Local composers’ commissioned works workshopped and performed in HK Phil’s Hong Kong Composers Showcase
Climbing to the Light by Chan Kai-Young was voted the audience favourite

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[7 January 2017, Hong Kong] The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra’s (HK Phil) Hong Kong Composers Showcase was held earlier today, in which a short overture for orchestra from each of four emerging Hong Kong composers was workshopped and performed. The audience voted for their favourite piece, which will be performed in HK Phil’s 17/18 season.

Climbing to the Light by Chan Kai-Young was voted the audience favourite.

During the Composers Showcase, each of the commissioned works was workshopped, with HK Phil’s Music Director Jaap van Zweden publicly discussing each piece with its composer. The works were performed with conductor Aldert Vermeulen on the podium, after which the audience voted for their favourite piece.

Chan Kai-Young said, “A commission from the HK Phil is a very exciting opportunity. It really means a lot to me as it was the first time I worked with a professional orchestra in Hong Kong. My composition is intended to be a piece of hope for the Hong Kong people. I’m delighted that it was chosen by HK audiences as their favourite piece.”

Jaap van Zweden said, “We are happy to have had four very high quality works commissioned for this event. We are also proud of the Hong Kong audience members who attended today to show their support for our local composers. We look forward to more projects of this kind as part of the HK Phil’s on-going investment in Hong Kong talent. While the audience favourite piece will be performed in the next season, we hope there will be performance opportunities for the other pieces on other occasions.”

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For more information about the pieces www.hkphil.org/composers

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, has been the Orchestra’s Music Director since the 2012/13 concert season, a position he will continue to hold until at least 2022. In addition, Maestro van Zweden will also be the next Music Director of the New York Philharmonic starting with the 2018/19 season.

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

Also under van Zweden, the orchestra has undertaken tours to Taiwan, Europe and Mainland China. The orchestra will undertake an ambitious five-city tour to Seoul, Osaka, Singapore, Melbourne and Sydney in April - May 2017 in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the HKSAR.

Conductors and soloists who have recently performed with the orchestra include Yo-Yo Ma, 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 celebrated its 40th season as a professional orchestra 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.