfonia Concertante, Telemann's Double Concerto for Recorder and Bassoon, and Mozart's Bassoon Concerto. As an educator he has been on the bassoon faculty for the Chinese University of Hong Kong and Hong Kong Academy for the Performing Arts.

Artists (Swire Sunday Family Series: Carnival of the Animals)
Mariano Chiacchiarini, conductor [full description]
Mariano Chiacchiarini won First Prize at the Teatro Colón  Conducting Competition in Argentina at the age of 25, and his subsequent international career has included collaborations with many of today’s leading conductors. He has worked with many orchestras including the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, Lucerne Festival Academy, Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, Russian State Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre National de Lyon, Royal Flemish Philharmonic, Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern, WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne and Ensemble Modern. He has been invited to participate in major festivals and at leading concert halls including the Lucerne Festival, Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Young Euro Classic, Donaueschingen Music Festival, the Elbphilharmonie, Konzerthaus Berlin, the Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow and l’Opéra Bastille. A concert he conducted in China was chosen as Event of the Year and broadcast live worldwide.

Rachel Cheung, piano [full description]
Pianist Rachel Cheung won over audiences and critics alike at the 2017 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition with “stunningly imaginative” (Musical America) interpretations, and was awarded the Audience Prize. Also a Young Steinway Artist, she was awarded Artist of the Year (Music) by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council in 2019.

Anson Wong Ying-shun, piano[full description]
Anson Wong was born in Hong Kong, his music journey starts at the age of four. He graduated from Diocesan Boys’ School and had been a junior student at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (HKAPA) since nine, majoring in piano, bassoon and composition. He is now a bachelor degree piano student at the HKAPA, studying with Prof. Gabriel Kwok.

Vivek Mahbubani, presenter [full description]
Vivek Mahbubani is a Hong Kong-bred stand-up comedian performing in both Cantonese and English. Having been crowned the Funniest Person (in Chinese) in Hong Kong in 2007, followed by his victory in the English category at the Hong Kong International Comedy Competition in 2008, Mahbubani has taken his sense of humour all over the world; including to Hong Kong, China, Macau, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Sri Lanka, India, Australia, Canada and the US.

Artists (Swire Denim Series: Piazzolla at 100!)
Mariano Chiacchiarini, conductor [full description]
Mariano Chiacchiarini won First Prize at the Teatro Colón Conducting Competition in Argentina at the age of 25, and his subsequent international career has included collaborations with many of today’s leading conductors. He has worked with many orchestras including the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, Lucerne Festival Academy, Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, Russian State Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre National de Lyon, Royal Flemish Philharmonic, Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern, WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne and Ensemble Modern. He has been invited to participate in major festivals and at leading concert halls including the Lucerne Festival, Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Young Euro Classic, Donaueschingen Music Festival, the Elbphilharmonie, Konzerthaus Berlin, the Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow and l’Opéra Bastille. A concert he conducted in China was chosen as Event of the Year and broadcast live worldwide.

Jing Wang, violin [full description]
Critically acclaimed Canadian violinist Jing Wang is one of the most versatile and dynamic violinists of his generation. Since his solo recital debut in Marseilles, France at the age of six, Wang has garnered prizes in top international competitions, including the first prize at the 2007 Irving M. Klein International Strings Competition. In 2003, Wang was awarded the "Young Soloist of the Year" by Les Radios Francophones Publiques, a broadcast network of four countries including France, Canada, Switzerland, and Belgium. As a part of the award, Wang’s first CD album including works by Beethoven, Ravel and Gershwin was released in Europe.

Raymond Chu and Lily Cheng, tango dancers [full description]
Raymond Chu and Lily Cheng are professional tango dancers and teachers. They have won the Asian Championship (salon tango category) in Japan in 2011, and also the Salon Tango and Vals categories in the Championship in China in 2014. They have represented Asia and China twice in the World Championship 2011 in Buenos Aires, and have ranked top four in the semi-final, twice as top 30 finalists from over 400 professional couples from all over the world.

Best of Brahms
10 | 4 | 2021
SAT 8PM
Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall
HK $380 $280 $180
Tickets now available at URBTIX; ONE performance only
For ages 6 and above

Artists

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Mariano Chiacchiarini Photo Credit: K. Bienert	Benjamin Moermond
Music Director Jaap van Zweden and the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra Photo Credit: Eric Hong / HK Phil

Programme

Swire Sunday Family Series: Carnival of the Animals
11 | 4 | 2021
SUN 3PM
Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall
HK $380 $280 $180
Tickets now available at URBTIX; ONE performance only
For ages 3 and above

Artists

Click the thumbnails to download press images [Or hold Ctrl then click to open the file]

Mariano Chiacchiarini Photo Credit: K. Bienert	Rachel Cheung Photo Credit: Cheung Tai Chi	Anson Wong Ying-shun
Vivek Mahbubani	Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra Photo Credit: Cheung Chi-Wai/HK Phil

Programme

Swire Denim Series: Piazzolla at 100!
16 & 17 | 4 | 2021
FRI & SAT 8PM
Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall
HK $420 $320 $220
Tickets now available at URBTIX
For ages 6 and above

Artists

Click the thumbnails to download press images [Or hold Ctrl then click to open the file]

Mariano Chiacchiarini Photo Credit: Priska Ketterer/ LUCERNE FESTIVAL	Jing Wang Photo Credit: Wong Kin-chung
Lily Cheng and Raymond Chu	Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra Photo Credit: Cheung Wai-lok/HK Phil

Programme