Bare-stage preview of a 2022 Special HKAF 50th Anniversary Production on Early Life of Sun Yat-sen

He is a towering and iconoclastic figure in the history of modern China.

He sought to save and reform China as he harboured a grand vision for his fatherland.

He suffered many setbacks but held fast to his convictions to propel a waning China and its fretful people into a new era.

He is Sun Yat-sen, Father of Modern China.

The original Cantonese-language musical Yat-sen vividly brings to the HKAF stage the volatile early life of Sun Yat-sen, from his transformative schooling in Honolulu and Hong Kong. A highlight to be presented in 2022, Yat-sen will be presented to audiences of the 49th HKAF in a bare-stage preview in March 2021.

Yat-sen brings together some of the most illustrious names in Hong Kong film and theatre. Composer Peter Kam, winner of the Silver Bear for best film music at the Berlin Film Festival, offers a powerful and captivating score, accompanied by superlative lyrics by Chris Shum. It is directed by Hong Kong-raised Eugene Ma, faculty member of Columbia, Harvard and Yale Universities, with the script by experienced movie screenwriter Sunny Chan.

Hailed as “the new Viola Hero” (Le Monde), French viola superstar Adrien La Marca is an unstoppable ambassador for the instrument who never fails to amaze. In this concert – the first of two collaborations with Hong Kong Sinfonietta and their Principal Guest Conductor Christoph Poppen during this visit – he will be playing Mozart’s wonderful Sinfonia Concertante alongside Poppen (who will make a rare appearance as a violinist, being a co-founder of the prestigious Cherubini Quartett), while also starring in a chamber orchestra arrangement of Brahms’ sparkling String Quintet No 2 in G.

Joining hands with French viola superstar Adrien La Marca and Principal Guest Conductor Christoph Poppen – both of whom travelling from Europe despite the quarantine measures – Hong Kong Sinfonietta offers an electrifying addition to the programme of the 2021 Hong Kong Arts Festival.

Since being named “New Soloist of the Year” by Victoires de la Musique Classique in 2014, Adrien La Marca has performed at the world’s most prestigious venues such as the Paris Philharmonie, London Wigmore Hall, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Berlin Konzerthaus etc, impressing audiences with his depth of expression, technical mastery and compelling stage presence. In this concert, he will play a viola adaptation of Schumann’s captivating Cello Concerto in A minor.

The concert also features Beethoven’s timeless “Eroica” Symphony under the baton of Christoph Poppen, as well as the world première of HKS Artist Associate Charles Kwong’s a fictional overture – an ahistorical reimagination of the orchestral timbre that becomes one with the sonorities of nature.

A spectacular ground-breaking performance by Cantonese opera veterans and emerging stars
A contemporary take on the Biblical story, suitable for families and audience of all ages

In 2010, Cantonese opera veterans Man Chin-sui and Leung Siu-sum decided to adapt the Great Flood from the Book of Genesis for Cantonese opera, and the ground-breaking venture met with an enthusiastic response. Trailblazing as it was, it was artistically traditional to the core, honouring all the quintessential elements of Cantonese opera, with mellifluous lyrics and melodies which touched audiences’ hearts. The new production for the 49th HKAF features both veteran Cantonese opera artists such as Sun Kim-long and Tang Mi-ling, prominent stars, such as Lam Tin-yau and Cheng Nga-ki, and is imbued with new energy by Lai Yiu-wai, a disciple of Man Chin-sui. With set and costume designs inspired by Chinese paper-cutting and Tao Fong Shan gospel porcelain, and an all-local cast and production team bringing youthful creativity and contemporary theatrical elements to the project, this new production promises impressive pomp and bravura as well as the memorable singing and brilliant staging of the original production.

Up-and-coming artists come together to unleash the cry of the body in this super-charged double-bill. In Mokita—meaning “a truth that everyone knows but nobody speaks”—British dancer-choreographer Dickson Mbi will guide five local dancers across the boundaries of their diverse training backgrounds to develop new movement vocabularies that express the unvoiced dimensions of body and soul. Voice Out showcases the distinctive creations of four local dancer-choreographers: former Cloud Gate 2 dancer Dever Chan, recent P.A.R.T.S. graduate Chan Wai-lok, and rising independent artists Alice Ma and Pansy Lo. Their personal statements will be woven together by Berlin-based director and dramaturg Tian Gebing into one coherent chorus of voices.

The Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra has always been committed to promoting the Chinese music while breaking new ground for the genre. Its high quality performance has been recognized in the international music arena.It has also been a driving force behind the creation of new works, with a commissioned repertoire of over 2,400 works, new compositions and arrangements included. The ‘Music about China’ series, jointly launched by the HKCO and the Hong Kong Arts Festival in 2007, has premiered a considerable number of works by composers from Greater China and beyond, thus promoting Chinese culture and perpetuating the heritage of Chinese music. As the series enters its 15th year, it has been designated as the opening programme of the Hong Kong Arts Festival 2021.

The upcoming concert features a spectrum of highly imaginative music, such as Chan Ming-chi’s new original composition, It’s the East Wind Again from Tale of the Mahjong Heroes. By using alternative musical instruments, Chan captures vividly the many reactions of the players in the game. Blue Notes by Golden Horse Award winner Leon Ko is an ingenious hybrid of the Cantonese nanyin and American blues. It carries the folksy yet graceful sounds of Chinese traditional music as well as the worldly-wise sensibilities of the life of common folks. The cello concerto Zhuang Zhou’s Dream, a tour de force that took Zhao Jiping ten years to complete and premiered in 2008 by the HKCO and cellist Yo-Yo Ma, is a philosophical dialogue between a cello and a Chinese ensemble. It has been taken on tour to top performing venues such as the Carnegie Hall in New York and the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing. In this Hong Kong revival, it should inspire the audience to explore once again the wisdom of Zhuang Zhou.