Hong Kong International Chamber Music Festival

returns for its 9th year with another stellar lineup,
setting the benchmark for chamber music in Hong Kong
13–24 January 2018

Hong Kong, 17 November 2017 – Premiere Performances of Hong Kong, the city’s preeminent presenter of solo recitals and chamber music, is proud to announce the lineup of the 9th Hong Kong International Chamber Music Festival (“HKICMF” or the “Chamber Music Festival”), taking place from 13 to 24 January 2018. Taiwanese violin superstar Cho-Liang Lin returns as Artistic Director, alongside 16 top international and 8 local musicians.

Since its launch in 2009, the Chamber Music Festival has earned a reputation in Hong Kong for its world-class performances, and has quickly become a beloved event on the Hong Kong cultural calendar.

This year’s Festival features five thematic evening programmes with various small ensembles from two to seven musicians. In addition to the traditional combination of strings and piano, this year’s Chamber Music Festival will include performances with harp, clarinet and flute. There will also be a family concert in Cantonese by the Viva! Pipers, a popular local woodwind quintet.

Premiere Performances of Hong Kong is financially supported by the Art Development Matching Grants Pilot Scheme of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Returning for the seventh year as a Festival Sponsor is Hongkong Land. Other sponsors and collaborators include the Leisure & Cultural Services Department (Venue & Ticketing Partner), Tom Lee Music, the U.S. Consulate General in Hong Kong & Macau, the Consulate General of Israel in Hong Kong & Macau and the Goethe-Institut. Individual Concert Sponsors include Interlude, Rosamond Brown and the YangTse Foundation. Urban Spring returns as the official Water Partner while FleishmanHillard remains the Festival’s PR Partner.

Programme

The 2018 Chamber Music Festival features six distinctly themed concerts:

“An Evening In Paris” – harp superstar Emmanuel Ceysson headlines this all-French programme (Wed, 17 Jan, Hong Kong City Hall Concert Hall)

“A Lifetime of Beethoven” – works from all three periods (early, middle and late) of Beethoven’s life including his very last string quartet (Fri, 19 Jan, HKAPA Concert Hall) Sponsored by the YangTse Foundation and Co-presented by the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts

“20th Century Masterworks” – a programme dedicated to some of the best chamber music works of the early 20th century (Sat, 20 Jan, HKAPA Concert Hall) Co-presented by the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts

“Viva! Pipers Family Concert”- this afternoon family concert in Cantonese introduces primary school audiences to wind instruments through a fun and interactive programme (Sun, 21 Jan, Ngau Chi Wan Civic Centre)

“Viennese Interlude” – a concert of chamber music gems of the Viennese classical period including works by Mozart, Schubert and Brahms (Mon, 22 Jan, Hong Kong City Hall Concert Hall) Sponsored by Interlude, an exclusive classical music e-magazine

“Russian Farewell” – the festival finale features Russian composers, including beautiful works by Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovksy and Stravinsky. (Wed, 24 Jan, Hong Kong City Hall Concert Hall) Sponsored by Rosamond Brown

Beyond the Performances

In addition to the six ticketed concerts, the Hong Kong International Chamber Music Festival will also feature a series of free outreach and education events entitled “Beyond the Performances”. These events are designed to enhance audiences’ concert-going experience and understanding of the music. These events include free community concerts, open rehearsals, music appreciation lectures, chamber music coaching, and instrument masterclasses.

Many of these events will take place at the Asia Society Hong Kong Centre, the Festival’s Outreach Venue Partner, or at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts.

Participating Artists

In addition to top soloists from around the world, the Chamber Music Festival will include three pre-eminent chamber ensembles whose repertoires have been woven into the Festival themes (Jerusalem Quartet, Sitkovetsky Piano Trio and Polonsky-Weiss piano duo).

International artists participating this year include:

• Jerusalem Quartet [Alexander Pavlovsky (violin), Sergei Bresler (violin), Ori Kam (viola), Kyril Zlotnikov (cello)]
• Sitkovetsky Trio [Alexander Sitkovetsky (violin), Isang Enders (cello), Wu Qian (piano)]
• Cho-Liang Lin (Artistic Director & Violin)
• Kyoko Takezawa (Violin)
• Richard Yongjae O’Neill (Viola)
• Li-Wei Qin (Cello)
• Emmanuel Ceysson (Harp)
• Patrick Gallois (Flute)
• Pierre Génisson (Clarinet)
• Anna Polonsky (Piano)
• Orion Weiss (Piano)

Local artists participating this year include:

• Evelyn Chang (Piano)
• Kitty Cheung (Violin)
• Andrew Simon (Clarinet)
• Viva! Pipers [Venus Chu (flute), Rita Au (clarinet), Rachel Wong (oboe), Leung Tak-Wing (bassoon), Edith Tam (French horn)]
• Lilac Trio [Juliana Beckel (harp), Venus Chu (flute) and Born Lau (Viola)]

Online press kit (with photos), please click here.