HK Phil Spotlights
Long Yu, Frank Peter Zimmermann, and Tan Dun in May
30 APR 2025
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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[30 April 2025, Hong Kong] In late May, the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra (HK Phil)
Swire Maestro Series: Long Yu & Frank Peter Zimmermann (22 May)
HK Phil Principal Guest Conductor Long Yu will present Elgar’s masterful and deeply personal Enigma Variations, a personal collection of 14 musical portraits of the composer’s close friends and family. Each variation is headed by initials, or by a name, except for number 13. The most famous one, titled “Nimrod”, refers to Augustus Jaeger, Elgar’s great friend, supporter of his music, and music editor at Novello’s.
The evening concludes with Frank Peter Zimmermann taking centre stage to showcase his virtuosity in Elgar’s passionate and lyrical Violin Concerto, which was written for Fritz Kreisler, one of the finest violinists of all time well-known for his technical brilliance. Frank Peter Zimmermann performs on the Lady Inchiquin Stradivarius, a violin once owned by Fritz Kreisler, bringing a meaningful connection to the concerto’s origins.
“Swire Maestro Series: Long Yu & Frank Peter Zimmermann” will be held on 22 May 2025 (Thu) at 8PM at the Hong Kong City Hall 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.
Tan Dun | Tea: A Mirror of Soul (30 & 31 May)
Tea: A Mirror of Soul, one of the five acclaimed operas by world-renowned Chinese composer Tan Dun, will be staged in Hong Kong in May. Premiered in Japan in 2002, the opera was inspired by The Classic of Tea by revered tea master Lu Yu. It tells the stirring love story of Seikyo, a Japanese prince, and Lan, a Tang Dynasty princess. Following Lan’s death, Seikyo becomes a monk, devoting his life to spreading the way of tea.
Written by Tan Dun and Xu Ying, a national first-class playwright of the China Opera and Dance Theater and directed by award-winning Hungarian film director Csaba Káel, the opera-in-concert performance will feature soprano Lucy Fitz Gibbon, baritone Sun Li, tenor Motoki Ishii, bass Apollo Wong, mezzo-soprano Liu Niru, as well as percussionists Rong Chenchu, Karen Yu, Elise Liu, and a bass-baritone chorus. Under the baton of Tan Dun himself, the HK Phil embark on a journey, together with featured soloists and chorus, to uncover the authentic, Zen-imbued essence of The Classic of Tea.
“Tan Dun | Tea: A Mirror of Soul” will be held on 30 & 31 May 2025 (Fri & Sat) at 8PM at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall. Tickets priced at HK$520, $420, $320, $220 and $50 are available at URBTIX. For enquiries, please call +852 2721 2332 or visit hkphil.org.
This concert is one of the activities in the "Chinese Culture Promotion Series", "Chinese Culture Festival 2025" and "Tan Dun WE-Festival".
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Artists
Long Yu, conductor [full description]
Hailed by The New York Times as “the most powerful figure in China’s classical music scene”, the conductor and impresario Long Yu has devoted his illustrious career to steering China’s growing connection to classical music. Maestro Yu currently holds the top position in the country’s most prominent orchestras: Artistic Director of the China Philharmonic Orchestra in Beijing, and Music Director of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra. He is also the Principal Guest Conductor of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, co-director of Shanghai’s Music in the Summer Air festival, and Chair of the Artistic Committee of the Beijing Music Festival. He is currently Vice President of the China Musicians Association and Chairman of its League of China Orchestras.
Frank Peter Zimmermann, violin [full description]
Frank Peter Zimmermann is widely regarded as one of the foremost violinists of his generation. He has been performing with all major orchestras in the world, among which the Berlin Philharmonic with whom he made his debut in 1985 with Daniel Barenboim, the Vienna Philharmonic with whom he played for the first time in 1983 with Lorin Maazel during the Salzburg Festival, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, all London orchestras, as well as major American orchestras. He is a regular guest at various music festivals, such as Salzburg, Edinburgh and Lucerne. In recent years he has been giving recitals with pianist Martin Helmchen and Dmytro Choni.
Tan Dun, conductor/composer/librettist [full description]
A world-renowned conductor-composer and UNESCO Global Goodwill Ambassador, Tan Dun has made an indelible mark on the world’s music scene with a creative repertoire that spans the boundaries of classical music, multimedia performance, and Eastern and Western traditions. He has been the recipient of today’s most coveted honours comprising the Grammy Award, Academy Award, BAFTA Award, Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement and Istanbul Music Festival’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
Xu Ying, co-librettist [full description]
National first-class playwright of China Opera and Dance Theater. From 1996 to 1998, he went to the United States as a visiting scholar and served as a visiting professor at the University of Los Angeles. His drama works have been performed in theaters and international art festivals in the United States, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Greece, New Zealand, Japan and other countries, as well as in Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Macao and other regions of China, and many operas and dramas have been translated Performed in English, German, Japanese, French, Italian, Korean and other languages.
Csaba Káel, director [full description]
Csaba Káel is a Hungarian film director and CEO of Müpa Budapest. He has received numerous honours, including the Award for Music Video of the Year in 1991, Béla Bartók Memorial Prize in 2008, Kálmán Nádasdy Prize in 2013 and Kossuth Prize in 2020. In 2018, he was appointed as the Cultural Tourism Ambassador of Budapest.
Lucy Fitz Gibbon, soprano [full description]
A graduate of Yale University, Lucy Fitz Gibbon also holds an artist diploma from The Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory and a master’s degree from Bard College - Conservatory’s Graduate Vocal Arts Program. She previously was Interim Director of the Vocal Program at Cornell University and now serves in the faculty of Bard College Conservatory’s Vocal Arts Programs.
Sun Li, baritone [full description]
Famous baritone singer, opera performer, director of Chinese Musicians Association, Vice Chairman of Fujian Musicians Association, first-class actor, excellent expert of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and President of Fujian Vocational College of Art, Sun Li has won the Gold Medal of Bel Canto at the 10th National Youth Song Competition, the 31st Chinese Drama Plum Blossom Award, the Mandarin Performance Award at the 9th China Art Festival, and the “Five One Project” Award.
Motoki Ishii, tenor [full description]
Motoki Ishii graduated with a master’s degree in music (vocal) from the Tokyo University of Arts, where he gained his Bachelor of Music (vocal), then he attended the advanced course held by the Suntory Hall Opera Academy. He was awarded the second prize at the 4th Nikko International Music Festival Vocal Competition and at the 30th Takarazuka Vega Music Competition.
Apollo Wong, bass [full description]
A native of Hong Kong, Apollo Wong is a conductor and operatic bass. He has sung operatic and musical roles including the Superintendent Budd and Bottom in Britten’s Albert Herring and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Frère Laurent in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette, Colline and Simone in Puccini’s La Bohème and Gianni Schicchi, Don Alfonso, Sarastro and Masetto in Mozart’s Così fan tutte, Die Zauberflöte and Don Giovanni, Geppetto in Valtinoni’s Pinocchio, and Javert in Les Misérables, among others. Amongst his concert and oratorio repertoire, he has notably both sung the bass solos and conducted Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem, Mozart’s Requiem, Mahler’s Symphony no. 8 “Symphony of a Thousand”, Verdi’s Messa da Requiem and Faurè’s Requiem.
Liu Niru, mezzo-soprano [full description]
Liu Niru received her Bachelor of voice degree from Xinghai Conservatory of music and her Master of Music from Manhattan school of music. In 2018, she became the first Chinese singer to join Maestro Placido Domingo Colburn-Stein Young Artist with the Los Angeles Opera. She was praised by an opera review magazine in Washington as "promising mezzo-soprano rising star", and one review also mentioned “the mezzo soprano Niru Liu showed tremendously promising silver tone voice.”
Rong Chenchu, percussion [full description]
As an outstanding percussionist spanning classical, contemporary, and jazz music and active on concert stages at home and abroad, Rong Chenchu has been hailed by the American media as “a percussion leader in contemporary music”, "a rare musical pioneer " by composer Tan Dun, and "the pride and future of oriental jazz" by jazz master Jerry Bergonzi.
Karen Yu, percussion [full description]
Percussionist, experimental sound artist and interdisciplinary arts researcher, Karen Yu uses sound-making as a medium to question and subvert the relationship between audience and performer. In explorations of new possibilities in performing arts and concert culture, she has collaborated with a number of artists and musicians, including Ken Ueno, Philippe Leroux, Michael Pisaro, Zihua Tan, Vinko Globokar and Jean-Pierre Drouet.
Elise Liu, percussion [full description]
Elise Liu is an award-winning percussion soloist, chamber musician and educator. As an artist, she seeks to demonstrate the virtuosic, lyrical and dramatic possibilities of percussion. Her musical talent, dedication and accomplishments have been widely recognised in Hong Kong and internationally.
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Swire Maestro Series: Long Yu & Frank Peter Zimmermann
22 | 5 | 2025
THU 8PM
Hong Kong City Hall Concert Hall
HK$520 $420 $320 $220
Tickets now available at URBTIX
For ages 6 and above
Artists
conductor | |
violin |
Programme
ELGAR | Enigma Variations |
ELGAR | Violin Concerto |
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Tan Dun | Tea: A Mirror of Soul
30 & 31 | 5 | 2025
FRI & SAT 8PM
Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall
$520 $420 $320 $220 $50
Tickets now available at URBTIX
For ages 6 and above
Artists
conductor/composer/librettist | |
co-librettist | |
director | |
soprano | |
baritone | |
tenor | |
bass | |
mezzo-soprano | |
percussion | |
percussion | |
percussion | |
Bass-Baritone Chorus |
|
Programme
TAN Dun | Tea: A Mirror of Soul (Opera in Concert) |