The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra’s 41st Season Opens With Maestro Jaap van Zweden and Star Pianist Yefim Bronfman
(5&6 Sept)

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[21 July 2014, Hong Kong] The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra’s (HK Phil) 41st season opens in great company: Music Director Jaap van Zweden is joined by the virtuoso pianist Yefim Bronfman in Brahms’ colossal First Piano Concerto. Jaap then combines the dramatic passion of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde with the dashing Viennese elegance of Strauss’ Der RosenkavalierSuite. The Season Opening on 5 & 6 September is not to be missed

Brahms was only 25 years old when he wrote his First Piano Concerto, one of the best-loved and most frequently performed piano concertos in the world. The piece was initially conceived as a symphony and became a sonata for two pianos, before the composer settled on the form in which we hear the work today.

Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, which is about repressed and tragic love, is among the most powerful and emotionally compelling operas ever written. Comprising the beginning and ending of the opera, the Prelude and Liebestod (“Love’s Death”) express the love of the opera’s title characters, doomed from the beginning and finding fulfilment only in death.

Richard Strauss completed his opera Der Rosenkavalier in 1910. Overflowing with the lush elegance of Viennese waltzes, symphony orchestras have long relished playing virtuoso selections from the opera. The orchestral suite joins together some of the greatest moments from the opera. Although Strauss’ career lasted another three decades, he never surpassed the popular success of Der Rosenkavalier.

Masterworks: Season Opening will be held on 5&6 September 2014 (Fri & Sat), 8PM, in the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall.Tickets priced: HK$580, HK$380, HK$280, HK$180 are now available at URBTIX. For enquiries, please call 2721 2332 or visit www.hkphil.org.

Artists
Jaap van Zweden, conductor [full biography]
Amsterdam-born Jaap van Zweden is one of today’s most sought-after conductors. Named Musical America’s Conductor of the Year for 2012, he has been Music Director of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra since 2012/13 season.

The maestro has recently conducted the Vienna Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra and Chicago Symphony to high acclaims.

At the age of nineteen, Jaap was appointed as the youngest Concertmaster ever of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Maestro van Zweden is also currently Music Director of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Honorary Chief Conductor of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and Honorary Conductor of the Radio Chamber Philharmonic.

Yefim Bronfman, piano [full biography]
1997 Grammy® Award winner Yefim Bronfman is one of the most talented virtuoso pianists today. He constantly appears with Berlin Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic‎, etc. and works regularly with the most esteemed conductors including Valery Gergiev, Mariss Jansons, Lorin Maazel & Zubin Mehta.

Masterworks: Season Opening
5 & 6 | 9 | 2014
FRI & SAT 8PM
Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall
HK$580 $380 $280 $180
Tickets now available at URBTIX
For ages 6 and above

Click the thumbnail to download photos
Jaap van Zweden Photo Credit: Cheung Chi Wai	Yefim Bronfman Photo Credit: Dario Acosta	Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra Photo Credit: Keith Hiro / 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 41st 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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