Cover From left: Tango dancers Cinzia Lombardi and Claudio Hoffman who will be performing at City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong’s ‘Tango in the Night’ concert, a highlight of this month’s art scene (Photo: courtesy of the artists)
From left: Tango dancers Cinzia Lombardi and Claudio Hoffman who will be performing at City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong’s ‘Tango in the Night’ concert, a highlight of this month’s art scene (Photo: courtesy of the artists)
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From HKPhil’s new season to an all-inclusive dance festival, in September, these Hong Kong arts events celebrate arts and artists from around the world
September is an exciting month for arts lovers. For a start, Asia+ Festival is returning for a second year with more than 60 performances from 28 countries this year. Artists from Hong Kong will also have their own productions to showcase. The Hong Kong Ballet will stage The Butterfly Lovers, its first ballet production that incorporates elements from Chinese dance. The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra welcomes its new artistic director Tarmo Peltokoski in its season-opening concert.
Beyond Hong Kong, there are also exciting events happening in the rest of the GBA area, including a surrealist, contemporary dance show by celebrated New York-based Chinese American choreographer Shen Wei.
Read on to find out more.
1. ‘The Butterfly Lovers’
Above Zhang Xue-ning as Zhu Ying-tai in the Hong Kong Ballet’s ‘The Butterfly Lovers’ (Photo: courtesy of Hong Kong Ballet)
Zhang Xue-ning as Zhu Ying-tai in the Hong Kong Ballet’s ‘The Butterfly Lovers’ (Photo: courtesy of Hong Kong Ballet)
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When: October 18-27
Where: Grand Theatre, Hong Kong Cultural Centre, Tsim Sha Tsui
What: The Hong Kong Ballet (HKBallet) will premiere The Butterfly Lovers, based on the legendary Chinese folktale of the same name, this month. The show tells of how Zhu Ying-tai, a young woman from a wealthy family, defies social gender rules and dresses as a boy to attend school. She meets poor scholar Liang Shan-bo and they fall in love with each other, so much so that not even death can separate them. Created by the ballet company’s choreographer-in-residence Ricky Hu Song-wei and his wife Mai Jing-wen, this is HKBallet’s first production that combines contemporary ballet with Chinese dance.
2. Tango in the Night
Above From left: Tango dancers Cinzia Lombardi and Claudio Hoffman who will be performing at City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong’s ‘Tango in the Night’ concert (Photo: courtesy of the artists)
From left: Tango dancers Cinzia Lombardi and Claudio Hoffman who will be performing at City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong’s ‘Tango in the Night’ concert (Photo: courtesy of the artists)
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When: September 30
Where: Hong Kong City Hall Concert Hall, Central
What: The City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong celebrates its 25th anniversary with a concert of sensuous tango music that spans more than a century, from Argentine composer Ángel Villoldo’s El Choclo, a happy and rousing tango from the early 1900s, to another Argentine composer Astor Piazzolla’s nuevo tango style in the late 1990s. The concert will be paired with dance performances by professionals hailing Argentina, Uruguay and Italy.
3. Dance for Health
Above Frankie Ho Ching-yu leading a dance workshop (Photo: courtesy of the artist)
Frankie Ho Ching-yu leading a dance workshop (Photo: courtesy of the artist)
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When: until October 11
Where: various locations
What: Co-organised by the Centre For Community Cultural Development, Beyond Bollywood and Eaton Hotel, the Hong Kong Inclusive Dance Festival returns with a second edition that offers a series of dance workshops for all ages, genders, abilities, levels and backgrounds. Through taking up waacking and voguing, or learning how to choreograph, participants are encouraged to explore their emotions and develop confidence in a safe space.
4. Asia+ Festival
Above The Accountants by Keith Khan, which is part of the Asia+ Festival this year (Photo: courtesy of Tristram Kenton)
The Accountants by Keith Khan, which is part of the Asia+ Festival this year (Photo: courtesy of Tristram Kenton)
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When: from September 27 to November 17.
Where: various locations
What: Founded last year, the Asia+ Festival, which celebrates the performing arts in the Belt-and-Road regions, returns with more than 60 performances from 28 countries this year. Highlights include +1+1+1, a dance show by Japanese dance troupe Elevenplay paired with visually stunning projections by Japanese computer programmer Daito Manabe; and The Woven Sounds, a concert that also showcases traditional Persian carpet weaving onstage, by Iranian music group Mehdi Aminian Ensemble.
5. Sean Scully: Away from the Sea
Above An installation view of ‘Away from the Sea’ at the He Art Museum (Photo: courtesy of Liu Xiang-li and He Art Museum)
An installation view of ‘Away from the Sea’ at the He Art Museum (Photo: courtesy of Liu Xiang-li and He Art Museum)
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When: until October 27
Where: 6 Yixing Road, Beijiao New Town, Shunde district, Foshan City, Guangdong
What: Designed by renowned Japanese architect Tadao Ando, the He Art Museum is a non-profit private museum in Shunde, Foshan, that opened in 2020.
Currently on view is Sean Scully’s solo exhibition Away from the Sea, featuring 40 paintings and sculptures created since the 1960s, tracing the trajectory of the artist’s practice. The Irish-born, US-based artist is known for large-scale abstract paintings depicting geometric forms comprising colour blocks and stripes. Early in his career, he explored the styles such as minimalism and op art, and later became instrumental in developing contemporary abstraction by blending European abstract sensibilities with post-war American abstraction.
6. ‘Near the Terrace’ and ‘Folding’
Above ‘Folding’ (Photo: courtesy of Stephanie Berger and Shen Wei)
‘Folding’ (Photo: courtesy of Stephanie Berger and Shen Wei)
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When: September 27 and 28
Where: Pingshan Theatre, Pingshan Street, 2 Huide Road, Shenzhen
What: In 2000, New York-based Chinese American choreographer, painter and director Shen Wei created the contemporary dance performance Near the Terrace, in which he presents the relationship between our daily movements and dance techniques. Several months later, he continued this exploration with another dance piece, Folding, inspired by the works of surrealist Belgian painter Paul Delvaux. These two productions are now being restaged in Shenzhen as part of his global tour of more than 100 cities. Other Chinese cities on the tour include Nanjing, Shanghai, Wuhan and Changsha.
7. Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra season opening
Above Tarmo Peltokoski (Photo: courtesy of Keith Hero)
Tarmo Peltokoski (Photo: courtesy of Keith Hero)
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When: from September 5 to 28
Where: Hong Kong Cultural Centre, Tsim Sha Tsui
What: The HKPhil kickstarts its new season with three concerts this month that bring celebrated international musicians to town: Finnish conductor Tarmo Peltokoski, a 24-year-old rising star; Chinese Australian cellist Li-Wei Qin, a two-time soloist at the BBC Proms; and Ukrainian pianist and founder of Davidsbündler Music Academy Anna Fedorova, whose international career began when she was about 10. Expect famous works such as Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring and Sibelius’s Violin Concerto.
8. Photographic Geomancy and Zhang Xiao: Extraordinary Things
Above Times Museum in Guangzhou (Photo: courtesy of Times Museum)
Times Museum in Guangzhou (Photo: courtesy of Times Museum)
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When: Until October 7
Where: Times Museum, Times Rose Garden Phase III, Huangbian North Road, N. Baiyun Avenue, Guangzhou
What: Having recently reopened its doors after being temporarily shut down during the pandemic, Times Museum is back with two exhibitions. Curated by Yining He, Photographic Geomancy features work by 22 artists who reinterpret Chinese landscapes by exploring the connection between contemporary photography, local geographical landscapes and global ecological issues. Divided into four sections—Retracing Ancient Terrain, Geological Perception, Infrastructure Archaeology and Poems of Phantom Lands—the exhibition reveals the relationship between mankind and the natural world, as well as that between technology and ecology.
The second, Extraordinary Things, features works by artist Zhang Xiao, expanding on his interests in Chinese folk culture, religions and traditions. Zhang strives to depict existing belief systems in China’s rural society, which largely stem from folk religion. He does so through his raw, sometimes crude sculptures that highlight the significance and necessity of faith in rural communities.
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