Jaap Returns to HK Phil Stage with Soloists Niu Niu and Esther Yoo

Maestro Jaap van Zweden will reunite with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra (HK Phil) for two weekends of performances in February 2025. Featuring esteemed artists, pianist Niu Niu and violinist Esther Yoo, these programmes will take place in the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall. Tickets are now available at URBTIX.

Jaap & Niu Niu (7 & 8 February)

Following the sensational performance of Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto in 2022, Jaap van Zweden and pianist Niu Niu join forces again to present an all-Tchaikovsky programme. This time, Niu Niu returns to complete the piano concerto cycle with the less frequently performed Second and Third concertos. The Second Concerto radiates warmth from its very first note. The Third Concerto, despite being barely a fraction of the length of its more famous predecessors, shines with Tchaikovsky’s vivid imagination and dazzling piano writing.

The programme also features Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony, showcasing the great Russian composer’s mastery of orchestration and his ability to evoke powerful emotions through music. 

“Jaap & Niu Niu” will be held on 7 February (Fri) at 8PM and 8 February (Sat) at 5PM in the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall. Tickets priced at HK$680, $540, $400 and $260 are available at URBTIX. For enquiries, please call +852 2721 2332 or visit hkphil.org.

Swire Maestro Series: Jaap | Rachmaninov 2 (14 & 15 February)

After the successful premiere of Raymond Yiu’s Old Bei in 2021, Jaap van Zweden returns to conduct a new piece by the Hong Kong composer. Co-commissioned by the HK Phil, BBC Radio 3 and the Seattle Symphony, Yiu’s new violin concerto pays tribute to Chinese violinist and composer Ma Sicong. The folksong-based second movement, “Nostalgia”, derived from Ma’s Inner Mongolia Suite (1937) is well-known to Chinese listeners, and resonates throughout Yiu’s concerto, which is itself a meditation on the sorrows of exile. The piece was especially composed for soloist Esther Yoo, who impressed Hong Kong audiences as a young prodigy in 2013.

The second half of the programme features Rachmaninov’s Second Symphony, celebrated for its tender romanticism and enduring popularity. Premiered in St. Petersburg in 1908 under the baton of the composer himself, the symphony was met with immense success and critical acclaim, quickly becoming a staple in the standard repertoire.

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