PRESS RELEASE

The 48th Hong Kong Arts Festival in 2020
Counter Bookings Open on Wednesday, 11 December 2019
Festival PLUS registration opens on 6 December

(Hong Kong, 6 December 2019)

Featuring nearly 1,800 international artists and local talents in 123 performances from 13 February to 14 March 2020, the 48th Hong Kong Arts Festival (HKAF) will open Counter Bookings at 10:00am on Wednesday, 11 December 2019 at all URBTIX outlets (www.urbtix.hk | 2111 5999), while tickets to performances at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts will also be available at all HK Ticketing outlets (www.hkticketing.com |31 288 288).

Top 15 Most Popular Programmes

Based on the number of tickets sold during the Advance Booking period from 31 October to 29 November 2019, the 15 top-selling HKAF programmes are:

1. Igor Moiseyev Ballet
2. We Are Gay, written by acclaimed playwright Candace Chong
3. Andris Nelsons with the Boston Symphony Orchestra
4. Rasputin, starring Sergei Polunin
5. The Taming of the Shrew by Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo
6. The Sound of Music by Salzburg Marionette Theatre
7. Midori with the Festival Strings Lucerne
8. Richard Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos by the Bayerische Staatsoper (Bavarian State Opera)
9. Philharmonix - Around The World in 80 Minutes! Family Concert
10. The School for Wives by Odéon-Théâtre de l'Europe
11. Cyrano, the romantic verse drama by Tony Award-winning director Tom Morris and Bristol Old Vic
12. The Freiburg Baroque Orchestra’s all-Beethoven and -Mozart concerts
13. Rocio Molina - Fallen from Heaven
14. Opening Night, starring French film icon Isabelle Adjani
15. Fly Higher: Charlie Parker@100

HKAF Special Features

The 48th HKAF also features special programmes:

• Baritone Christian Gerhaher, fresh from winning the Best Solo Vocal Award at the Gramophone Classical Music Awards in October 2019, will perform carefully crafted renditions of Lieder by Schumann and Brahms in recital with his long-time piano accompanist Gerold Huber;
• The illustrious Los Angeles Master Chorale and opera director Peter Sellars will stage Lagrime di San Pietro, the final work of Renaissance polyphony master Orlando di Lasso. Led by Hong Kong conductor Jenny Wong, this set of madrigals depicts the seven stages of grief Peter feels after denying knowledge of Jesus Christ on the day of his arrest;
• Flanders-based orchestra Anima Eterna Brugge will bring a historically informed performance of Beethoven's Third and Seventh Symphonies on period instruments—some of which are even original instruments from the composers' time;
• After the Rehearsal/Persona, two Ingmar Bergman screenplays reimagined for the stage by Tony Award-winning director Ivo van Hove and his Internationaal Theater Amsterdam, promises to be a revelatory journey into the psyches of Bergman’s iconic characters;
• With Lost Dog's blend of dance, theatre and comedy, the real story of Juliet and Romeo—who didn’t die, but lived on to have a marital crisis—is a humorous and heartfelt duet about love, loss and longevity;
• Béjart Ballet Lausanne’s Dixit, created by stage director Marc Hollogne, brings together archival footage of Maurice Béjart and excerpts from his signature dance pieces with choreographies by Gil Roman;
• HKArtsFestival@TaiKwun, a two-weekend dance extravaganza that turns the unique heritage site of Tai Kwun into a playground for immersive artistic experiences, connecting artists' visions with participants' imaginations.

The 48th HKAF Programme & Booking Guide is available at all URBTIX outlets throughout Hong Kong. Programme information and ticket availability can also be found at www.hk.artsfestival.org.

More Than Great Performances

Adding to the list of great performances, Festival PLUS offers audiences an exciting array of outreach activities, including family days, public 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 in 2020 include:

• Bayerische Staatsoper’s Opera Adventure, a series of activities held the Hong Kong Cultural Centre over the course of one weekend. Feature activities include the Franziska and the Wolves Children’s Concert, V-ARIA: A Virtual Opera Experience and Ariadne auf Naxos backstage tours;
• Shockheaded Peter Teachers’ Workshop by Kammerorchester Basel, recipients of the 2019 Swiss Music Prize, will focus on music pedagogy with local teachers;
• Beethoven 250 @ HKAF offers a multitude of PLUS events to mark Beethoven’s 250th birthday, including the lecture demonstration Keyboards of Beethoven’s Time with harpsichordist and conductor Jos van Immerseel, free foyer performances with local musicians and a series of talks and special screenings
• PLUS will also collaborate with UA CineHub on a series of special screenings at the new K11 Art House. The selected films, complementing the Festival performances, include the documentaries In Search of Beethoven, Dancing Beethoven, Ingmar Bergman’s After the Rehearsal and Persona, as well as Queen + Béjart: Ballet for Life and Impulso, and The Story of Adele H.

Online registration opens on 6 December 2019 for all PLUS events. Details can be found on https://www.ticketflap.com/hkartsfestival and in the 2020 Festival PLUS Programme Guide.

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. 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 .

For further enquiries, please contact Ms Katy Cheng, Marketing Director, at 2824 3555 or:

Mr Dennis Chan (Western Opera and Music) Direct Line: (852) 2828 4931, Email: dennis.chan@hkaf.org

Ms Alexia Chow and Ms Michelle Yeung (Chinese Opera, Theatre and Dance)

Direct Line: (852) 2828 4933 and (852) 2828 4934 Email: alexia.chow@hkaf.org and michelle.yeung@hkaf.org