PRESS RELEASE

The 47th Hong Kong Arts Festival in 2019
Over 50% of tickets sold by close of Advance Bookings period
Counter bookings open on Saturday 8 December 2018
Festival PLUS registration opens on 10 December

(Hong Kong, 6 December 2018) Featuring over 1,700 international artists and local talents in 166 performances from 21 February to 23 March 2019, the 47th Hong Kong Arts Festival (HKAF) has received a keen response from its audience, selling over 50% of 109,202 available tickets by the close of advance sales. Counter bookings begin at 10:00am on Sat 8 December at all URBTIX outlets (www.urbtix.hk | 2111 5999), while tickets to performances at the HK Academy for Performing Arts will also be available at all HK Ticketing outlets (www.hkticketing.com |31 288 288).

Top 12 Most Popular Programmes

Based on the number of advance tickets sold, the 12 top-selling HKAF programmes so far are: Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan’s 45th Anniversary Gala Programme Retrospectives of Lin Hwai-min’s Works; Jockey Club Local Creative Talents Series Always by Your Side; Hamburg Ballet – John Neumeier’s The Nutcracker; Title Sponsor: China Everbright Limited, Beijing Li Liuyi Theatre Studio’s The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark; Robert Lepage’s 887, produced by Ex Machina; Gangsters of Hong Kong written by Loong Man-hong and directed by Lee Chun-chow; the Fuel, Bristol Old Vic, Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh, and Royal & Derngate Northampton co-production Touching the Void; Wagner’s Tannhäuser, produced by Oper Leipzig; Geoff Sobelle’s HOME; Li Biao Percussion Group’s P is for PERCUSSION! Family Concert; Hamburg Ballet – John Neumeier’s The World of John Neumeier; and Theatre Re’s The Nature of Forgetting.

HKAF Special Features

HKAF also features special programmes including:

• Cuba’s ‘Havana Divas’ will share the stage with Cantonese opera veterans from Malaysia and Hong Kong to recount their journeys spreading the operatic arts worldwide though talks, demonstrations and performances in Global Traces, Local Stages;

• Invigorating Hong Kong debuts feature concerts by Brazil’s flagship ensemble, São Paulo Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Marin Alsop, celebrated protégée of Leonard Bernstein, as well as France’s award-winning period-instrument orchestra Les Siècles’ tribute to the Romantic composer Hector Berlioz ;

• Pianist Denis Matsuev’s electrifying improvisations and bass-baritone Thomas Quasthoff’s comeback with the jazz concert Nice ’N’ Easy illustrate both world-renowned classical musicians’ talent in jazz;

• Yekwon Sunwoo, gold medallist of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, as well as four young laureates discovered at Russia’s Grand Piano Competition by Denis Matsuev, showcase tour-de-force pianism of the current and the next generations;

• Menorcan piano virtuoso Marco Mezquida and ground-breaking Portuguese double-bassist Jorge da Rocha forge new connections between the worlds of jazz, classical, contemporary, electronic and pop music in the Festival’s Nouveau Jazz Weekend;

• La Gioia (Joy), a theatrical ode to joy, surprise and enchantment by award-winning film and theatre director Pippo Delbono, is part theatre, part dance, carnival and music. It “moves the audience, deeply” (Il Corriere della Sera);

• Filled with beauty, invention and energetic choreography, Hamburg Ballet’s Beethoven Project is choreographer John Neumeier’s ode to the composer’s legacy and beloved music;

• Asia Pacific Dance Platform brings two productions from Taiwan and Indonesia: From starting to cut the wood is an astonishing live mix of dance, sound, mask-making, philosophy and performance art; HUANG YI & KUKA is a poetic work that flawlessly intertwines modern dance with the realm of robotics;

• HKArtsFestival@TaiKwun, a free, two-weekend dance extravaganza with inventive and intimate site-specific performances, urban dance battles, community and contemporary dance, workshops and screenings.

The 47th HKAF Programme & Booking Guide is available at all URBTIX outlets throughout Hong Kong and at Festival Information Counters in the Hong Kong Cultural Centre and Hong Kong City Hall. Programme information and ticket availability can also be found at www.hk.artsfestival.org.

Performances and more

Adding to the list of great performances, Festival PLUS offers audiences an exciting array of outreach activities, including two Family Art Days, cultural tours, music performances, masterclasses, workshops, meet-the-artist sessions and backstage tours that extend the festival experience to more than what you see on stage. Highlight events include:

• Oper Leipzig – Opera Adventure Day (2 March 2019) with the Leipzig Music Trail exhibition, singing and theatre workshops and a free foyer performance at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre;

• P is for Percussion! Family Day (16 March 2019) with an interactive percussion exhibition, thumbiano and music bottle workshops and free foyer performances at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre;

• The World of Hamburg Ballet, with children’s dance workshops and masterclasses led by company soloists and ballet masters, an artist salon with John Neumeier, backstage tours and pre-performance talks at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre, as well as screenings of Hamburg Ballet productions in cinemas;

• HKAF @ Cattle Deport Creative Hub, in which HKAF will turn Cattle Depot Artist Village into an incubation centre for the development of original works by outstanding local theatre, dance and music talents;

• Specially curated cultural tours and events, including the Organ Tour, Choreography Walk, and Family Dinner, offer tailored explorations of the city through the lens of art;

• Music performances and masterclasses by SPSO String Quartet, Quartetto di Cremona, Thomas Quasthoff, Li Biao Percussion Group, and principals from Gewandhausorchester Leipzig.

Online registration opens on 10 December 2018 for all PLUS events. Details can be found on https://www.ticketflap.com/hkartsfestival and in the Festival PLUS Programme Guide 2019.

About the Hong Kong Arts Festival

Launched in 1973, the Hong Kong Arts Festival is a major international arts festival committed to enriching the cultural life of the city. In February and March every year, the Festival presents leading local and international artists in all genres of the performing arts, placing equal importance on great traditions and contemporary creations. The Festival also commissions and produces work in theatre, music, chamber opera and contemporary dance by Hong Kong’s own creative talents and emerging artists, many of which have had successful subsequent runs in Hong Kong and overseas. The Festival also presents over 300 “PLUS” and educational activities that offer diverse arts experiences to the community as well as tertiary, secondary and primary school students.

The Hong Kong Arts Festival is a non-profit organisation. The budget of the 47th Festival is approximately HK$136 million. Secured government baseline funding for the Festival in 2019 represents roughly 13% of HKAF’s total income, with another nearly 6% specially provided by the Government as time-limited additional funding for five years. Around 28% of the Festival’s income needs to come from the box office, and over 33% from sponsorship and donations made by corporations, individuals, and charitable foundations. It is anticipated that the remaining 20% will come from other revenue sources including the Government’s matching scheme, which matches income generated through private sector sponsorship and donations.