Jaap van Zweden’s Mahler and Mozart (20 & 21 October)
An inspired pairing of composers

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[3 August 2016, Hong Kong] Maestro Jaap van Zweden, Music Director of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra (HK Phil), will take the podium with the HK Phil for the first time in the orchestra’s 2016/17 season in a concert featuring Mahler’s Symphony no. 1—“a sound of nature,” as the composer described it. Offering the perfect complement to the Mahler, violinist Tianwa Yang will perform Mozart’s graceful and lyrical Fourth Violin Concerto. The concert takes place on 20 and 21 October in the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall, and should not be missed!

Maestro van Zweden, who recently extended his contract with the HK Phil through to the summer of 2022, will direct three of Mahler’s symphonies in Hong Kong this season, starting with the First. Subtitled “Titan,” it is a colossal work that requires large orchestral forces including seven horn players who are instructed to stand with the bells of their instruments turned up in the breathtaking, jubilant finale.

The concert also features the young Chinese violinist Yang Tianwa in Mozart’s Violin Concerto no. 4. Mozart wrote all five of his violin concertos before he was 20. As a fine violinist himself, his mastery and understanding of the instrument is revealed in this lovely work. Winner of the prestigious ECHO Klassik Instrumentalist of the Year 2015, Tianwa Yang is described by the BBC Music Magazine: “heart-meltingly beautiful… impeccable technique throughout”. While quickly establishing herself as a leading international performer and recording artist, Yang has debuted with major orchestras across Europe, Australia and North America, and collaborated with renowned conductors worldwide. She will showcase her impressive musical and technical skills in this concerto.

Classics: Mahler “Titan” Symphonywill be held on 20 & 21 October (Thu & Fri), 8PM in the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall. Ticket prices: HK$680, $480, $380, $280 will be available at URBTIX from 15 August. For enquiries, please call +852 2721 2332 or visit www.hkphil.org.

Free Pre-concert talks are available before both concerts, stay-tuned for more details at www.hkphil.org.

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. Starting with the 2018-19 season, he becomes 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. Jaap van Zweden was named Musical America's 2012 Conductor of the Year. Born in Amsterdam, Jaap van Zweden was the youngest concertmaster of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. He began his conducting career in 1995.

Tianwa Yang, violin [full biography]
Winner of the prestigious ECHO Klassik Instrumentalist of the Year 2015 Award, Tianwa Yang has quickly established herself as a leading international performer and recording artist. She has debuted with major orchestras in the United States and worldwide, and performed under the baton of many renowned conductors.

CLASSICS: MAHLER “TITAN” SYMPHONY
20 & 21 | 10 | 2016
THU & FRI 8PM
Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall
HK$680 $480 $380 $280
Tickets are available at URBTIX from 15 August
For ages 6 and above

Artists

Click the thumbnail to download photos
Jaap van Zweden Photo Credit: Cheung Chi Wai	Tianwa Yang Photo Credit: Friedrun Reinhold
The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra Photo: Keith Hiro/HK Phil

Pogramme

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 to 2022.

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 became fully professional in 1974 and celebrated its 40th professional season 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.