A few nights ago, Hong Kongers greeted the return of the prodigious Russian pianist, Evgeny Kissin, with pure rapture. It has been three years since his last visit, but music-lovers here have not at all forgotten about him. The fact

On Friday, 1 November, and Saturday, 2 November, the Hong Kong Philharmonic, under Lorin Maazel performed an evening of Wagner. But, it wasn’t Wagner as most of us knew it. The evening started with the Siegfried Idyll, famously given its

Mostly Baroque: Hong Kong Sinfonietta, Conductor: Geoffrey Lancaster, 14/7/2012 Jean-Féry Rebel Les Eléments, “Symphonie Nouvelle” Many moons ago, the pianist Paul Badura-Skoda — already in his early eighties, frail and bent by the ravages of age that made it difficult

Le French May Arts Festival Hong Kong & Hong Kong SinfoniettaDaishin Kashimoto Plays Brahms14/4/2012, Hong Kong City Hall Concert hall Click here to read the concert preview “Getting Ready for the Performance”. Going to see the Hong Kong Sinfonietta is

The 3rd Hong Kong International Piano Competition, held over roughly 2 weeks in the fall of 2011, has come and gone. Organised by the Chopin Society of Hong Kong and financially supported by various business interests and taxpayer money, this

Hong Kong made history this month, hosting the world premiere of the former colony’s first homegrown grand opera, “Dr. Sun Yat-sen.” Not only is its namesake Cantonese; so were the composer, librettist, and much of the cast. Opera Hong Kong’s

Over the past few years, Hong Kong’s classical music scene has become increasingly active. The city is slowly shedding its ‘cultural desert’ reputation, attracting a slate of world-class artists and offering a broad variety of programmes. Unfortunately however, opera remains

I have been travelling so extensively lately that I missed most of the wonderful performances that Le French May brought to Hong Kong this year. Fortunately however, I managed to attend a concert featuring Nemanja Radulovic, a young Serbian violinist