Hong Kong has a small but vibrant arts scene, comprising music, dance, film, theatre and visual arts. Future developments to bolster the role of the arts include a proposed twenty-four billion dollar West Kowloon cultural district. The district will feature a purpose-built opera house, theatres, museums and other cultural facilities as well as offices, shopping and dining venues.
One of the most enterprising undertakings in recent years has been the Hong Kong Youth Arts Festival (established by the charismatic Lindsey McAlister). The Festival offers opportunities to all children and young people aged 8–25 to get involved in a broad range of public performances and creative projects each year, boasting 800,000 participants.
Details of performances and events around Hong Kong are listed daily in the South China Morning Post, weekly in HK Magazine (out each Friday) and monthly in BC Magazine.For a complete listing of local arts groups, visit www.hkadc.org.hk.
Arts Festivals
The main international arts events of the year are the
Hong Kong Arts Festival (
www.hk.artsfestival.org ), which runs from early February to March, and the
Hong Kong International Film Festival (
www.hkiff.org.hk ), which runs during April. The Arts Festival features opera, ballet, multimedia, music, drama and performance arts from local and internationally renowned groups. The Film Festival features several hundred films from all over the world screened through the day and well into the night.
Smaller-scale film festivals (German, French, Australian, British, Jewish, Gay and Lesbian, etc.) run at other times of the year and are publicized in the local media.
Classical Music Concerts
Of all the Western art forms performed in Hong Kong, Western classical music is probably most prevalent. Whilst English language theatre is thin on the ground, there are year-round classical concerts featuring the local professional orchestras – the
Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, the
Hong Kong Sinfonietta and the
City Chamber Orchestra.
In the past, the city has played host to concerto performances and recitals by Yuri Bashmet, Hilary Hahn, Lang Lang, Garrick Ohlsson, André Watts, Vladimir Spivakov and Elmar Oliviera, as well as to internationally famous conductors such as Taadaki Otaka, Gunter Herbig and Libor Pesek. Musical programmes are available at kiosks in the Cultural Centre and City Hall, as well as from other arts venues around town.
Chinese classical music concerts are held regularly by the
Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra (
www.hkco.org ). For the uninitiated, this is so much more than ‘Chinese opera’: the haunting melodies of the erhu (a two-stringed instrument held upright and bowed on the knee) and the bright notes of the zheng, pipa, the sheng and dizi (Chinese flute) are just some of the beautiful instruments showcased in concerto or solo performances. Chinese opera concerts are staged at venues around Hong Kong – visit
www.lcsd.gov.hk for details.
The
Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (1 Gloucester Road, Wanchai;
www.hkapa.edu ) holds regular student and guest recitals, many of which are free to members of the public. Popular public programmes include the Monday lunchtime concerts in the First Floor Foyer, where food is available. Register by e-mail to receive a monthly diary of events.
Wednesday lunchtime recitals are held at
St John’s Cathedral on Garden Road. The
Cultural Centre in TST hosts free musical performances every Saturday afternoon and on Thursday evenings between 6:00 and 7:00 pm in the foyer.
Pop Concerts
Cantopop artists dominate the music scene in Hong Kong and Asia. Andy Lau, Twins, Leon Lai, Sammi Cheng and Karen Mok are some of the local icons.
Western artists still swing by Hong Kong on their international tours: recent visitors have included Robbie Williams, Dionne Warwick and Brian Ferry. There have also been government-sponsored large-scale music festivals featuring big-name acts such as the Rolling Stones, José Carreras, Prince and Santana.