The HK Phil Presents an Easter Extravaganza

16 FEB 2024

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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Emily Hui
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[16 February 2024, Hong Kong] The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra (HK Phil) is excited to host a diverse array of programmes for the Easter celebration. On 23 & 24 March, in collaboration with HKU Muse, the orchestra presents Gloria, one of Poulenc's most celebrated works for solo soprano, orchestra, and chorus. The following weekend (29 & 30 March), Estonian Grammy Award-winning conductor Paavo Järvi returns with violinist Alena Baeva. On 5 & 6 April, the HK Phil will delight audiences with a film-in-concert featuring BBC's Seven Worlds One Planet, with live music performed by the orchestra under the baton of Joshua Tan. Tickets are available at URBTIX.

HK Phil x HKU Muse: Poulenc Gloria (23 & 24 March 2024)

The HK Phil Chorus partners with the HKU Chamber Singers to showcase four contrasting choral works at HKU’s Grand Hall. Led by French conductor Chloé Dufresne, the orchestra and combined chorus will open the concert with Haydn’s second setting of Te Deum, followed by the world premiere of Anthony Au’s Hark! The Midnight Bell Echoes. Baritone Caleb Woo takes the centre stage as soloist in Vaughan Williams’ pious Five Mystical Songs, while Dani Zhang Jingdan delivers the ethereal soprano solos in Poulenc’s idiosyncratic setting of Gloria.

“HK Phil x HKU Muse: Poulenc Gloria” will be held on 23 March (Sat) at 8PM and 24 March 2024 (Sun) at 3PM in the HKU Grand Hall. Tickets priced at HK $250 are available at URBTIX. For enquiries, please call +852 2721 2332 or visit hkphil.org.

Swire Maestro Series: Paavo Järvi & Alena Baeva (29 & 30 March 2024)

The HK Phil welcomes the return of two artists who gave exhilarating performances in the last season. Paavo Järvi returns with Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony – the composer’s most frequently performed work and a testament to an era of struggle and oppression. Violinist Alena Baeva will also grace the stage once again, bringing us Stravinsky’s meticulously structured Violin Concerto, widely considered his best orchestral work. Rimsky-Korsakov’s Capriccio espagnol is a perfect opener for the concert, echoing the dance-like qualities of Stravinsky’s neo-classical concerto.

“Swire Maestro Series: Paavo Järvi & Alena Baeva” will be held on 29 & 30 March 2024 (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.

BBC Seven Worlds One Planet Live In Concert (5 & 6 April 2024)

In this film-in-concert, breathtaking footage from BBC’s Seven Worlds One Planet, narrated by HK Phil trombone player Kevin Thompson, is accompanied by the HK Phil performing the music of Hans Zimmer and Jacob Shea, conducted by Joshua Tan. Join us on this spectacular journey to all seven continents – from scorching Africa to frozen Antarctica; from North America via Australia to wildlife in Europe; from the colourful paradises of South America to the natural beauty closer to home in Asia.

“BBC Seven Worlds One Planet Live In Concert” will be held on 5 April (Fri) at 8PM and 6 April 2024 (Sat) at 3PM & 8PM in the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall. Tickets priced at HK$520, $420, $320 and $220 are available at URBTIX. For enquiries, please call +852 2721 2332 or visit hkphil.org.

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Artists

Chloé Dufresne, conductor [full description]

Chloé Dufresne has already made her mark as a conductor with her clear technique, calm authority and wide palette, winning prestigious prizes and engagements only three years after graduating from the Sibelius Academy. In 2021 she won both audience and orchestra prizes at the Besançon Conducting Competition, as well as being finalist at the Malko Competition. She was a Conducting Fellow at the 2022 Lucerne Festival and a Dudamel Fellow with the Los Angeles Philharmonic for the 2022/23 Season, and Gustavo Dudamel subsequently invited her to the Opéra de Paris Académie for the 2023/24 Season. From 2023/24 she also serves as an Artistic Director of Orchestre Ostinato, a Paris-based orchestra for musicians at the start of their careers.

Dani Zhang Jingdan, soprano [full description]

Soprano Dani Zhang Jingdan received her master’s degree at The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts under the tutelage of soprano Nancy Yuen. She has attended masterclasses with world-renowned singers, such as Diana Damrau, Sumi Jo, Barbara Bonney, Nelly Miricioiu, Shen Yang, Warren Mok and Darryl Edwards. Zhang is one of the winners of the RTHK Young Music Makers 2019, and has recorded a series of TV productions and radio broadcasts for RTHK. In 2022, she made her HK Phil debut singing the soprano solo under the baton of Yu Long in the Fauré Requiem, a programme in collaboration with HKU MUSE. Recently, she debuted at the Opera Hong Kong as Norina in Donizetti’s Don Pasquale, and appeared as Musetta in Puccini’s La bohème.

Caleb Woo, baritone [full description]

Lyric baritone Caleb Woo currently appears in productions of Chan Hing-yan’s Kungfood, Da Tong and The Heart of Coral; Austin Yip’s Por Por; Daniel Lo Ting-cheung’s Women like Us; and Du Yun’s Angel’s Bone. He has also been featured in productions of L’impresario in Angustie by Hong Kong Grand Opera, La bohéme by Pop Production, La Traviata by Musica Viva, among others. Besides opera productions, Woo actively performs sacred works. He has appeared in Bachfest Malaysia and Thüringer Bachwochen, performing Bach’s Passions and Cantatas.

Hong Kong Philharmonic Chorus [full description]

Established in 1980, the HK Phil Chorus has collaborated with the HK Phil to perform a range of different works over the years. In 2013, the Chorus undertook a new recruitment drive, and over 450 singers were attracted to attend the auditions. The first performance by the newly reformed Chorus was Handel’s Messiah. Since then, the Chorus has performed with the HK Phil in major works by composers including Britten, Mendelssohn, Beethoven, Haydn and Mahler under renowned conductors Lorin Maazel, Jaap van Zweden and Nicholas McGegan. The Chorus’ Fellowship programme was inaugurated during the 2020/21 Season, setting the stage for aspiring professional singers to join this distinguished ensemble.

HKU Chamber Singers [full description]

The HKU Chamber Singers, conducted by Caleb Woo, performs high quality repertoire from the Renaissance to the modern era and from sacred music to jazz. A wide range of topics is covered, including choral techniques, ensembleship, performance practice, and score analysis. Under the hybrid teaching modes during the pandemic, the Chamber Singers started to release online music performances in the form of online concert, music video production as well as virtual choir presentation.

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Paavo Järvi, conductor [full description]

Estonian Grammy Award-winning conductor Paavo Järvi is widely recognised as one of today’s most eminent conductors, enjoying close partnerships with the finest orchestras around the world. He serves as Chief Conductor of the Tonhalle Orchester-Zürich, as the long-standing Artistic Director of The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen since 2004, and as both the founder and Artistic Director of the Estonian Festival Orchestra. Following a tour to the BBC Proms, Beethovenfest Bonn, Enescu and Prague Dvořák festivals, Järvi opens his fifth season with the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich and a continuation of his Bruckner cycle, including three performances of Symphony no. 9 at the Grosse Tonhalle and album release of Symphony no. 8 on Alpha Classics.

Alena Baeva, violin [full description]

Described as “a magnetic presence” and “a constantly fascinating sound technician” (New York Classical Review), violinist Alena Baeva is considered one of the most exciting, versatile, and alluring soloists active on the world stage today. Baeva’s career as an international soloist of the highest renown has grown at an extraordinary pace over recent seasons. European highlights include appearances with Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Göteborgs Symfoniker, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre National d’Île de France, Orchestre National du Capitôle de Toulouse, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, and in recital at the Wigmore Hall. In Asia, recent and upcoming performances include those with the HK Phil, NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo, and the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, amongst others.

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Joshua Tan, conductor [full description]

Second Prize winner of the 2008 Dimitri Mitropoulos International Competition, Singaporean conductor Joshua Tan’s rise to prominence on the international scene has been marked by successful debuts in Carnegie Hall, Philharmonie Berlin, Mariinsky Hall and Bunkamura. A graduate of The Juilliard School and the Eastman School of Music, he is an awardee of numerous scholarships and awards, such as the Young Artist Award, Singapore (2011), Bruno Walter Memorial Foundation Award, the NAC-Shell Scholarship, and the SSO/MOE Scholarship. Tan is presently Principal Conductor of the Singapore National Youth Orchestra and Director of the Asia Virtuosi.

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HK PHIL X HKU MUSE: POULENC GLORIA

23 | 3 | 2024

SAT 8PM

24 | 3 | 2024

SUN 3PM

HKU Grand Hall

HK$250

Tickets now available at URBTIX

For ages 6 and above

Artists

Chloé Dufresne	conductor
Dani Zhang Jingdan	soprano
Caleb Woo	baritone
Hong Kong Philharmonic Chorus
HKU Chamber Singers

Programme

HAYDN	Te Deum, Hob. XXIIIc:2
Anthony AU Ho-hei	Hark! The Midnight Bell Echoes (World Premiere)
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS	Five Mystical Songs
POULENC	Gloria