Ring in 2013 in Traditional Viennese Style with Sparkling Waltzes, Polkas and Arias 
The Macallan Bravo Series: A Viennese New Year (30 & 31 December)

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[7 November 2012 – Hong Kong]As the champagne corks pop and the tumblers fill with the finest malts, what better way to celebrate 2012 and welcome 2013 than with the Hong Kong Philharmonic’s sparkling programme of traditional Viennese waltzes and elegant polkas. In the 2012 chapter of the popular The Macallan Bravo Series: A Viennese New Year, Conductor David Angus will be joined on stage by soprano Lee Bisset and mezzo-soprano Aurhelia Varak, adding glitter to the occasion with choice selections from some of the most popular Viennese operettas.
 

The annual New Year celebration concerts will see the stage of the Cultural Centre Concert Hall transformed into a festive centrepiece, decorated with flowers and ornaments. Filled with joyful music and buoyed in a light-hearted ambience, this century-old musical tradition has been one of the most popular HK Phil programs each year.  So remember to book your tickets early!  
 

The Macallan Bravo Series: A Viennese New Year will be held on 30 & 31 December 2012 (Sun & Mon), 8pm, in the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall. Tickets priced: HK$420 $320 $220$160 are now available at URBTIX. For enquiries, please visit www.hkphil.org or contact 2721 2030.
 

* Owing to the traffic controls in Tsim Sha Tsui on 31 Dec, audiences are advised to allow extra time to go to the Cultural Centre.
 

David Angus, conductor [full biography]
David Angus is Music Director of Boston Lyric Opera, following a very successful period as Music Director of Glimmerglass Opera in the USA. He is Honorary Conductor of the Flanders Symphony Orchestra and regularly conducts the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Some recent débuts include the Utah Symphony Orchestra and San Antonio Symphony Orchestra. A natural empathy with young people has seen him being Associate Conductor at London’s Guildhall School of Music and Drama in both concert and opera, and for many years he was Vocal Consultant to the Britten-Pears School in Aldeburgh.
 

David Angus’ début with Glimmerglass Opera was highly praised by the New York Times: “David Angus’s conducting.... produced the most elegant and lively music-making of the weekend.” (July 2006). His Danish National Opera début brought re-invitations alongside his orchestral activity in Europe and Canada, including the Lahti Symphony Orchestra and Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra. In the UK David Angus has appeared with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Hallé Orchestra, the BBC’s Philharmonic and Scottish Symphony Orchestras, Scottish Chamber Orchestra (making his début at the Edinburgh Festival with them), Ulster Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, Northern Sinfonia and several times with the London Mozart Players for concerts and recordings.
 

Lee Bisset, soprano [full biography]
 

“…revelatory, her rich and luminous sound ideally suited to Wagner and always compelling, ”

--- The Guardian

Born and raised in the western Scotland, Lee Bisset studied in Italy, then at the Royal Northern College of Music and at the National Opera Studio, where she was sponsored by English National Opera. She has won the Joyce and Michael Kennedy Strauss Prize, the Webster Booth Award, the Dame Eva Turner Award for Dramatic Sopranos, and a Susan Chilcott Scholarship. In 2005 she represented Scotland at the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World.
 

She also sings Sieglinde in Die Walküre with Opèra São Paulo, Brazil, makes her American début as the title role of Tosca with Opera Memphis in the 2011/12 season, in addition to returns to Longborough Festival Opera for the title role of Kát’a Kabanová and Gutrune in Götterdämmerung. Recent performances include her first performances of Sieglinde in Die Walküre for Longborough Festival Opera, the tortured and intense protagonist in Nick Fells and Zöe Strachan’s Sublimation for Scottish Opera both in Scotland and in Cape Town, and Tosca for Northern Ireland Opera.
 

Aurhelia Varak, mezzo-soprano [full biography]

“Aurhelia Varak made a frisky, irrepressibly boyish Cherubino.”

--- Opera News

With her beautiful voice, innate musical sensitivity, and charismatic stage presence, the French mezzo-soprano Aurhelia Varak is increasingly in demand on the operatic stages of Europe, America, Asia and now South America. Her wide repertoire stretches from the baroque right through to contemporary music, whether singing opera, oratorio or in recital, and her fluency in a number of languages adds to her interpretative skills.
 

In addition to the title role of Carmen in Hong Kong (with Opera Hong Kong at the Le French May festival), upcoming performances include Rossini’s L’occasione fa il ladro at La Fenice in Venice, Italy; Carmen in Brazil; and the Mozart Requiem in Florence. Recent highlights are Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro and Handel’s Giulio Cesare at Glimmerglass Opera, New York; Ravel’s L'enfant et les sortilèges at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris; the world première performances of Fabio Vacchi’s new work at the Teatro Comunale in Florence, Italy, as well as concert performances of Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel at the National Theatre of Rome. Varak performed the role of Dorabella in a fully-staged production of Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte at the Opera Academy of the Hague and recently sang in Gian Carlo Menotti’s opera Amelia al ballo in the composer’s spiritual home of Spoleto, where Menotti ran the prestigious Festival Dei Due Mondi for most of his life.
 

Varak won 2nd Prize at the 2011 Leoncavallo International Singing Competition in Italy. She is the recipient of a 2005 grant from the Wagner Foundation in Venice, won the Special Jury Prize in the 2000 International Maîtres du Chant Français Competition.

The Macallan Bravo Series: A Viennese New Year
30&31 | 12 | 2012
SUN & MON 8PM
HK Cultural Centre Concert Hall
HK$420 $320 $220 $160
Available at URBTIX now
 

* Owing to the traffic controls in Tsim Sha Tsui on 31 Dec, audiences are advised to allow extra time to go to the Cultural Centre.

Title Sponsor: The Macallan

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

For programme enquiry, please call HK Phil at
(852) 2721 2030

HONG KONG PHILHARMONIC
Music Director: Jaap van Zweden

The Hong Kong Philharmonic is a vital part of Hong Kong’s cultural life, as the city’s largest and busiest musical organisation. In 2013/14 the HK Phil will celebrate its 40th professional season, but its roots are well over a century old. The HK Phil has now evolved to become 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 for 200,000 music lovers. Featuring an enviable roster of international and local artists, 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 last year.

The HK Phil’s members come from every corner of the globe, joining its 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 recently commenced a multi-CD recording project for Naxos, featuring works by Chinese composers.

The Hong Kong Philharmonic is financially supported by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
SWIRE is the Principal Patron of the Hong Kong Philharmonic
The Hong Kong Philharmonic is a Venue Partner of the Hong Kong Cultural Centre

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