Two Bernstein 100 Programmes to close the HK Phil’s 2017/18 Season
West Side Story in Concert (29 & 30 June)
Celebrate Bernstein On Broadway! (6 & 7 July)
8 JUN 2018
Hong Kong
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact:
Meggy Cheng
Director of Marketing
Tel: (852) 2721 9035
Email: meggy.cheng@hkphil.org
Flora Fung
Media Relations and Communications Manager
Tel: (852) 2721 1585
Email: flora.fung@hkphil.org
[8 June 2018, Hong Kong] The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra (HK Phil) closes its 2017/18 season with a dazzling, colourful and glitzy parade of Leonard Bernstein’s greatest hits in two consecutive weeks. First in the row is the complete film of West Side Story with live orchestral music under the baton of conductor Jayce Ogren. Next is Celebrate Bernstein On Broadway! conducted by John Wilson and featuring musical and opera theatre stars Lorina Gore, Louise Dearman, Nadim Naaman and Nathaniel Hackmann in famous tunes including New York, New York, Glitter and be Gay, Maria and many more.
West Side Story in Concert (29 & 30 June)
“In many ways the star of this particular ‘show’ ... is the conductor, Jayce Ogren, who got a thoroughly well-deserved standing ovation.”
--- Review on Bernstein’s West Side Story, The Daily Mail
Winner of ten Oscars (including Best Picture and Best Scoring of a Musical), three Golden Globes (including Best Motion Picture, Musical) and one Grammy Award (Best Soundtrack), the movie West Side Story is an adaptation of the 1957 Broadway musical of the same name, which in turn was inspired by William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet. In the concert, the audience will experience Leonard Bernstein’s electrifying score performed live by the HK Phil under the baton of emerging American young conductor Jayce Ogren, completed with Stephen Sondheim’s lyrics, while the newly re-mastered film is shown in glorious high definition on the big screen with the original vocals and dialog intact.
Swire Denim Series: West Side Story in Concert will be held on 29 & 30 June (Fri & Sat), 8PM in the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall. Tickets priced: HK$480, $380, $280, $220 are now available at URBTIX. For enquiries, please call +852 2721 2332 or visit www.hkphil.org.
Ticket holders of West Side Story in Concert can join the exclusive sharing session with Nina Bernstein, daughter of Leonard Bernstein, on 29 Jun 2018 from 7:15 to 7:45pm at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre. Details please refer to www.hkphil.org.
Celebrate Bernstein on Broadway! (6 & 7 July)
The last programme of the season features many musical and opera theatre stars to celebrate the centenary of Leonard Bernstein, one of America’s greatest musical icons.
Conductor John Wilson, founder of his own John Wilson Orchestra dedicated to performing music from the golden age of Hollywood and Broadway, will lead multiple-award winning soprano Lorina Gore, British musical theatre actress Louise Dearman, British musical theatre actor Nadim Naaman, and Broadway vocalist Nathaniel Hackmann, in an extraordinary programme of Bernstein’s music for the theatre. Everlasting favourites from award-winning musical, movie and stage including West Side Story, Candide, On the Town, Wonderful Town, On the Waterfront, Trouble in Tahiti, Peter Pan… and more will be performed LIVE.
Join our celebration with relaxing programmes to welcome the summer holiday!
Holiday & Pops Series: Celebrate Bernstein on Broadway! will be held on 6 & 7 July (Fri & Sat), 8PM in the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall. Tickets priced: HK$480, $380, $280, $180 are now available at URBTIX. For enquiries, please call +852 2721 2332 or visit www.hkphil.org.
Artists (West Side Story)
Jayce Ogren, conductor [full biography]
Jayce Ogren is building a reputation in both orchestra and opera as one of the finest young conductors in the United States. During the summer of 2018, he will make his San Francisco Symphony debut and lead West Side Story in the Brevard Music Festival. In 2017/18, he has returned to the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Canada and to the Indianapolis, Dallas, Colorado, Nashville and Edmonton Symphonies. He debuts with the orchestras in Columbus, Louisville and Asheville, NC. Ogren has conducted the Boston, Utah and Pittsburgh Symphonies, the New York, Copenhagen and Los Angeles Philharmonics, the Cleveland Orchestra and the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin.
Swire Denim Series: WEST SIDE STORY IN CONCERT
29 & 30 | 6 | 2018
&SAT 8PM
Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall
HK$480 $380 $280 $220
Tickets are now available at URBTIX
For ages 6 and above
Artists
| Jayce Ogren | conductor |
Click the thumbnails to download press photos
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Jayce Ogren | The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra |
Artists (Celebrate Bernstein on Broadway!)
John Wilson, conductor [full biography]
John Wilson is known for the vivid nature of his interpretations. An outstanding communicator, Wilson has developed long-term affiliations with many of the UK’s major orchestras and festivals, and is working increasingly at the highest level across Europe, Asia and Australia. In 16/17 he became the Associate Guest Conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and conducted them at the BBC Proms in July 2017. In 1994, Wilson formed his own orchestra, the John Wilson Orchestra, dedicated to performing music from the golden age of Hollywood and Broadway; for the past decade he has been performing with them annually at the BBC Proms and touring regularly across the UK.|
Lorina Gore, vocalist [full biography]
Australian soprano Lorina Gore has won numerous awards including the Dame Joan Sutherland Scholarship (2012), the Opera Awards (2010), Covent Garden National Opera Studio Scholarship (2003), and first place in the Australian National Aria Competition. She joined Opera Australia in 2008 as a principal artist and has since performed many roles including Queen of Night (The Magic Flute), Titania (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) and Marzelline (Fidelio). She has appeared as soprano soloist with the Sydney Philharmonia, Royal Melbourne Philharmonic, Collegium Musicum Choir, Melbourne Bach Choir and the Sydney, Darwin, Canberra, Queensland and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras.
Louise Dearman, vocalist [full biography]
British musical theatre actress Louise Dearman is widely known through her many performances in London’s West End, UK National Tours and the UK and international concert arena. Her theatre credits include Jan in Grease, Sarah Brown and Mimi in Guys and Dolls, Grizabella in Cats, Eva Peron in Evita and more. She was the first and only actress to have played both leading roles (Glinda and Elphaba) in the hit musical Wicked. In concert she has performed at the BBC Proms, and alongside the Halle, John Wilson, Bournemouth Symphony, London Concert, Royal Philharmonic, Czech Philharmonic, and ORF Radio Symphony orchestras. She also produces an annual charity concert at the Grove Theatre, Dunstable.
Nadim Naaman, vocalist [full biography]
Nadim Naaman played Bertie Wooster in By Jeeves and Raoul in the 30th Anniversary cast of The Phantom of The Opera. His other theatre performances include Sweeney Todd, The Sound of Music, Titanic, Chess and many more. His concert works include The BT Christmas Concert, Bernstein on Broadway, Rogers & Hammerstein/Rogers & Hart, The Broadway Sound, Leonard Bernstein: On Stage and Screen and many others. Naaman was recently appointed an Associate of The Royal Academy of Music, where he trained in Musical Theatre. Prior to this, he read Drama at the University of Warwick.
Nathaniel Hackmann, vocalist [full biography]
Nathaniel Hackmann has emerged as a singer and actor of international renown. He has been seen on stage in some of the most demanding roles and alongside many of the world’s greatest orchestras and most prestigious companies. He has portrayed Jean Valjean and Javert on Broadway in Les Misérables, as well as the titular roles in Jekyll and Hyde and The Hunchback of Norte Dame. At the BBC Proms he appeared as Curly with the John Wilson Orchestra in the acclaimed production of Oklahoma and will next be seen as Gaby in On the Town! On the concert stage and in recital, he has appeared with San Francisco Opera Orchestra, Virginia Opera, Midland Symphony Orchestra, Central Michigan Orchestra, Northern Arizona Symphony and Northwest Indiana Symphony.
Programme (Celebrate Bernstein on Broadway!)
BERNSTEIN
Everlasting favourites from award-winning musical, movie and stage including:
New York New York
Lonely Town
I Can Cook, Too
Dream With Me
A Little Bit In Love
One Hundred Easy Ways to Lose A Man
On The Waterfront
Candide Overture
I Am Easily Assimilated
Nothing More Than This
Glitter and Be Gay
Take Care of This House
Dance at the Gym
Maria
Island Magic
Wrong Note Rag
HOLIDAYS & POPS SERIES: CELEBRATE BERSTEIN ON BROADWAY!
6 & 7 | 7 | 2018
FRI & SAT 8PM
Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall
HK$480 $380 $280 $180
Tickets are now available at URBTIX
For ages 6 and above
Artists
| John Wilson | conductor |
vocalist | |
vocalist | |
vocalist | |
vocalist |
Click the thumbnails to download press photos
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John Wilson | Lorina Gore | Louise Dearman |
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Nadim Naaman | Nathaniel Hackmann | The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra |
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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. Presenting more than 150 concerts over a 44-week season, the HK Phil 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 2022. Maestro van Zweden will be the next Music Director of the New York Philharmonic from the 2018/19 season.
Yu Long was appointed Principal Guest Conductor with the HK Phil for a three-year period commencing with the 2015/16 season.
Under the dynamic leadership of Music Director Jaap van Zweden, the HK Phil has attained new heights of artistic excellence, garnering international critical acclaim.
Following on from the success of the European tour which included a filmed concert from Vienna’s Musikverein, the HK Phil has toured extensively within the mainland China. In celebration of the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the HKSAR, and with support of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Offices, the orchestra recently performed in Seoul, Osaka, Singapore, Melbourne and at the Sydney Opera House.
Jaap, the HK Phil, a superb cast of soloists and a chorus successfully completed the four-year epic “Ring Cycle” journey in January 2018. The concert performances and live Naxos recordings have been enthusiastically received by audiences and praised by critics at home and abroad. The recording of Götterdämmerung will be released towards the end of 2018.
Conductors and soloists who have recently performed with the orchestra include Vladimir Ashkenazy, Charles Dutoit, Christoph Eschenbach, Matthias Goerne, Stephen Hough, Lang Lang, Yo-Yo Ma, Ning Feng and Yuja Wang.
The HK Phil promotes the work of Hong Kong and Chinese composers through an active commissioning programme, and has released recordings on the Naxos label featuring Tan Dun and Bright Sheng, each conducting their own compositions. Its acclaimed education and community engagement programmes in schools, hospital and outdoor space, bring music into the hearts of tens of thousands of children and families every year.
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 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 Charities Trust and other supporters, the HK Phil now boasts a full-time annual schedule of core classical repertoire and innovative popular programming, extensive education and community programmes, and collaborations with, among others, Opera Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Arts Festival.
Originally called the Sino-British Orchestra, it was renamed the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra in 1957 and became fully professional in 1974. The HK Phil is a charitable organisation.
The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra is financially supported by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and is Venue Partner of the Hong Kong Cultural Centre.
SWIRE is the Principal Patron of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra.