Jaap Conducts Bruckner — Lortie Plays Mozart
Two of the finest interpreters of this music with the HK Phil (10 & 11 June)

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[11 May 2016, Hong Kong]    Jaap van Zweden is renowned for his interpretations of Bruckner symphonies yet until now, Hong Kong has not experienced this important aspect of his musical talents. His performance of Bruckner’s titanic Fourth Symphony with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra (HK Phil) will be one of the season’s most exciting musical events. Also in the concert, renowned Mozart interpreter, Canadian pianist Louis Lortie, will perform Mozart’s sublime Piano Concerto no. 22.

“(Jaap is) the leading interpreter of Bruckner’s symphonies”
--- BBC Music Magazine

Jaap van Zweden has recorded the complete cycle of Bruckner symphonies with Netherlands Radio Philharmonic. In a press interview, Jaap said, “In my opinion beauty is what Bruckner is talking about. Listening to Bruckner makes you clean inside.” Jaap will lead the HK Phil in Bruckner’s Fourth Symphony, which Bruckner himself subtitled “Romantic”. Though Bruckner didn’t feel confident enough to start his symphonic writing until his 40s, he devoted the rest of his life to the creation of these great masterpieces.

French-Canadian pianist Louis Lortie has performed all of Mozart’s piano concertos and is recognised as one of their finest interpreters. He will open the concert with the Piano Concerto no. 22, which Mozart composed in late 1785. Mozart scholar Cuthbert M. Girdlestone described the piece as “the queenliest of all his piano concertos. Combining grace and majesty the music unfolds like a sovereign in progress”.

Swire Maestro Series: Jaap’s Bruckner 4 will be held on 10 & 11 June(Fri & Sat), 8PM in the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall. Ticket prices: HK$680, $480, HK$380, $280 are now available at URBTIX. For enquiries, please call +852 2721 2332 or visit www.hkphil.org.

Free Pre-concert talks are available before both concerts.

Artists
Jaap van Zweden, conductor [full biography]
Jaap van Zweden has risen rapidly in the past decade to become one of today’s most sought-after conductors. Having been named Musical America's 2012 Conductor of the Year, he has appeared as guest conductor with many leading orchestras around the globe including the Vienna Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, London Symphony, Chicago Symphony. In January 2016, the New York Philharmonic announced that van Zweden will be their new Music Director starting with the 2018-19 season. He will continue as Music Director of the HK Phil at least until the summer of 2019.

Louis Lortie, piano [full biography]
French-Canadian pianist Louis Lortie has attracted critical acclaim throughout Europe, Asia and the United States. He has performed with the world’s leading conductors including Riccardo Chailly, Lorin Maazel, Kurt Masur, Seiji Ozawa and Charles Dutoit, and has worked with prestigious orchestras including the Chicago Symphony, BBC Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Rotterdam Philharmonic, the Sydney Symphony and the Adelaide Symphony.

Swire Maestro Series: Jaap’s Bruckner 4
10 & 11 | 6 | 2016
FRI & SAT 8PM
Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall
HK$680 $480 $380 $280
Tickets are now available at URBTIX
For ages 6 and above

Artists

Click the thumbnail to download photos
Jaap van Zweden Photo Credit: Cheung Chi Wai/HK Phil	Louis Lortie Photo Credit: Elias
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, is the Orchestra’s Music Director, a position he has held since the 2012/13 concert season. Maestro van Zweden was recently announced as the next Music Director of the New York Philharmonic. This appointment will not affect his tenure with the HK Phil; his commitment to the HK Phil extends at least to the summer of 2019.

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 second of this four-year journey, performing one opera annually in concert. The performances are being recorded live for the Naxos label and mark the first performances by a Hong Kong or mainland Chinese orchestra of the entire Ring cycle.

Also under van Zweden, the orchestra undertook a highly successful five-country, seven-city tour of Europe in the 2014/15 season, with concerts in London, Vienna, Zurich, Eindhoven, Birmingham, Berlin and Amsterdam. Performances were met with enthusiasm and universally positive reviews. The concert in Vienna’s Musikverein was filmed for broadcast on TV.

Conductors and soloists who have recently performed with the orchestra include 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’s history stretches back to 1895, when it was formed as the Sino-British Orchestra. It was re-named in 1957 and became fully professional in 1974.

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.

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