Lea Salonga — Singing from her Heart
A special concert by the “Pride of the Philippines” (2 October)

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[22 July 2016, Hong Kong] The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra (HK Phil) is proud to present two very special concerts with two renowned performers from the Philippines. Disney and Broadway star Lea Salonga will sing two short concerts at the Sha Tin Town Hall Auditorium. Her brother Gerard Salonga will conduct the orchestra. Lea Salonga will sing in Tagalog and English songs which come very much from her heart.

“I hope this concert has special meaning for my fellow Filipinos working in Hong Kong, many of them so far away from their families,” Lea Salonga said. “We’re putting together a great show that we know will be a memorable and fun experience.”

Raff Wilson, Director of Artistic Planning for the HK Phil, said, “The Philippine community is a valued part of the fabric of Hong Kong but its members are less likely to be able to attend an orchestral performance. We hope this concert not only brings them enjoyment through Lea’s songs, but that the concerts allow them to experience the beauty of orchestral music. The HK Phil is happy to have this opportunity to perform for this very special audience.”

Lea Salonga – Singing from her Heart will be held on 2 October (Sun), 3PM & 4:45PMin the Sha Tin Town Hall Auditorium. Ticket prices: HK$100, $50 will be available at URBTIX from 1 September. For enquiries, please call +852 2721 2332 or visit www.hkphil.org.

Artists
Gerard Salonga, conductor [full biography]
Gerard Salonga is a multi award-winning musical director, conductor and arranger. He has worked with some of Asia’s brightest musical stars including Lea Salonga, Regine Velasquez, Wang Leehom, Hins Cheung, Elisa Chan, Wu Tong, Shenyang and Cecile Licad. He has won the AliwAward (the Philippines’ top live performance award) for Best Musical Director in 2001, 2002, 2004 and 2008, and was inducted into the Aliw Hall of Fame in 2010. In 2012 Gerard was honoured by the President of the Philippines as one of The Outstanding Young Men (TOYM), the Philippines’ highest civilian award to achievers under the age of 40.

Lea Salonga, vocalist [full biography]
Praised around the world for her powerful voice and perfect sense of pitch, Lea Salonga is a singer and actress who is best known for her Tony Award-winning role in Miss Saigon. In addition to the Tony she has won the Olivier, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and Theatre World Awards in the field of musical theatre. She was also the first Asian to play Eponine in the musical Les Misérables on Broadway and returned to the beloved show as Fantine in its 2006 revival.

LEA SALONGA — Singing from her Heart
2 | 10 | 2016
SUN 3PM & 4:45PM
Sha Tin Town Hall Auditorium
HK$100 $50
Tickets are available at URBTIX from 1 September
For ages 6 and above

Artists

Click the thumbnail to download photos
Gerard Salonga	Lea Salonga
The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra Photo Credit: Cheung Chi Wai/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.