9 Hong Kong Arts Festival events you don’t want to miss in 2023

From a ballet performance by Natalia Osipova to a ‘what if’ take on ‘Romeo and Juliet’ had the star-crossed lovers survived, bookmark these performances on your calendar

Culture vultures are in for a treat this February. The Hong Kong Arts Festival, one of the city’s biggest international arts festivals, is making its annual comeback. It is, in fact, its first full-scale, in-person programme in three years, so you know it’s going big. From homegrown talent such as Cantonese opera actor Tse Hue-ying to international stars like ballerina Natalia Osipova, the line-up promises a scintillating experience offering more than 40 programmes including opera, music, theatre and dance. Here are Tatler’s pick of events to add to your must-watch list.

Tuen Mun Town Hall Auditorium, Tuen Mun. February 15 and 16, 2023

1. Cantonese Opera: The Painted Skin

Above The Painted Skin (Image: courtesy of Lawrence Ng for Workhouse)

Take a trip to the supernatural world if you dare with Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, a collection of ghost stories by 18th century Chinese writer Pu Songling. HKAF brings to you The Painted Skin, one of the collection’s most famous short stories that promises to be a spine-chilling feast for the senses. An original Hong Kong project, as well as the city’s first Cantonese opera to be recognised by the China National Arts Fund in 2022, the production ticks all the right boxes with a stellar cast that includes Tse Hue-ying, spectacular costumes, elaborate sets and atmospheric lighting.

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2. Lost Dog: Romeo & Juliet

Above Lost Dog: Romeo & Juliet (Photo: courtesy of Paul Blakemore)

William Shakespeare’s tragic drama on the two star-crossed lovers who sacrifice their lives for love has been immortalised for centuries. But what would happen if they had lived? This is the question that Olivier Award-nominated director Ben Duke explores in his modern-day “what if” take, in which Romeo and Juliet are a middle-aged couple who have discovered that there is no-happily-ever-after in life. Their duet—which is part dance, part comedy and part confessional—shows us what happens once the myth of romance is shattered.

Hong Kong City Hall Theatre, Central. February 15 to 19, 2023

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3. Asian premiere of The Book of Water

Above The Book of Water (Photo: Andrea Avezzù for La Biennale di Venezia)

Composer and stage director Michel van der Aa, a regular of the Barbican Centre and Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, has created a multimedia production that combines live music, electronic sounds, videos and acting in his latest theatrical work The Book of Water, which explores an old widower’s struggles to hold on to fading memories. It features award-winning British actor Samuel West and live performances by award-winning string quartet, Esmé Quartet.

Concert Hall, Hong Kong City Hall, Central, February 24 and 25, 2023

4. Dazzle: Esmé Quarter Recital

Above Esmé (Photo: courtesy of Sihoo Kim)

Esmé Quartet invites traditional music enthusiasts to soak in the rich harmony of European chamber music through their renditions of masterpieces by great composers such as Haydn, Borodin and Schubert. The quartet, which comprises four young musicians of South Korean origin, will perform in Hong Kong for the first time after taking the concert halls across Europe by storm and winning the prestigious International String Quartet Competition in 2018. Expect nothing short of mind-blowing brilliance by a group that has been hailed by critics as “one of the finest chamber ensembles of our times”.

Hong Kong City Hall Concert Hall, Central. February 28, 2023

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5. Loveless Romance

Above Loveless Romance (Image: Lawrence Ng for Workhouse)

Playwright and director Cheung Tat-ming returns with the second installment of his Separation Trilogy in this slice-of-life Cantonese stage performance. Exploring the inherent intertwining between love and lovelessness, this anti-romance navigates the ever-changing dynamics of modern relationships and invites us to contemplate the meaning of life, love and togetherness.

Hong Kong City Hall Theatre, Central. March 10 to 12 and 14 to 19, 2023

6. Jockey Club Local Creative Talents Series: Vixen

Above Vixen (Photo: courtesy of Silent Opera)

Leoš Janáček’s Czech opera The Cunning Little Vixen comes to Tai Kwun as part of the Jockey Club Local Creative Talents Series. This universal tale of life and death, which was first staged in Prague in 1924, has been given an immersive twist by Silent Opera, an award-winning UK production company. Using technology to plunge the audience headlong into the adventures of the little vixen, the opera invites you to follow and keep up as it plays out across three different locations within Tai Kwun, while listening to the pre-recorded soundtrack on headphones.

Tai Kwun Prison Yard, Central. March 11, 12, 15 to 18, 2023

7. Carpenter plays Bach

Above Cameron Carpenter (Photo: courtesy of Dovile Sermokas)

The first organist to ever be nominated for a Grammy, Cameron Carpenter is not what many have in mind when thinking of a classical musician. With a “punk rockstar” personality, he likes bringing out a sense of violence, drama and vulgarity juxtaposed with subtlety in organ music. He will return to the Rieger organ at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre for a programme of Johann Sebastian Bach’s most powerful organ music, including the Goldberg Variations.

Concert Hall, Hong Kong Cultural Centre, Tsim Sha Tsui. March 14, 2023

8. Two Feet

Above Natalia Osipova (Photo: courtesy of Regis Lansac)

Russian ballerina Natalia Osipova, the current principal dancer of The Royal Ballet in London, takes on the challenge of performing in Australian choreographer Meryl Tankard’s two-hour solo show, a physically and technically demanding piece that explores the passion, dreams and drama of a ballerina’s life.

Grand Theatre, Hong Kong Cultural Centre, Tsim Sha Tsui. March 17 and 18, 2023

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9. Love Streams

Above Love Streams (Image: courtesy of Vincent Ip)

An original dance opera production commissioned and produced by the Hong Kong Arts Festival, the double bill features Heart of Coral and Women Like Us, which portray the lives and feminist perspectives of two important modern Chinese writers: Xiao Hong, who writes about human relationships; and Xi Xi, known for her prose and stories that depict the many layers of Hong Kong. With a talented cast that includes performers from the Hong Kong Dance Company, the show is said to be the first original production of its kind in the city.

Lyric Theatre, The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, Wan Chai. March 17 to 19, 2023

Check out the HKAF website for ticketing information of the shows listed above.

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