The Cultural Presentations Section organises performing arts programmes for various art forms, including music, dance, Chinese opera, theatre and multimedia. These are performed by both local and visiting artists and arts groups, and range from traditional to modern and cutting edge programmes. In 2013-14, more than 960 events took place, attracting about 382 000 spectators.
A scene from one of the Ballet Nacional de España’s marvellous performances.
A series of programmes were presented in 2013 to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the births of two great opera composers in the history of Western music, namely, Giuseppe Verdi and Richard Wagner. The programmes included Wagner’s opera The Flying Dutchman produced by Opera Hong Kong, Verdi’s opera Rigoletto produced by Musica Viva, Dresdner Philharmonie’s concerts of Wagner’s orchestral music, hi-vi film shows of Wagner’s complete Ring Cycle, a vocal concert titled Wesendonck Lieder – Wagner’s Women, along with extension and educational activities.
The Dresdner Philharmonie visited Hong Kong for the first time in October 2013, with a programme featuring a debut performance by violin soloist Julia Fischer.
The Encore Series featured world-celebrated recitalists, including American soprano Renée Fleming, Spanish guitarist Pepe Romero, Korean violinist Kyung-Wha Chung, and Czech mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kožená accompanied by the distinctive period instrument ensemble, Private Musicke. In dance, two Flamenco programmes from Spain included Utopía by the María Pagés Compañía and a mixed bill by the Ballet Nacional de España, while modern ballet Romeo and Juliet by the Geneva Ballet from Switzerland thrilled audiences. The Tianjin People’s Art Theatre from the Mainland performed its acclaimed repertoire The Beauty to a full house. Other major visiting groups and artists included the Zunyi Acrobatic Troupe of Guizhou Province from the Mainland, the Academy of Ancient Music and the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge, both from the UK, the Little Singers of Paris from France, and Japanese multimedia artists Takayuki Fujimoto and Tsuyoshi Shirai, all of whom delivered unforgettable performances in Hong Kong.
The Geneva Ballet remade the classic drama Romeo and Juliet in modern style, performed at the Grand Theatre of the Hong Kong Cultural Centre.
Renowned Chinese actress Liu Xiaoqing played the lead role of Sai Jinhua in The Beauty, a story about a legendary courtesan in 19th-century China.
The Chinese Opera Festival 2013 featured mainstream genres such as Cantonese opera, Kunqu opera and Peking opera as well as regional operas rarely seen in Hong Kong, such as Wu opera from Zhejiang, Sixian opera from Hebei, Xiang opera from Hunan and Diaoqiang from Xinchang of Zhejiang. These performances, each with its indigenous specialties and strong casts, were enthusiastically received. Apart from stage performances, the festival also offered a variety of extension activities in the form of exhibitions, symposia, talks and film screenings.
A performance of Wu opera was included in the Chinese Opera Festival 2013.
Other highlights of the Cultural Presentations Section in 2013-14 were its specially curated programmes and thematic series staged at alternative venues. The Lingnan Music Series featured Chaozhou music at heritage sites including the Yau Ma Tei Theatre, the Jao Tsung-I Academy and Kowloon Walled City Park. The Nan Lian Garden Music Series brought guqin masters from the Mainland and Hong Kong to perform to audiences at the garden. An environmental dance performance was staged at St. Stephen’s College in Stanley as an extension activity of The Life and Death of Xiao Hong, the closing event in the series Footprints of Time – Literary Figures and Their Sojourn in Hong Kong.
LCSD has endeavoured to support local artists and arts groups by featuring their performances in different art forms. The New Force in Motion Series showcased new choreographers, and the Dance on Parallel Lines Series promoted collaboration between veteran dance artists and up-and-coming young artists; the Re-run Run Shows Series enabled theatre groups to rerun their acclaimed productions; the Playwright Scheme supported young and distinguished playwrights; and the New Energy Series, Our Music Talents Series and Young Cantonese Opera Artists Series introduced budding local theatre groups, young music performers, and young Cantonese opera artists and budding Cantonese opera groups respectively.
To popularise the performing arts and get the arts out into the community, the LCSD organised two large-scale free community events, Cantonese Opera Day and Dance Day, which attracted many, young and old, to appreciate and participate in the arts.
The last Sunday of every November is Cantonese Opera Day, when hundreds of performers and thousands of spectators come together from all corners of Hong Kong.
The LCSD continued to join forces with Consulate-Generals and cultural organisations as well as Mainland cities in cultural exchange programmes, which included the large-scale arts festival Le French May showcasing French artists and programmes, a concert by Tapiola Sinfonietta of Finland, and the dance programme Love Letters, an extension project of the Pearl River Delta Culture Summit.
