Hong Kong Arts Festival to Present European Premiere of DATONG - THE CHINESE UTOPIA in London this July

Hong Kong Arts Festival will present the European premiere of Chan Hing-yan's three-act chamber opera, Datong - The Chinese Utopia in London this summer in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China.

Datong - The Chinese Utopia tells the incredible story of the utopian philosopher and constitutional reformer in China, Kang Youwei, and his pioneering daughter, Kang Tongbi. Directed by Tang Shu-wing (Titus Andronicus and Macbeth, Shakespeare's Globe) with libretto by acclaimed filmmaker Evans Chan, and performed by a stellar cast of musicians conducted by Lio Kuokman, Datong: The Chinese Utopia will have a strictly limited run at Richmond Theatre on 27 and 28 July 2017.

Presented by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council and Hong Kong Arts Festival (HKAF), one of the leading multi-disciplinary arts festivals in the world, Datong - The Chinese Utopia enjoyed a sold-out run in Hong Kong for its 2015 world premiere captivating audiences with its philosophical and poetic retelling of history and heroism.

A century of Chinese history distilled into three acts, the opera recounts Kang's epic struggle to modernise China and realise his dream of utopia. It takes us on a sweeping journey from the last days of the Qing Dynasty through to the Cultural Revolution in China. Writer and filmmaker Evans Chan, a descendant from Kang's hometown, developed the libretto from his award-winning 2011 docu-drama film, Datong: The Great Society, described as "a rare masterpiece in the history of Chinese cinema."

2017 is a double milestone year as Hong Kong Arts Festival opens its 45th edition and Hong Kong celebrates the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the HK SAR. From 16 February to 18 March, artists from East to West will be united in an impressive programme of 180 performances across the city, celebrating the grand traditions alongside the unveiling of brand new contemporary creations. Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch, Jane Birkin, Janáek Opera of the National Theater Brno, Emir Kusturica & the No Smoking Orchestra, Druid Theatre, Vasily Petrenko and the Oslo Philharmonic, Bayerische Staatsballett and New York's Public Theatre are just some of the outstanding talents headlining at Hong Kong Arts Festival this year under the directorship of Tisa Ho.

Tisa Ho, Executive Director of Hong Kong Arts Festival, said: "Alongside great international work presented at each Festival, Hong Kong Arts Festival also commissions and produces original work with Hong Kong's amazing creative talent, and it is always a pleasure to be able to help this work reach a wider audience away from home. All the more so in this case, as Datong - the Chinese Utopia, has special significance both in the context of the 20th Anniversary of HK SAR and in the current debates around political systems and movement of people. I think our London audience will find both universal themes and contemporary relevance".

For more information, visit hk.artsfestival.org.

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