The Hong Kong Philharmonic Presents Scottish Fantasy, A Taste Of Scotland At The Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall

The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra (HK Phil), together with renowned violinist Ning Feng under the baton of Principal Guest Conductor Yu Long, will bring a taste of Scotland to the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall. They will tantalise the audience with the sights and sounds of Scotland as revealed by three composers - Mendelssohn, Bruch and Maxwell Davies on 6 & 7 April.

Following on from Gramophone magazine's praise of Ning Feng's recording of Bruch's Scottish Fantasy, the Hong Kong audience will be able to sample it live. Composed in 1880, the Scottish Fantasy is based on wholly authentic Scottish melodies which Bruch took from a collection prepared by the famous Scots poet, Robert Burns. These melodies include 'Auld Rob Morris', 'Dusty Miller' and with 'Scots Wha Hae' making an exuberant finale.

Opening the Scottish evening is a musical postcard depicting an actual wedding on Hoy in Orkney with the evocative swirl of bagpipes which British composer Peter Maxwell Davies attended. He composed An Orkney Wedding, with Sunrise in 1984 for John Williams and the Boston Pops Orchestra. The Boston Globe described it as "folk like, delightful, and increasingly boozy and woozy as the celebrations go on until the majesty of dawn... ingenious and fun... a celebration of nature and of humanity's place in it".

Closing the concert is Mendelssohn's Symphony no. 3, Scottish, which was inspired by the composer's visit to Scotland in 1829 when he saw a ruined and decayed chapel where Mary Stuart had been crowned Queen of Scotland. However, it took a further 12 years for Mendelssohn to complete the work and he conducted its premiere in Leipzig in 1842. Although the symphony follows no written programme, and contains no genuine Scottish folk melodies, it does evoke many of the sensations Mendelssohn experienced during his visit to Scotland.

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

Yu Long, conductor [full biography]
Yu Long is currently Artistic Director of the Beijing Music Festival and the China Philharmonic Orchestra, Music Director of the Shanghai and Guangzhou Symphony Orchestras, the co-director of MISA Shanghai Summer Festival, and the Principal Guest Conductor of the HK Phil. Yu Long frequently conducts the leading orchestras and opera companies around the world. In 2010, he received an Honorary Academician from the Central Conservatory of Beijing for his great dedication to cultural exchange and music development in China.

Ning Feng, violin [full biography]
Established at the highest level in China, Ning Feng performs regularly in his native country with major international and local orchestras, in recital and with the Dragon Quartet which he founded in 2012. Ning Feng has developed a reputation internationally as an artist of great lyricism and emotional transparency, displaying tremendous bravura and awe-inspiring technical accomplishment. Recent successes for Ning Feng have included on tour with Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and Jaap van Zweden which included performances in Singapore, Seoul, Osaka, Sydney and Melbourne in 2017.

The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra (HK Phil) is recognised as Asia's foremost classical orchestra. Presenting more than 150 concerts over a 44-week season, the HK Phil attracts more than 200,000 music lovers annually.

Jaap van Zweden, one of today's most sought-after conductors, has been the orchestra's Music Director since the 2012/13 concert season, a position he will continue to hold until 2022. Maestro van Zweden will be the next Music Director of the New York Philharmonic from the 2018/19 season.

Yu Long was appointed Principal Guest Conductor with the HK Phil for a three-year period commencing with the 2015/16 season.

Under the dynamic leadership of Music Director Jaap van Zweden, the HK Phil has attained new heights of artistic excellence, garnering international critical acclaim.

Following on from the success of the European tour which included a filmed concert from Vienna's Musikverein, the HK Phil has toured extensively within the mainland China. In celebration of the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the HKSAR, and with support of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Offices, the orchestra recently performed in Seoul, Osaka, Singapore, Melbourne and at the Sydney Opera House.

Jaap, the HK Phil, and a superb casts of soloists, have presented concert performances and recordings of the four operas from Richard Wagner's epic Ring cycle. These have been enthusiastically endorsed by both audiences and critics at home and abroad, and in recognition of their quality, the orchestra and Jaap have been invited to perform Wagner's Die Walküre in staged performances at the Beijing Music Festival last October in a co-production with the Salzburg Easter Festival.

Conductors and soloists who have recently performed with the orchestra include Vladimir Ashkenazy, Charles Dutoit, Christoph Eschenbach, Matthias Goerne, Stephen Hough, Lang Lang, Yo-Yo Ma, Ning Feng and Yuja Wang.

The HK Phil promotes the work of Hong Kong and Chinese composers through an active commissioning programme, and has released recordings on the Naxos label featuring Tan Dun and Bright Sheng, each conducting their own compositions. Its acclaimed education and community engagement programmes in schools, hospitals and outdoor space, bring music into the hearts of tens of thousands of children and families every year.

The Swire Group has been the Principal Patron of the HK Phil since 2006. Through this sponsorship, which is the largest in the orchestra's history, Swire endeavours to promote artistic excellence, foster access to classical music and stimulate cultural participation in Hong Kong, and to enhance Hong Kong's reputation as one of the great cities of the world.

Photo Credit: Philip Chau

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