HK Phil Presents the First-ever Metaverse Symphony 
Performed both in a Concert Hall and The Sandbox
Chow Sang Sang Jewellery Proudly Sponsors: Metaverse Symphony 
 (5 & 6 May 2023)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact: 
Dennis Wu
Director of Marketing 
Tel: (852) 2721 9035
Email: dennis.wu@hkphil.org 

Emily Hui
Media Relations and Communications Manager
Tel: (852) 2721 1585
Email: emily.hui@hkphil.org

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[13 April 2023, Hong Kong] The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra (HK Phil) is thrilled to present the first-ever symphonic work to be performed both in a concert hall and the metaverse. Featuring groundbreaking music composed by Hollywood film composer Elliot Leung and an immersive art experience created by award-winning Hong Kong-based digital artist Henry Chu, “Chow Sang Sang Jewellery Proudly Sponsors: Metaverse Symphony” will be held on 5 & 6 May 2023 at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall with three performances, followed by a virtual debut in The Sandbox metaverse. The world premiere of The Metaverse Symphony, which serves as the inaugural programme of the HK Phil’s Arts Tech programme, will be conducted by Gerard Salonga.

Co-commissioned by the HK Phil and Asia Society Hong Kong Center, Symphony no. 1, The Metaverse, represents Elliot Leung’s personal experience of what it means to be alive in Hong Kong in the currents of the data-driven 21st century. Each of the four movements celebrates and captures the experience of progressive milestones regarding the advancements of the Internet. Designed to be musically palpable, textural stabs reflect the injection of energy we feel when our phones buzz. Everchanging tonal centres keep pace with the rapidly evolving technological modalities in our lives. To engage the community, the HK Phil will perform alongside bite-sized sound recordings submitted by the public in the third movement. The concert will open with Through the Fog, Into the Darkness, another new work by Leung.  

Today, Elliot Leung said at the press conference that, “From court chambers, to concert halls, and now into the Metaverse, classical music remains relevant to every age and every setting. I am beyond excited to share with the world what my mind hears as the zeitgeist of this Digital Age, through the virtuosity of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and baton of Maestro Salonga. While my symphony pushes the bounds of composition into modernity — exploring new sounds, instruments, and technologies, it remains faithful to the discipline and rigor of my heroes such as Bartók and Stravinsky. I hope digital natives like myself can find familiarity and fascination in this work.”

With the support of Ora-Ora, Henry Chu will create an epoch-making, immersive experience using generative art and transmedia at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall, with an aim to explore the intersections of symphonic music, digital fine art, and technology. Live data and pre-recorded footage will be delivered to real-time software custom made by the artist to generate visuals that are unique in every concert.

Henry Chu said that, “I'm delighted to be involved in this groundbreaking cultural project with Elliot Leung and the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. It's a landmark collaboration in which my real time visuals aim to form unique interactions with each musical movement. That the spectacle takes place in front of a live audience and in the metaverse adds welcome symbiosis and completeness. Participating in the Metaverse Symphony marks a fresh waypoint in my journey across the audiovisual frontier of humanity and technology.”

In partnership with Artifact Labs, The Metaverse Symphony will make its virtual debut in The Sandbox metaverse in the summer this year as a fully immersive Web3 experience. The multiplayer interactive experience will take place in a re-creation of Hong Kong’s iconic Statue Square built on a 2 x 2 plot of land on The Sandbox, showcasing the unlimited possibilities of music in cyberspace, and blending technology and music in unprecedented ways. Throughout the metaverse experience, the audience will have the opportunity to engage in deeper ways with a number of quests and time trials, which help them learn about the composer, the music, and the transformation of technology in the 21st century. Besides, The Metaverse Symphony will be released by Sony Classical in July 2023.

As the Education Partner, the Asia Society Hong Kong Center will host a series of education programmes about the metaverse, digital art and symphonic music, including a talk with Elliot Leung, studio visits with Elliot Leung and Henry Chu, as well as a symposium to engage with a new generation of art and cultural supporters and the community at large.

Co-presented by the HK Phil and Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) Academy of Music, a lecture demonstration will be held on 18 April 2023 (Tue) at 3:30PM, in which Elliot Leung will discuss his role as a composer when developing an open-world game. It will be simultaneously live streamed on the HK Phil Facebook page, YouTube channel, Twitch platform, as well as the YouTube channel of HKBU Academy of Music. The public is welcome to join the talk online.  

“Chow Sang Sang Jewellery Proudly Sponsors: Metaverse Symphony” will be held on 5 May 2023 (Fri) at 9PM and 6 May 2023 (Sat) at 5PM & 7:30PM in the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall. Tickets priced at HK$320 are available at URBTIX and POPTICKET. For enquiries, please call +852 2721 2332 or visit hkphil.org.

Title Sponsor: Chow Sang Sang Jewellery

Sponsor: Audio Exotics

Education Partner and Press Conference Venue Support: Asia Society Hong Kong Center

Metaverse Partner: Artifact Labs

Gallery Partner: Ora-Ora

Project Manager: MetaKapital

Web3 Partner: The Sandbox

Build Partner: Lululand World

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Artists

Gerard Salonga, conductor [full description]

Gerard Salonga is currently Resident Conductor of the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra in Kuala Lumpur, a position he has held since January 2019. Appointed by Maestro Jaap van Zweden, he served as Assistant Conductor of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra for two seasons from 2016 to 2018, after being selected from among over 170 international applicants.  He also served as Music Director of the ABS-CBN Philharmonic Orchestra in Manila from 2012 to 2020. In January 2021, Salonga began his term as Music Director of the Orchestra of the Filipino Youth.

Elliot Leung, composer [full description]

A Forbes 30 under 30 inductee and three-time ASCAP Award winner, Elliot Leung has composed the scores for three of the top ten highest-grossing non-English films, and become the first Hong Kong film composer making his breakthrough to Hollywood. His music has been described as "audio-graphically visual" by The Standard, and being able to "tug at the audience's heartstrings" by Sina News. South China Morning Post observed him as "a seasoned composer who enhances the magic of cinema".

Henry Chu, digital artist [full description]

Henry Chu is a Hong Kong–based new media artist who always works with data, music and body movements. He graduated from the Electrical and Electronic Engineering programme at the University of Auckland, and founded digital design studio pill & pillow in 2004. Chu's digital creations received more than 200 local and international awards, including recognitions at the Cannes Lions, Webbys, and One Show. His iPad music app "Squiggle" was exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, New York in 2011. In 2020, he created a karaoke generator "Canto Cocktail" commissioned by the M+ Museum. At the Digital Art Fair Asia 2021, he presented "Blockchain Piano", which converts crypto price into music in real time, and allows visitors to buy crypto through playing a song. In 2022, he received multiple commissions, including “Wind Piano” for the Audemars Piguet 50 Years of Royal Oak exhibition, “I’m waiting to blossom” for HSBC Open to Art, “Portrait Play” for the Hong Kong Museum of Art, “Quadtree series” for Bank of China Hong Kong, and “SURIV” for the University of Hong Kong Faculty of Medicine. His video work “Flower World” was sold at a Sotheby’s auction on 1 November 2022. He has been a speaker at Business of Design Week, TEDxKowloon and TEDxTaipei.

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CHOW SANG SANG JEWELLERY PROUDLY SPONSORS:

METAVERSE SYMPHONY

5 & 6 | 5 | 2023

FRI 9PM

SAT 5PM & 7:30PM

Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall

HK$320

Tickets now available at URBTIX and POPTICKET

For ages 6 and above

Artists

Programme

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About Asia Society Hong Kong Center

Asia Society Hong Kong Center (ASHK) is an independent non-governmental educational organisation established in 1990. It is one of 14 centers of Asia Society’s diverse network across the globe, with the mission to navigate shared futures for Asia and the world in the fields of arts and culture, business and policy. Since 2012, ASHK is situated at the Former Explosives Magazine of the Victoria Barracks, a site steeped in history, cultural significance and natural beauty. Through conservation, restoration and adaptive reuse, the heritage site has been transformed into a cultural and intellectual hub, combining heritage preservation with a distinct modern aesthetic complete with world-class performance and conference facilities that offer a broad range of arts and culture, business and policy programmes, and exhibitions to the community.

About Artifact Labs

Artifact Labs is an independent blockchain company committed to the preservation of cultural and historical assets. Working with organisations and cultural institutions, Artifact Labs enables all guardians of significant cultural and historic artifacts to unlock new value propositions through harnessing the power of blockchain. At the forefront of preserving and showcasing unique and valuable collections, Artifact Labs establishes a rich metadata standard and provides a deeper lens into web3 applications with new models of engagement and participation. Artifact Labs was originally incubated by the South China Morning Post, a global news media company that has reported on China for the world since 1903.

For The Metaverse Symphony, Artifact Labs joins hands with Metaverse Partner The Sandbox and Build Partner Lululand World, to establish an alternative symphonic experience on the metaverse, setting new precedent for cultural production and navigating new potentials for symphonic music.

About Ora-Ora

Ora-Ora began in Hong Kong in 2006 and quickly established itself as a force and catalyst for innovation and openness of expression. Academically rigorous and philosophically-minded, our artists embody a fresh spirit of curiosity and enquiry. By interpreting and re-evaluating established frameworks of thought, they pursue unforeseen perspectives on the world around us. Ora-Ora believes in the power of eschewing boundaries and limitations, and combines an esteem for ancient traditions with a passion for the most contemporary and ground-breaking artistic media. Long recognised for our successful development of Asian creative talent, we have grown to represent artists from Asia, Europe and the US. Restlessly broadening our horizons, we continue to develop alliances and partnerships with institutions worldwide to enable discovery of our artists in new environments. Dr Henrietta Tsui-Leung, co-founder of Ora-Ora, is also co-founder of the Hong Kong Art Gallery Association, which has played a lead role in nurturing the diverse and thriving art ecosystem in the city.

About MetaKapital

MetaKapital offers an all-encompassing, one-stop product suite to enable companies, institutions and brands to launch their presence in the Metaverse, supporting all aspects of the journey from inception to monetisation. Our capabilities include the creation of NFTs and other digital assets, tokenisation, IP creation, and the developing of entire digital ecosystems in the Metaverse. MetaKapital is a worthy partner to global cultural institutions, international corporations and trusted brands.  Founded and managed by experts from the worlds of banking, art and NFTs, MetaKapital is itself supported by diverse blockchain pioneers and specialists. Its extensive network and experience provides clients with the resources, support and advice they need to initiate, maintain and amplify their presence in the digital world.