Your HK Phil announces its 2017/18 Season

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[27 April 2017, Hong Kong] The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra (HK Phil) and its Music Director Jaap van Zweden today announce its 2017/18 season – a line-up of 32 fabulous programmes. Highlights include:
 

Season Opening Concerts with Yuja and Jaap van Zweden

Stunning superstar pianist Yuja Wang teams up with HK Phil Music Director, Jaap van Zweden, for an unmissable, truly spectacular opening to the 2017/18 season.

The season kicks off with Yuja Wang who returns to perform Tchaikovsky’s popular First Piano Concerto (1 & 2 September 2017), and the poetic Piano Concerto no. 2 by Beethoven (8 & 9 September 2017). Yuja Wang will also share the stage with three of the HK Phil’s principals – Jing Wang, Andrew Ling and Richard Bamping in Tchaikovsky’s Piano Trio in A minor and Brahms’s Piano Quartet no.1 in G minor (one performance only, 6 September 2017).

Season Opening: Jaap & Yuja; Yuja & Friends: A Chamber Night; and Yuja’s Beethoven & Mahler 5 areaccredited events celebrating the 20thAnniversary of the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

QBE is the Title Sponsor of the Opening Night Concert.
9 September performance is sponsored by Sunwah Kingsway.

Jaap van Zweden highlights in the HK Phil 2017/18 season

Music Director Jaap van Zweden will be conducting the HK Phil in SEVEN exciting concert programmes, including:

Last but not least, at the invitation of Yu Long, maestro van Zweden will conduct the HK Phil in Wagner’s Die Walküre at the 20th anniversary of the Beijing Music Festival. This co-production between Salzburg and Beijing, with Karajan’s widow scheduled to be in attendance, also marks the 50th anniversary of the Salzburg Easter Festival founded by Herbert von Karajan in 1967.

Great Conductors and Soloists

The HK Phil is proud to bring many international stars as soloists and conductors to Hong Kong for its 2017/18 season.

Guest Conductors
Legendary conductor Christoph Eschenbach and amazing pianist Tzimon Barto return after their memorable 2015 Hong Kong debut to give us the passion and beauty of Brahms alongside joy and high spirits from Dvořák (6 & 7 October 2017). Swiss conductor, Charles Dutoit returns in a programme highlighting his special affinity with Stravinsky’s spectacular scores and his instinctive feel for French music (17 & 18 November 2017). Young American-Korean violin sensation, Esther Yoo, and music’s elder statesman, Vladimir Ashkenazy, showcase the harmony and unity of great music-making (25 & 26 May 2018).

HK Phil’s Principal Guest Conductor Yu Long will conduct two versions of The Song of the Earth in one concert! Alongside Mahler’s famous settings of the Tang Poetries in German translations, native Chinese composer, Ye Xiaogang, sets these ancient Chinese poems in their original language (27 & 28 April 2018). Yu Long will also bring dazzling musical fireworks from Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique, in a concert joined by Dizi virtuoso Tang Junqiao with the Dizi concerto Chou Kong Shan by Guo Wenjing (15 & 16 September 2017).

16 September performance is sponsored by Wing Lung Bank.

Strings
World-renowned violinist James Ehnes returns to Hong Kong to offer us Leonard Bernstein’s Plato-inspired Serenade (8 & 9 June 2018). One of the most popular cellists among Hong Kong music lovers, Jian Wang, performs Tchaikovsky’s elegant Rococo Variations (15 & 16 June 2018). Both concerts will be conducted by Maestro van Zweden.

Pianists
Apart from Yuja Wang in our Trio of exciting season opening programmes, the 2017/18 season also features the chic and sophisticated Jean-Yves Thibaudet who will be playing the enticing I Got Rhythm by Gershwin, and the Hong Kong premiere of Chen Qigang’s piano concerto Er Huang, a piece mixing Chinese traditional music with iconic western instruments. Conducted by HK Phil’s Principal Guest Conductor Yu Long, the programme also includes Elgar’s Variations on an Original Theme Enigma (15 & 16 December 2017). Do not miss the performance of Nikolai Lugansky, one of the best Rachmaninov interpreters of our time, in the epic Rachmaninov ‘s Third Concerto (17 & 18 November 2017).

Hong Kong Talents
Local artists will continue to be part of our season. Assistant Conductor Vivian Ip will conjure up fantasy and fun with the help of The Puppet & Its Double Theater from Taiwan in a programme full of dancing dolls – The Magic Toyshop (22 & 23 September 2017). Philip Chu, chorus master for the Hong Kong Philharmonic Chorus, is joined by Swiss-Chinese pianist Mischa Cheung in a programme of symphonic music from the video game series Final Fantasy written by Nobuo Uematsu - Final Fantasy: Final Symphony (22 & 23 November 2017), in celebration of the 30th Anniversary of the game series.

Hong Kong born pianist Chiyan Wong will perform in the ever-popular New Year concert, A Viennese New Year (30 & 31 December 2017), while The Young Prodigies programme (2 & 3 February 2018) presents Hannah Tam Wan Ching as soloist in Mozart’s Third Violin Concerto. Hannah was only 10-year old when she won the Andrea Postacchini Violin Competition in 2016. This concert will be conducted by young Australian conductor Nicholas Carter.

And from the ranks of the HK Phil, Jing Wang, Andrew Ling and Richard Bamping will share the stage with Yuja Wang in a chamber concert (one performance only, 6 September 2017), while Principal Clarinet Andrew Simon will be featured in Jaap, to the New World (22 & 23 June 2018).

Maintaining the momentum of last year’s Composer Showcase activities, the HK Phil will continue to involve local composers in the 2017/18 season. Details are to be announced in due course.

More Programmes to Anticipate

Joe Hisaishi in Concert
Renowned for his scores for famous animator Hayao Miyazaki, Japanese composer-conductor Joe Hisaishi makes a triumphant return to the HK Phil following his sensational first appearance here in 2010 (4 & 5 May 2018).

Cirque de la Symphonie
The Cirque de la Symphonie will also return with all the fun of the circus, including acrobats, contortionists and jugglers, when they join the HK Phil and Gerard Salonga, one of our Assistant Conductors, for a concert of fun and super-human feats (11 & 12 May 2018).

Leonard Bernstein at 100
In celebration of the 100th birthday of the late, great Leonard Bernstein, the HK Phil will end its 2017/18 season with four exciting programmes include the West Side Story - complete film with live music (29 & 30 June 2018), and a dazzling, colourful and glitzy parade of Leonard Bernstein’s greatestBroadway musical hits (6 & 7 July 2018). Jaap van Zweden will also conduct two concerts that open with Bernstein’s Candide Overture (22 & 23 June 2018), and Bernstein’s Serenade (8 & 9 June 2018) respectively.

Subscription begins now until 10 July 2017
The 2017/18 HK Phil subscription campaign will continue to have two phases. Current subscribers can renew their subscription before 31 May to enjoy not only the best savings and best seats but also the first opportunity to purchase tickets for Joe Hisaishi in Concert.

Subscription will then be open to the public from 5 June to 10 July. During this period subscribers can still enjoy the best savings and can purchase tickets for Joe Hisaishi.

Subscribers are eligible for discounts up to 25%; the more concerts purchased, the greater the savings. Students, seniors, disabled and CSSA recipients receive 50% off subscription and single ticket purchases. After 10 July there will be no discounts for Joe Hisaishi in Concert.

How to subscribe
There are four ways to subscribe:

Other Important Initiatives of the HK Phil

Jockey Club Key To Music Education Programme
Thanks to generous sponsorship from The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, the Jockey Club Keys To Music Education Programme has brought tremendous benefits to local teachers and students every season since 2012. More than 140,000 students and educators have been inspired by the musical activities – Schools Concerts, Ensemble Visits, Instrumental Masterclasses and Teachers’ Seminars – presented by the HK Phil. For more information, please visit ktm.hkphil.org.

The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust is the exclusive sponsors of the Jockey Club Keys To Music Education Programme

The Tung Foundation – Young Audience Scheme
Presented by the HK Phil and sponsored by The Tung Foundation, Young Audience Scheme has been founded for 20 years. It offers full-time local primary or secondary students exclusive access to your orchestra and world-class musicians. An HK Phil Junior will enjoy activities and events organised by the HK Phil, year-round privileges and discounts, as well as other rewards schemes and souvenirs. For more information, please visit yas.hkphil.org.

The Young Audience Scheme is sponsored by The Tung Foundation

HK Phil Community Concert
Music enriches the way people think, feel and live their lives. It helps build up a harmonious society, and because of this, the HK Phil values its role of bringing music to the community. The HK Phil Community Concert is a long-established initiative reaching out to students and communities, providing world-class symphonic music for the public of Hong Kong free-of-charge. We engage students in the Community Concert as a means of nurturing future local musicians and audiences. It also helps boost their confidence, communication, cooperation and listening skills.

Connect with Us
The HK Phil’s informative website hkphil.orgoffers the latest concert and ticketing information. Music lovers can also stay tuned through the HK Phil’s updates on Facebook atwww.facebook.com/HKPhil and Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/hkphilharmonic/. Video from the HK Phil is also available on YouTube at www.youtube.com/HKPhilharmonic.

Radio and TV Broadcast by Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK)
Music lovers can enjoy some of the most memorable performances by the HK Phil through the broadcasts of Radio Television Hong Kongwhich connect the HK Phil with audiences in all parts of the world.

The HK Phil would like to express its heartfelt gratitude to the following partners for their support:
Major Funding Body: The Government of the HKSAR
Principal Patron: SWIRE
Venue Partner: Hong Kong Cultural Centre

Programme Sponsors

The Musician’s Chair for Richard Bamping is endowed by

Gold Ring Partner

Ring Circle Members

Education Project Sponsors

Honorary Auditor

Pro-bono Legal Counsel

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. The Orchestra presents more than 150 concerts over a 44-week season and 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 at least 2022. In addition, Maestro van Zweden will also be the next Music Director of the New York Philharmonic starting with 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 Maestro van Zweden, the HK Phil is undertaking a variety of initiatives including a four-year project to perform and record the complete Ring of the Nibelung (Richard Wagner). The Orchestra is in the third of this four-year journey, performing one opera annually in concert. The performances being recorded live for the Naxos label are winning rave reviews internationally; and mark the first performances by a Hong Kong or mainland Chinese orchestra of the entire Ring cycle.

Also under van Zweden, the orchestra has toured to Taiwan, Europe and Mainland China, and it is undertaking an ambitious five-city tour to Seoul, Osaka, Singapore, Melbourne and Sydney in April - May 2017 in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the HKSAR.

Conductors and soloists who have recently performed with the orchestra include Yo-Yo Ma, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Ning Feng, Matthias Goerne, Lang Lang, Yu Long, Yundi Li, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Yuja Wang and the late Lorin Maazel.

The HK Phil promotes the work of Hong Kong and Chinese composers through an active commissioning programme, and has released recordings featuring Tan Dun and Bright Sheng, each conducting their own compositions, on the Naxos label. Its acclaimed community engagement programme brings music to tens of thousands of children annually. A recording was issued free to schoolchildren throughout Hong Kong of Britten’s The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf and Leopold Mozart’s Toy Symphony.

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 also 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 and other supporters, the HK Phil now boasts a full-time annual schedule of classical music concerts, pops concerts, an extensive education programme, and collaborations for staged opera with Opera Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Arts Festival.

The Orchestra celebrated its 40th season as a professional orchestra in 2013/14.

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.