Hong Kong Phil Presents Saint-Saens' Symphony No. 3, ORGAN With Jaap Van Zweden

The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra (HK Phil)'s Music Director Jaap van Zweden will be conducting the HK Phil for a series of stunning programmes over three weeks in the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall. Featuring world-renowned violinist James Ehnes and organist Leo van Doeselaar, the first programme on 8 & 9 June will take the audience from America to France through music by American composers Charles Ives and Leonard Bernstein, and the beautiful Organ Symphony by Camille Saint-Saëns.

The Philharmonic Society of London commissioned a new symphony from Saint-Saëns for their regular concert series held in London's St. James's Hall during 1886. Saint-Saëns knew and admired the hall's organ, and decided to feature it in his new symphony, treating it not as a solo instrument, but as an integral part of the orchestra. This makes the single C major chord he put into this Symphony no. 3 not only has become one of the most famous C major chords ever written, but also earned the symphony its nickname, Organ. Sitting in front of the largest pipe organ in southeast Asia, Leo van Doeselaar, official organist of the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, will show the power and depth of the Hong Kong Cultural Centre organ and also the symphony.

World-renowned violinist James Ehnes, named Instrumentalist of the Year by the Royal Philharmonic Society in 2017, returns to Hong Kong to perform Leonard Bernstein's Plato-inspired Serenade for solo violin, strings, harp and percussion, a piece for which Ehnes is praised for his "lustrous tone, rock-solid intonation and impeccable phrasing". This is part of the HK Phil's celebration of the 100th birthday of the late, great Leonard Bernstein.

Opening the programme is Central Park in the Dark by Charles Ives. Ives is one of the most adventurous and important American composer of his time, who had a tremendous influence on other American composers including Leonard Bernstein. In this work, we find the composer sitting on a bench by one of the ponds and observing the goings-on of New York's Central Park after dark.

Tickets priced: HK$480, $380, $280, $180 are now available at URBTIX. For enquiries, please call +852 2721 2332 or visit www.hkphil.org.

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