The 48th Hong Kong Arts Festival in 2020
Advance Bookings start 31 October 2019
(Hong Kong, 29 October 2019) The Hong Kong Arts Festival (HKAF) is pleased to announce details of the forthcoming 48th HKAF in February and March 2020, featuring nearly 1,900 outstanding international and local artists in 125 performances and over 400 PLUS, outreach and education events. The 48th HKAF officially opens with a concert by Andris Nelsons and the Boston Symphony Orchestra on 13 February 2020 and closes with a kaleidoscope of dance by the Igor Moiseyev Ballet on 14 March 2020. [Please refer to factsheet for statistics]
Programme and ticketing information will be detailed in our Programme and Booking Guide, available at major performance venues, and on the HKAF website, www.hk.artsfestival.org, from 6:00pm today. At 12:00am on 31 October 2019, Advance Bookings will open on the website, by fax and by post.
Mr Victor Cha, Chairman of the Hong Kong Arts Festival says, “Through the years, the Hong Kong Arts Festival has remained true to its mission of presenting great performances for Hong Kong. We embrace time-honoured classics and great traditions, as well as new approaches and innovative experiments that may become the classics of the future. The Festival is well recognised for bringing outstanding international performances to Hong Kong, but we are equally proud to have commissioned and produced some 200 new works by local artists over the years.
“On behalf of the entire Festival team, I would like to thank all those who have made this work possible, beginning with our generous donors and sponsors. I must especially thank the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust for their sustained support; this is a truly valued partnership. I must also express appreciation to the Hong Kong SAR Government for their annual subvention, and remain hopeful that the level of support will be reviewed soon.”
Ms Tisa Ho, Executive Director of the Hong Kong Arts Festival says, “2020 is a big Beethoven anniversary. Across the years and through the silence of his final days, his music continues to resonate with the love of nature, humanity and great artistry. In this 48th HKAF, we have curated a series of performances to showcase the range and diversity of his prolific career, including what we hope are some interesting surprises.
“We are delighted to be able to welcome many great performers who bring us work that holds special resonance for them: Li Liuyi, Sergei Polunin, Isabelle Adjani, Christian Gerhaher, Wu Hsing-kuo and Zhang Jun. Local talent is also well-represented, including Liza Wang and Law Kar-ying in A Thorn Hairpin; Cheung Kam-ching, Yau Hawk-sau and Lau Chun-him in Candace Chong’s new play We Are Gay; and many other brilliant young artists in a variety of dance and theatre works. We hope that for our audiences, many performances will continue to resonate after the last note and the final bow.”
PROGRAMME HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 48TH HKAF
Highlights among the star-studded line up of the 48th HKAF include the Bayerische Staatsoper showcasing Richard Strauss's playful and inventive opera Ariadne of Naxos, celebrated violinist Midori and the Festival Lucerne Strings performing Beethoven's complete works for violin and orchestra, Kristian Bezuidenhout and the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra rendering historically informed performances of Beethoven’s piano concerti on fortepiano, and Rudresh Mahanthappa and Terri Lyne Carrington celebrating Charlie Parker’s legacy in their new project, Fly Higher: Charlie Parker @ 100. In theatre and dance, Tony Award-winning director Tom Morris leads Bristol Old Vic's new adaptation of the love story Cyrano, Béjart Ballet Lausanne explores its namesake’s living legacy in Dixit, and Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo perform Jean-Christophe Maillot’s epic ballet The Taming of the Shrew. Full programme information is available in the Programme and Booking Guide.
TICKETING INFORMATION
The Programme & Booking Guide is now available at all URBTIX outlets. Advance Bookings for the 48th HKAF are accepted by fax, post and on the Festival website (www.hk.artsfestival.org) from 12:00am on 31 October to 11:59pm on 29 November 2019. Audiences can enjoy up to 15% discount on their bookings during the Advance Booking period.
Counter Bookings start on 11 December 2019. Patrons can book their tickets at URBTIX (online at www.urbtix.hk, by phone (852) 2111 5999 or at URBTIX outlets). Tickets to the performances held at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts will also be available at HK Ticketing outlets. Tickets to the performances held at the Xiqu Centre will also be available at the West Kowloon Cultural District.
PLUS PROGRAMMES
On top of fabulous performances, Festival PLUS offers audiences an exciting range of activities to enhance their Festival experience, with 2020 highlights including: Bayerische Staatsoper’s Opera Adventure, Shockheaded Peter Teachers’ Workshop by Kammerorchester Basel, Keyboards of Beethoven’s Time Lecture Demonstration with Jos van Immerseel, conductor of Anima Eterna Brugge, and a series of PLUS films.
In addition to the above events, the Festival Connect series features backstage tours, pre- and post-performance talks, workshops and masterclasses to enhance engagement between artists and audiences. Online registration will start on 29 October 2019 for selected PLUS events through the TicketFlap website. Details of all PLUS activities will be announced in December 2019 at www.hk.artsfestivalplus.org.
YOUNG FRIENDS
Over the past 28 years, Young Friends of the Hong Kong Arts Festival has reached a remarkable number of over 770,000 local secondary and tertiary students, with nearly 167,000 of them becoming members. With its educational principle “LEARN, EXPLORE, CREATE”, Young Friends offers a variety of arts education projects aimed at nurturing young audiences’ interest in, and understanding of, the arts.
As part of this mission, Young Friends brings pre-show workshops to schools. Guided by local professional artists, the interactive workshops aim to help students learn about and appreciate the performing arts. After the workshops, Young Friends members can enjoy two Festival performances or Young Friends Special performances, offering them an opportunity to experience different art forms and reflect on the relationship between themselves, the arts and society.
Young Friends also offers a wide range of arts education activities, including cultural exchange tours, YFS Reporters, and arts administration workshops, to cultivate critical thinking, curiosity and creativity, leading to positive changes in students’ lives.
FY2019/2020 BUDGET
The budget of the 48th Festival and the second “No Limits” project is approximately HK$150 million. Secured government baseline funding for the Festival in 2020 represents about 12% of HKAF’s total budget, with another around 5% specially provided by the Government as time-limited additional funding for five years. Nearly 23% of the Festival’s income needs to come from the box office, and another 40% 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.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The 48th HKAF is most grateful to its many sponsors, the main ones being: The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, ICBC (Asia), Sino Group, The Cha Foundation, CR Group, Financial Times, HKR International, Ng Teng Fong Charitable Foundation, Noah International (Hong Kong) Limited, Sequoia China Charity Foundation Limited, Shun Hing Group, Sir Edward Youde Memorial Fund, SPDB International Holdings Limited and Taiwan Sotheby’s International Realty; Official Industry Partners including DCH Motor Leasing, Finnair, Kuehne & Nagel Limited, and POAD; and our Major Hotel Partner Grand Hyatt Hong Kong.
ABOUT THE HONG KONG ARTS FESTIVAL (HKAF)
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. In addition, through the “No Limits” project co-presented with the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, the Festival strives to create an inclusive space for people with different abilities to share the joy of the arts together.
For more information, please visit: www.hk.artsfestival.org.
MEDIA ENQUIRY
For further enquiries, please contact the Marketing Department at (852) 2824 3555 or marketing@hkaf.org.