World-class Soloists Unite with 
The HK Phil under Jaap van Zweden and Vasily Petrenko
CUHK 60th Anniversary: Yo-Yo Ma & HK Phil (8 November)
Vasily Petrenko & Nobuyuki Tsujii (1 & 2 December)
Vasily Petrenko | Mahler 4 (8 & 9 December)
Jaap & Lang Lang (15 & 17 December)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact: 
Dennis Wu
Director of Marketing 
Tel: (852) 2721 9035
Email: dennis.wu@hkphil.org 

Emily Hui
Media Relations and Communications Manager
Tel: (852) 2721 1585
Email: emily.hui@hkphil.org

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[30 October 2023, Hong Kong] The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra (HK Phil) is thrilled to present a superb line-up of programmes led by Music Director Jaap van Zweden and Maestro Vasily Petrenko in November and December 2023. World-class soloists Yo-Yo Ma, Nobuyuki Tsujii, Elizabeth Watts and Lang Lang will share the stage with the HK Phil.

CUHK 60th Anniversary: Yo-Yo Ma & HK Phil (8 November)

In celebration of The Chinese University of Hong Kong’s 60th anniversary, HK Phil Music Director Jaap van Zweden will join hands with internationally-acclaimed cellist Yo-Yo Ma for Dvořák’s Cello Concerto in this special one-night-only event. Beethoven’s heroic Leonore Overture no. 3 will open the concert, and Tchaikovsky’s Capriccio italien will conclude the evening to a rousing finish.

Cello superstar and a 19-time Grammy Award winner, Yo-Yo Ma has recorded more than 120 albums. His multi-faceted career is testament to his belief in the power of culture in generating trust and understanding. Most recently, Yo-Yo began “Our Common Nature”, a cultural journey that celebrates the unifying force of nature in human’s pursuit of a shared future. He was recognised as one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2020.

“CUHK 60th Anniversary: Yo-Yo Ma & HK Phil”will be held on 8 November 2023 (Wed) at 8PM in the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall. Tickets priced at HK$1,980, $1,480, $980 and $480 have already been sold out. For enquiries, please call +852 2721 2332 or visit hkphil.org.

Vasily Petrenko & Nobuyuki Tsujii (1 & 2 December)

Following an exhilarating HK Phil debut last season, Vasily Petrenko, Music Director of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, will return to Hong Kong with an all-French programme, including the overture to Berlioz’s opera Benvenuto Cellini and Ravel’s complete music for the ballet Daphnis et Chloé.

The concert will also witness the HK Phil debut of Van Cliburn gold medal laureate Nobuyuki Tsujii, who will bring      us Ravel’s jazz-infused Piano Concerto. Despite being born blind, the Japanese pianist jointly-won the Gold Medal at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 2009, and has earned an international reputation for the passion and excitement he brings to his live performances. He was described by The Observer as the “definition of virtuosity”.

“Vasily Petrenko & Nobuyuki Tsujii”will be held on 1 & 2 December 2023 (Fri & Sat) at 8PM in the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall. Tickets priced at HK$680, $540, $400, $260 and $50 are available at URBTIX. For enquiries, please call +852 2721 2332 or visit hkphil.org.

To allow audiences to dive deep into specific orchestral works, “Swire Music for Everyone Series: Ravel Piano Concerto” will be held on 1 December 2023 (Fri) at 10am in the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall. The concert is free and tickets are available on a first come, first-served basis. Online registration details will be announced on the HK Phil website later. Please stay tuned.

Vasily Petrenko | Mahler 4 (8 & 9 December)

Vasily Petrenko continues with a German programme, featuring the Hong Kong debut of English soprano Elizabeth Watts. Hailed as “one of the most beautiful voices Britain has produced in a generation” (International Record Review), Watts will grace the stage by singing five ravishing lieder by Richard Strauss, including perennial favourites as Morgen! and Cäcilie. Watts is the winner of the Rosenblatt Recital Song Prize at the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition and the Kathleen Ferrier Award. She is a former BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist and was awarded a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award. 

Petrenko will open the programme with Richard Strauss’ Serenade and conclude with Mahler’s Fourth Symphony, with Watts joining in the final movement and presenting a child’s vision of heaven.

“Vasily Petrenko | Mahler 4”will be held on 8 & 9 December 2023 (Fri & Sat) at 8PM in the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall. Tickets priced at HK$580, $460, $340, $220 and $50 are available at URBTIX. For enquiries, please call +852 2721 2332 or visit hkphil.org.

Jaap & Lang Lang (15 & 17 December)

International piano megastar Lang Lang will join Music Director Jaap van Zweden for Beethoven’s Third Concerto, a work of delicate drama and lyrical sweetness. Opening with Berio’s enigmatic transcription of Contrapunctus XIX from The Art of Fugue, the concert will conclude with Copland’s majestic, post-war Third Symphony, the finale of which quotes Fanfare for the Common Man, one of the composer’s most famous pieces.

Heralded by TheNew York Times as “the hottest artist on the classical music planet” and named as one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2019, Lang Lang plays sold-out concerts all over the world. Apart from giving mesmerising performances, he has contributed to musical education worldwide. In 2008, he founded the Lang Lang International Music Foundation, dedicated to cultivating future pianists, championing music education at the forefront of technology, and building a young audience through live music experiences.

“Jaap & Lang Lang”will be held on 15 December (Fri) at 8PM and 17 December 2023 (Sun) at 3pm in the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall. Tickets priced at HK$1,480, $1,080, $780, $480 and $50 have already been sold out. For enquiries, please call +852 2721 2332 or visit hkphil.org.

Sponsors: Bank of China (Hong Kong), Audio Exotics

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Artists

CUHK 60th Anniversary: Yo-Yo Ma & HK Phil

Jaap & Lang Lang

Jaap van Zweden, conductor [full description]

Over the past decade, conductor Jaap van Zweden has become an international presence on three continents. Currently Music Director of the HK Phil, he is also Music Director of the New York Philharmonic. He has appeared as guest conductor with leading orchestras such as, in Europe, the Orchestre de Paris, Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Vienna Philharmonic, the Berlin Philharmonic and the London Symphony Orchestra, and, in the US, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, The Cleveland Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Vasily Petrenko & Nobuyuki Tsujii

Vasily Petrenko | Mahler 4

Vasily Petrenko, conductor [full description]

Vasily Petrenko is Music Director of the Royal Philharmonic, Chief Conductor of the European Union Youth Orchestra, and Artistic Director of the State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia (where he held the position of Principal Guest Conductor since 2016). He served as Chief Conductor of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic (2006–2021), the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra (2013–2020), Principal Conductor of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain (2009–2013), and Principal Guest Conductor of St Petersburg’s Mikhailovsky Theatre, where he began his career as Resident Conductor (1994–1997).

CUHK 60th Anniversary: Yo-Yo Ma & HK Phil

Yo-Yo Ma, cello [full description]

Yo-Yo Ma’s multi-faceted career is testament to his belief in culture’s power to generate trust and understanding. Whether performing new or familiar works for cello, bringing communities together to explore culture’s role in society, or engaging unexpected musical forms, Yo-Yo strives to foster connections that stimulate the imagination and reinforce our humanity. Most recently, Yo-Yo began Our Common Nature, a cultural journey to celebrate the ways that nature can reunite us in pursuit of a shared future. Yo-Yo has recorded more than 120 albums, is the winner of 19 Grammy Awards, and has performed for nine American presidents.

Vasily Petrenko & Nobuyuki Tsujii

Nobuyuki Tsujii, piano [full description]

Described by The Observer as the “definition of virtuosity” Japanese pianist Nobuyuki Tsujii (Nobu), who has been blind from birth, won the joint Gold Medal at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 2009 and has gone on to earn an international reputation for the passion and excitement he brings to his live performances. Nobu has appeared in concert with leading orchestras worldwide including Mariinsky Orchestra, Philharmonia, BBC Philharmonic, NHK Symphony, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony, Tokyo Symphony and Japan Philharmonic orchestras, Seattle and Baltimore symphony orchestras, Filarmonica della Scala and the Sinfonieorchester Basel.

Vasily Petrenko | Mahler 4

Elizabeth Watts, soprano [full description]

Elizabeth Watts was a chorister at Norwich Cathedral and studied archaeology at Sheffield University before studying singing at the Royal College of Music in London. She was awarded an Hon DMus from Sheffield in 2013 and became a Fellow of the RCM in 2017. She is a prolific recording artist, and her recordings include critically acclaimed discs of Lieder by Schubert and Strauss; Mozart arias with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra; works by Alessandro Scarlatti with The English Concert, and most recently, Handel Brockes Passion with the Academy of Ancient Music. 

Jaap & Lang Lang

Lang Lang, piano [full description]

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CUHK 60TH ANNIVERSARY: YO-YO MA & HK PHIL

8 | 11 | 2023

WED 8PM

Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall

Sold Out

Artists

Programme

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VASILY PETRENKO & NOBUYUKI TSUJII

1 & 2 | 12 | 2023

FRI & SAT 8PM

Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall

HK$680 $540 $400 $260 $50

Tickets now available at URBTIX

For ages 6 and above

Artists

Programme

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VASILY PETRENKO | MAHLER 4

8 & 9 | 12 | 2023

FRI & SAT 8PM

Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall

HK$580 $460 $340 $220 $50

Tickets now available at URBTIX

For ages 6 and above

Artists

Programme

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JAAP & LANG LANG

15 | 12 | 2023

FRI 8PM

17 | 12 | 2023

SUN 3PM

Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall

Sold Out

Artists

Programme