HK Phil’s Happy Easter Concert! (21 April 2019)
A festive community Easter initiative with Music Director Jaap van Zweden, integrating society through music

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[26 April 2019, Hong Kong] To celebrate Easter, Jaap van Zweden,Music Director of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra (HK Phil),conducted a free Happy Easter Concert at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall on 21 April 2019 (Sunday) sponsored by The Tung Foundation. A sequel to A Father’s Day Concert last year, the orchestra’s first relaxed concert, more than a thousand people, including communities with special needs and their families and friends, spent a splendid afternoon with all-time favourite classics.

Maestro Jaap van Zweden considers music as a bridge to connect communities. Music’s grace and transformative power inspire all walks of life. “Music is important in enriching not only the brain but more importantly the soul”, he said. One of Maestro’s four children has been diagnosed with autism. Music has played an enormous role in getting his child to talk and to connect with the wider world. Determined to transform the lives of children and young people with autism, Maestro van Zweden and his wife Aaltje established the Papageno Foundation in 1997 to support families with autistic children, using music as a means of reaching out to them.

Special arrangements are designed for this concert to cater families with special needs through a joint music experience. The concert was well received with positive comments from audience. One parent commented that this initiative by the HK Phil is significant, for not only did the orchestra provide a rare occasion for special needs people to enjoy music inside the concert hall, but also offered one more beautiful memory to all families and friends who joined this meaningful concert. This Easter afternoon is believed to hold a special value to their family.

The HK Phil would like to express its deepest gratitude to the sponsor, The Tung Foundation, and also the orchestra’s venue partner the Hong Kong Cultural Centre as well as staff and volunteers of the HK Phil, for their generous support to make this event a smooth, joyful and warm-hearted one.

The Tung Foundation believes that it is essential to nurture and culturally enrich the next generation. The Foundation has been supporting the HK Phil’s young audience development and other outreach programmes for over 20 years, to share wonderful music with the community. On 24 February 2019 (Sunday), supported by the Foundation, the HK Phil joined hands with Music Office Youth Choir and Wah Yan College, Kowloon Boys’ Choir presenting the HK Phil Community Concert 2019 - “Who am I?”.

The HK Phil’s acclaimed Education and Outreach programmes present admission-free programmes and concerts annually, harnessing the magical power of music to reach out to the whole community, including those with special needs. About 40,000 people have been engaged with music through this initiative each year. The HK Phil will continue to organise these meaningful programmes to help inspire everyone in the community through the finest music-making.

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To celebrate Easter, Jaap van Zweden, Music Director of the HK Phil, conducted a free Happy Easter Concert at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall on 21 April 2019 (Sunday) sponsored by The Tung Foundation. Photo Credit: Michael Li Yam/HK Phil
During the concert, Maestro Jaap van Zweden invited two children to the stage to experience the wonderful encounter with the orchestra, creating an unforgettable memory for all. Photo Credit: Michael Li Yam/HK Phil
On 24 February 2019, supported by The Tung Foundation, the HK Phil joined hands with Music Office Youth Choir (middle photo) and Wah Yan College, Kowloon Boys’ Choir (right photo) presenting the HK Phil Community Concert 2019 - “Who am I?”. Photo Credit: Ka Lam/HK Phil

 

 

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. Presenting more than 150 concerts over a 44-week season, the HK Phil 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. Maestro van Zweden is the 26th Music Director of the New York Philharmonic from the 2018/19 season.

Yu Long has been Principal Guest Conductor since the 2015/16 season.

Under the dynamic leadership of Music Director Jaap van Zweden, the HK Phil has attained new heights of artistic excellence, garnering international critical acclaim.

Following on from the success of the European tour which included a filmed concert from Vienna’s Musikverein, the HK Phil has toured extensively within the mainland China. In 2017, in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the HKSAR, and with support of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Offices, the orchestra performed in Seoul, Osaka, Singapore, Melbourne and at the Sydney Opera House.

Jaap, the HK Phil, a superb cast of soloists and a chorus successfully completed an epic four-year journey through Wagner’s “Ring Cycle” in January 2018. The concert performances and live Naxos recordings have been enthusiastically received by audiences and praised by critics at home and abroad. The recording of Götterdämmerung was released in November 2018.

Conductors and soloists who have recently performed with the orchestra include Vladimir Ashkenazy, Joshua Bell, Charles Dutoit, Christoph Eschenbach, Matthias Goerne, Stephen Hough, Evgeny Kissin, Lang Lang, Yo-Yo Ma, Ning Feng and Yuja Wang.

The HK Phil promotes the work of Hong Kong and Chinese composers through an active commissioning programme, and has released recordings on the Naxos label featuring Tan Dun and Bright Sheng, each conducting their own compositions. Its acclaimed education and community engagement programmes in schools, hospital and outdoor space, bring music into the hearts of tens of thousands of children and families every year.

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 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 in 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 Charities Trust and other supporters, the HK Phil now boasts a full-time annual schedule of core classical repertoire and innovative popular programming, extensive education and community programmes, and collaborations with, among others, Opera Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Arts Festival and the Hong Kong Ballet.

Originally called the Sino-British Orchestra, it was renamed the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra in 1957 and became fully professional in 1974. The HK Phil is a charitable organisation.


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