Seville-based Israel Galván is the world’s leading bailaor, winner of the Critic’s Circle National Dance Award in 2015 and the highest cultural honours that his native Spain has to offer. Lightning-fast and passion-fuelled, the undisputed king of flamenco scorches the stage wherever he performs. His reinvented flamenco thrills a new generation.

“Space, time and dramatic movements in Beijing opera are fictitious, while the logic of stories, human emotions and ideas are ‘real’. The plot of Princess Changping, the struggles and suicide of the prince and princess are imaginary, but the love and their devotion to the country as Chinese are real. As Peking opera actors, we face every character, all our audiences and every touching story that has been passed down through history in a truthful way.”

Eminent opera artists Yu Kuizhi and Li Shengsu will star in the premiere of Princess Changping in Hong Kong, the first-ever creation to be performed in Beijing dialect with accompaniment from a Beijing opera orchestral ensemble. Princess Changping first premiered in 1957, and this signature work by Tong Tik-sang remains an all-time favourite of Hong Kong audiences.

Hailed as the finest exponent of the Laosheng (old male) role in China, Yu Kuizhi was honoured by the Chinese Cultural Craftsman and Ambassador of Intangible Cultural Heritage. Yu has also taken the troupe to performances all across the world, with a total of more than 500 masterful historical dramas staged by the Company since its formation six decades ago.

Li Shengsu is one of the most brilliant specialists in the qingyi or dan (female) roles. A disciple of the style made famous by Mei Baojiu and Mei Lanfang, Li was the first-ever Beijing opera artist to perform at Vienna’s famous Musikverein in 2004.

“My job, which gives me a lot of opportunities
My family, that makes me happy
My country, where I feel free”—Svetlana Zakharova
“To me real is dedication, emotions and love.”
—Vadim Repin
Music and ballet in perfect harmony
Prima ballerina, violin virtuoso
“[Svetlana Zakharova is] the incontestable star of the Bolshoi” Yves Saint Laurent
“[Vadim Repin] is the most perfect violinist I’ve ever heard” Yehudi Menuhin
INTRODUCTION
Star quality shines in this Festival highlight.
Widely regarded as the finest violinist and ballerina of their generation, husband and wife Vadim Repin and Svetlana Zakharova are the music and dance world’s celebrity couple par excellence. Celebrated for their fabulous talent in the concert hall and on stage, they come together in a specially devised gala that shows off their artistry to perfection.
The programme alternates purely instrumental pieces with solos, pas de deux and pas de trois by master composers and international choreographers selected by Zakharova and Repin.
Svetlana Zakharova, the Tsarina of dance, Prima Ballerina at 18, star of Russia’s Bolshoi Theatre, La Scala Milan, Covent Garden and Paris Opera Ballet in the leading classical and contemporary roles, will be partnered by principals from the top ballet companies. Vadim Repin, acclaimed by critics and music lovers for almost 30 years since becoming the youngest ever winner of the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels, plays with first violinist Anton Barakovsky and Hong Kong’s Gustav Mahler Orchestra.
Treat yourself to an evening of world-class performance with this blissful marriage of music and ballet. Relish star artists at the
height of their powers.

“Real to me is the universal language of dance. It enables us to tell stories, move and inspire people in spite of any language barriers and cultural differences.”
—Christian Spuck, Artistic Director of Ballett Zürich and Choreographer of Anna Karenina
Tolstoy’s timeless love story reinvented as a beautiful and powerful ballet
“An all-encompassing theatrical experience” Dance Europe
“A feast for the eyes…a delight to watch” Bachtrack
“[Christian Spuck is] a choreographer who possesses both intelligence and flair” Criticaldance.com
INTRODUCTION
Festival Opening
When forbidden passion clashes with the social code of 19th century Russia there can only be one outcome.
Tolstoy’s famous novel has inspired great stage productions and film adaptations, the latter starring Greta Garbo and Keira Knightley in the title role, and now this stunning ballet from leading European dance company, Ballett Zürich. It is one of literature’s most powerful romantic dramas.

Trapped in a dull and loveless marriage, Anna Karenina falls headlong for the dashing, pleasure-loving and overwhelmingly attractive cavalier, Alexei Vronsky. Reluctant at first and aware of the consequences, she finally gives in to his advances with tragic consequences.

From the ecstasy of erotic love to the dark despair, Christian Spuck’s superb choreography expresses a wide spectrum of emotions and contradictions of the human psyche. Anna’s fall from grace is rapid and cruel.

Music plays a vital role in this production with selected works by Rachmaninov accompanying romance and passion, while those of Lutosławski and other contemporaries reflecting bitterness and rejection with edgier sounds.

With stylish costumes, evocative sets and clever use of video, Ballett Zürich’s Anna Karenina takes its place among the most memorable and dramatic interpretations of Tolstoy’s masterpiece. This production has also been successfully staged by Norwegian National Ballet, Bavarian State Ballet and at the Stanislavsky Theatre in Moscow.

Ballett Zürich is now led by German choreographer Christian Spuck, who learned his craft at the John Cranko Ballet School in Stuttgart. He trained with top contemporary ensembles Needcompany and Rosas before joining Stuttgart Ballet in 1995 and becoming its choreographer in residence.

“Keep the fermata of the rest interesting.”
—Leif Segerstam
Authoritative interpretations of epic choral masterpieces from Estonia and Finland

“Tremendous… the equipoise of power and control” New York Classical Review
INTRODUCTION

Hidden choral gems from the Baltic Sea brought to Hong Kong in two epic concerts.

Estonia achieved independence following the “Singing Revolution”, a name that reveals much about the nation’s strong choral tradition. The Estonian National Male Choir is one of the largest professional men’s choruses in the world, and has contributed to the Estonian choral tradition for more than 70 years. With a repertoire spanning from the Renaissance to contemporary music, and a specialism for showcasing lesser-known Estonian works to a wider audience, the Choir has also premiered compositions by luminaries including Dmitri Shostakovich. The choir also works closely with the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, together winning the 2004 Best Choral Performance Grammy Award for a collaborative Sibelius recording.

Known as a “tireless champion of Scandinavian music” (Nordic Council Music Prize), the Finnish maverick Leif Segerstam defies all traditional classifications of conductor, composer and musician. Author of over 300 symphonies and laureate of the highly-esteemed Sibelius Medal and the Finnish State Prize for Music, Segerstam has collaborated with world-renowned orchestras and opera companies over many years in his own distinctive way – a pulsating style, Dionysian vitality and an immensely addictive approach to music-making.

These two programmes include some of the finest choral and symphonic music in the repertoire, but rarely performed in Hong Kong. The celebrated Estonian composer Arvo Pärt’s signature “tintinnabuli” bell-like sound is beautifully showcased in Cantus, alongside the little-known large-scale men’s choral masterpiece Das Liebesmahl der Apostel by Wagner, in which the Estonians will be joined by Hong Kong chorus Die Konzertisten. Following Eduard Tubin’s Estonian dance suite, famous opera choruses by Wagner and Gounod complete the first concert. In the second concert, Sibelius’s great symphonic choral work Kullervo is not to be missed, with the Finnish composer shaping a dramatic score based on the epic poem Kalevala, telling the tale of the tragic hero from Finnish mythology.

The concerts are dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Republic of Estonia.

ian Dance Tunes)

Wagner
Sailors’ Chorus from Der fliegende Holländer, WWV63

Gounod
Soldiers’ Chorus from Faust

Wagner
Pilgrims’ Chorus from Tannhäuser, WWV70

Mar 25

Galina Grigorjeva
Nocturno from Nox vitae

Sibelius
Kullervo, Op 7
Monika-Evelin Liiv mezzo-soprano
Rauno Elp baritone

“I can look at many of these songs, and see that this is an event that really happened, or a feeling I’ve lived through myself… It’s almost like a diary entry.”
—Cécile McLorin Salvant
America’s jazz legacy in one captivating voice

“A singularly arresting voice” The Wall Street Journal

“The finest jazz singer to emerge in the last decade” The Times

“Absorbed the music’s history and made it her own” The New Yorker

INTRODUCTION

Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald… And following in their footsteps comes Cécile McLorin Salvant. Extending the lineage of America’s big three female jazz vocalists, the 28-year-old persuasively embodies a “jazz-informed artistry of the highest class” (The Guardian) with poise, soul, sensuality and virtuosity.

No jazz singer in recent memory has won more honours more quickly than this rising star. Born and raised in Miami to a French mother and Haitian father, Salvant studied classical piano and voice from an early age, discovering jazz later while studying law in France. Concerts in Paris followed swiftly, and her first album Cécile was released in 2010. Soon after, this amazing young singer came from nowhere to win the world’s most prestigious jazz contest – the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Vocal Competition.

Her second album WomanChild in 2013 gained critical acclaim with several awards in the DownBeat International Critics Poll; a third album, 2016’s For One To Love, led the young artist to further success with a “Best Jazz Vocal Album” Grammy Award. Her latest album Dreams and Daggers (2017) confirms Salvant’s status as a great performer at her creative peak.

“You get a singer like this once in a generation or two,” says Wynton Marsalis, whose Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra has twice toured with Salvant. The malleability in her vocal timbre and projection combine with a distinctive, thoughtful theatricality and a deft incorporation of different musical styles like blues, folk, classical, make her an artist who can turn any song into a compelling personal statement.

Juilliard-trained pianist Aaron Diehl and his trio complement Salvant’s musical ideas and help to bring both standards and new compositions to life.

“Music is the sound of life.”
—Carl Nielsen
Strauss’s Spirit, Nielsen’s Soul
Wagner’s legacy, Guo’s innovation

“[Fabio Luisi] Firm, incisive and vigorous conducting style” Los Angeles Times

“[Fabio Luisi] balanced passion and poetry sensitively” Financial Times

“Lively eloquence from a glowing ensemble” ★★★★ The Guardian

INTRODUCTION

Grammy and ECHO Klassik Award-winning Fabio Luisi is currently the General Music Director of Zurich Opera and Opera di Firenze, as well as Principal Conductor of the Metropolitan Opera for the past six years. Recently appointed Principal Conductor of the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, the Italian maestro leads the DNSO on their Asian debut tour with a superb and diverse programme.

Unfolding as a musical battle between forces of order and chaos, Carl Nielsen’s Fifth Symphony is arguably the best known work in the Danish repertoire, composed in reaction to the catastrophe of World War I. Guo Wenjing’s percussion concerto, The Rite of Mountains is a positive response to the devastating Sichuan earthquake in 2008, with the portrayal of chaotic scenes finished by a piccolo, bringing life and hope to the audience at the end. The soloist is China’s percussion superstar Li Biao, winner of the Mercedes Benz “National Spirit Achiever Award” and a performer at the closing ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Two symphonic works by German composers complete the concert. Don Juan is Richard Strauss’s colourful portrait of the blustering and reckless lover; Wagner’s thrilling overture to his opera, Der fliegende Holländer, conjures the turbulent atmosphere of the sea with vivid realism.

Established in 1925, DNSO has an instinctive feeling for its country’s native composers – it is acknowledged to be one of the world’s leading orchestras in the works of Carl Nielsen – and for those of its Nordic neighbours. Following in the footsteps of such greats as Herbert Blomstedt and Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos at the helm of DNSO, Fabio Luisi has developed an “extraordinary artistic chemistry” with the orchestra, and an abiding affection for Denmark’s national composer, so much so that after their performance of Nielsen’s Second Symphony at the BBC Proms in 2016, the London Evening Standard reported, “in Luisi’s hands, [it] was a riot of invention”.

PROGRAMME

Wagner
Overture to Der fliegende Holländer, WWV63

Guo Wenjing
The Rite of Mountains: Concerto for Percussion and Orchestra, Op 47
Li Biao percussion

Richard Strauss
Don Juan, Op 20*

Nielsen
Symphony No 5, Op 50

*The original piece Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche, Op 28 has been changed to Don Juan, Op 20.

“Stay true to yourself, yet always be open to learn. Opera is place to learn new stories and new worlds.”
—James Southall
A fun introduction to opera for the whole family

“Fun and informal… a whip-smart educational trip” ★★★★★ Western Mail

INTRODUCTION

Have you ever experienced an opera performance? Welsh National Opera offers a refreshing, interactive family concert that has something for everyone – from die-hard opera fans to complete newcomers!

O is for Opera! is a fantastic way to introduce the whole family to opera and classical music, as the BBC Radio 3 presenter Tom Redmond, two solo singers and the WNO Orchestra guide you through a tour of the world with a selection of popular opera favourites. Taking in symphonic performances, singing, animation and interactive activities with costumes, this show is all about participation, with opportunities to get on stage and even conduct the whole orchestra.

Ticket holders are welcome to come along early and join in pre-concert activities in the foyer, including an “Orchestra Zoo” (where children can try out instruments and meet the orchestra), a stage-prop display, a kid’s make-up session and a percussion workshop featuring WNO musicians. Come along and let the WNO team show you what happens behind the scenes of a full-scale opera production!

Bringing the magic of opera to all, this is a gleeful and inspiring Friday evening musical treat for the young, the young at heart and everyone in between.

Make sure to join in with your best operatic voice, as we all sing: “O is for Opera!”

PROGRAMME

Bizet
Carmen Overture

Mozart
Queen Of The Night’s Aria “Der Hölle Rache” from The Magic Flute

Puccini
Prince Calaf’s Aria “Nessun Dorma” from Turandot

Prokofiev
Scherzo and March from The Love for Three Oranges

Denza
Funiculì, Funiculà

Rossini
The Barber of Seville Overture

Verdi
Drinking Song from La Traviata

Humperdinck
Dream Pantomime from Hansel and Gretel

Rossini
William Tell Overture

Bernstein
Cunegonde’s Aria “Glitter and Be Gay” from Candide

Di Capua
O Sole Mio

Puccini
Mimi and Rodolfo’s Duet “O Soave Fanciulla” from La Bohème

Offenbach
Infernal Galop (Can-Can) from Orpheus In The Underworld

“Nothing is permanent within the constructs of humanity except nature. Nature to me is reality […], the greatest time keeper and conductor of us all.”
—Kristjan Järvi
An irresistible Rachmaninov piano concerto cycle
A tour de force pianist and an innovative maestro

“[Denis Matsuev] Epic technique… superhuman speed, power, and agility” The Boston Globe

“[Denis Matsuev] Virtuoso in the tradition of Gilels, Richter, and Horowitz” Los Angeles Times

“[Kristjan Järvi] A kinetic force on the podium, like Leonard Bernstein reborn” The New York Times

INTRODUCTION

Irresistible Russian music and pianism that will sweep you off your feet! Featuring the complete Rachmaninov piano concerto cycle and Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini for piano and orchestra, this major event also brings much-loved symphonic music by Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky.

Rachmaninov found fame at the age of 18 with his first Piano Concerto. Acclaimed as the last great romantic composer and a piano virtuoso himself, Rachmaninov’s music conjures passion and drama unlike that of any other composer. Star soloist Denis Matsuev is a virtuoso in the grandest of Russian pianistic traditions. He has triumphed in the world’s great music halls, producing a truly ravishing sound with a technique and power that few pianists can rival. He was winner of the 1998 International Tchaikovsky Competition and ten years later became director of the Sergei Rachmaninov Foundation at the invitation of the composer’s grandson, Alexander.

Founded in 1936 as the USSR Symphony Orchestra and re-named in the post-Soviet era, the State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia built its worldwide reputation under the leadership of Evgeny Svetlanov. These Festival highlight concerts are conducted by the Estonian-born Kristjan Järvi, scion of a distinguished musical family. As “one of the canniest and most innovative programmers on the classical scene” (Reuters), Järvi develops this concert series through three linked programmes from “Roots” (Mar 8), a wellspring of youthful Romantic ideals based on Russian folk tradition, “Resurrection” (Mar 9), dignity and beauty as personified by the swan’s dramatic triumph over death, to “Rediscovery” (Mar 10), uncovering new sounds in a new landscape.

PROGRAMME

Mar 8 – Roots

Rachmaninov
Piano Concerto No 1 in F-sharp minor, Op 1
Denis Matsuev piano

Rachmaninov
Piano Concerto No 2 in C minor, Op 18
Denis Matsuev piano

Stravinsky
The Firebird Suite

Mar 9 – Resurrection

Rachmaninov
Piano Concerto No 3 in D minor, Op 30
Denis Matsuev piano

Tchaikovsky / New version arr. by Kristjan Järvi
Swan Lake Suite, A Dramatic Symphony

Mar 10 – Rediscovery

Rachmaninov
Piano Concerto No 4 in G minor, Op 40
Denis Matsuev piano

Rachmaninov
Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op 43
Denis Matsuev piano

Rachmaninov
Symphonic Dances, Op 45

At the opening concert of the last season, we commissioned local composer Ng Cheuk-yin, to write a new work that would take the audience on a time shuttle between modern day Hong Kong and the glorious years of the Tang Dynasty, and he gave us the impressive Tang Resonating. Now in this concert, we go even further back, to the age of the overlords – Liu Bang (256 –195BCE) of Han, and Xiang Yu (232-202BCE) of Chu, when they contended for power after the fall of the Qin Empire (221 – 207BCE). The victory of the former and the humiliating demise of the latter are captured in two pieces of Chinese music, Ambush on All Sides and King Chu Doffs His Armour. Then the shuttle takes us further back in time, to the reign of the First Emperor of Qin (259-210 BCE). We see how he brings his military prowess with him even after death, by creating a huge army in terra cotta under his tomb. They are depicted in The Terra Cotta Warriors Fantasia. While the music recreates these scenes of human drama through our imaginings, we are also led to think what psychological drama takes place in these characters – Liu, Xiang, and the Qin warriors…