Masterworks: Emanuel Ax Plays Beethoven
Multiple Award-Winner Emanuel Ax Plays Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto (30 & 31 May)

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[20 May 2014, Hong Kong] The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra (HK Phil) is delighted to present Emanuel Ax plays Beethoven (30 & 31 May), bringing to the stage conductor Carlo Rizzi and multiple award-winning pianist Emanuel Axin a performance of Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto. The other half of the concert features Ravel’s complete ballet music to Daphnis et Chloé, featuring the Hong Kong Philharmonic Chorus.

“thoughtful, lyrical, lustrous”
--- The Washington Post

When internationally acclaimed performer Emanuel Ax appears on stage, you know the concert will be something very special. Alongside conductor Carlo Rizzi and the HK Phil, Ax will present Beethoven’s most serene and confident concerto, a work widely considered to be at the core of the piano concerto literature.

Maurice Ravel described his Daphnis et Chloé as a “choreographic symphony”. This sensual masterpiece is the epitome of French music and features dazzling effects from an enormous orchestra and chorus, our performance showcasing the massed forces of the HK Phil and its chorus and marking HK Phil’s first complete performance of this great ballet since 1997.

Masterworks: Emanuel Ax plays Beethoven will be held on 30 & 31 May 2014 (Fri & Sat), 8PM in the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall. Tickets priced: $360, $280, $200, $140, are now available at URBTIX. For enquiries, please call 2721 2332 or visit www.hkphil.org.

Free Pre-concert talks in English given by Dr Maureen Buja, Associate Professor of Music, Lingnan University (30 May, Friday); and in Cantonese by Mr Dennis Wu, Music Writer and Critic (31 May, Saturday), will be held at 7:15pm in AC2, 4/F, Administration Building, Hong Kong Cultural Centre.

Emanuel Ax plays Beethoven is an associated project of Le French May.

Artists
Carlo Rizzi, conductor [full biography]
Carlo Rizzi performed with the world’s greatest orchestras including Vienna Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony and Philharmonia Orchestra. He frequently conducts in the finest opera houses and recorded for labels including Decca, EMI, Philips, Sony, Teldec among others.

Emanuel Ax, piano [full biography]
Winner of the first Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition and Avery Fisher Prize, Emanuel Ax also received seven Grammy Awards with recordings of Haydn’s piano sonatas as well as chamber recordings with Yo-Yo Ma.

Masterworks: Emanuel Ax plays Beethoven
30 & 31 | 5 | 2014
FRI & SAT 8PM
HK Cultural Centre Concert Hall
HK$360 $280 $200 $140
Tickets now available at URBTIX
For ages 6 and above

Click the thumbnail to download photos
Carlo Rizzi	Emanuel Ax Photo Credit: Lisa Marie Mazzucco	Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and Hong Kong Philharmonic Chorus Photo Credit: Cheung Chi Wai / HK Phil

Ticketing Information
Credit Card Booking
+852 2111 5999
Online Booking
www.urbtix.hk

For programme enquiry, please call HK Phil at
+852 2721 2332
Or go on our website:
www.hkphil.org

Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra
Music Director: Jaap van Zweden

The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra is the city’s largest and busiest musical organisation and is a vital part of Hong Kong’s cultural life. This season it celebrates its 40th professional season, but its roots stretch back well over a century. The HK Phil has now evolved into an orchestral powerhouse in the region, and an acclaimed cultural centrepiece of Asia’s World City.

The HK Phil is formed on the belief that a great city deserves a great orchestra. Annually it presents over 150 concerts attracting over 200,000 music lovers. Featuring an enviable roster of international conductors and soloists, the HK Phil performs a broad variety of music, with many concerts presented free; among them the annual Swire Symphony Under The Stars. Through its acclaimed education programme, over 40,000 young people learned about orchestral music in the last year.

The Swire Group Charitable Trust has been the Principal Patron of the HK Phil since 2006. Swire’s enlightened support, the most generous in the orchestra’s history, continues to enable the orchestra to reach towards high artistic goals.

The HK Phil’s members come from every corner of the globe, with a strong core of Hong Kong musicians. In September 2012 Jaap van Zweden became the orchestra’s Music Director. Future years will see an ambitious series of new projects, with major international tours, renewed local partnerships, and large-scale concert events. The HK Phil has commenced a multi-CD recording project for Naxos, featuring works by Chinese composers.

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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