Cover Cocoa Zhou performing at Surprise Surprise’s Haw Par Mansion party (Photo: courtesy of Surprise Surprise)
Cocoa Zhou performing at Surprise Surprise’s Haw Par Mansion party (Photo: courtesy of Surprise Surprise)
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Guests travelled back in time to a Haw Par Mansion revived in full splendour through an arts party
The historic Haw Par Mansion in Tai Hang came alive on March 21—often seen as the first day of spring—for an elaborate, one-night-only arts soirée. Event collective Surprise Surprise and collaborative arts organisation Vox Vanguard hosted an exclusive, invitation-only event at the former residence of Burmese-Chinese entrepreneur and philanthropist Aw Boon Haw, the so-called King of Tiger Balm.
Titled Once Upon a Time, the event saw Tatler community culture vultures and fashionistas. Hong Kong Ballet’s artistic director Septime Webre, filmmaker Sean Lee-Davies and art historian Stephanie Ho Poon, show up in vintage outfits, qipaos and extravagant dresses.
Don’t miss: Haw Par Mansion is set to open as a new cultural house this September
Matthew Tosca leading the Vox Chamber Orchestra at Surprise Surprise’s Haw Par Mansion party (Photo: courtesy of Surprise Surprise)
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Furnished with welcome drinks served in bottles inspired by the mansion’s famed medicated Tiger Balm oil, guests made their way to an enchanted garden. There, the Vox Chamber Orchestra and Canto-pop star Jeannie Ng Ka-yan delivered a spellbinding performance of music from Disney films, Japanese composer Joe Hisaishi, Mando-pop star Faye Wong and tango singer Carlos Gardel under the baton of Vox Vanguard founder Matthew Tosca and accompanied by a tai chi-inspired dance performance.
Right: Hugo Belloy at Haw Par Mansion party (Photo: courtesy of Surprise Surprise)
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“The evening was conceived as a celebration of rebirth, renewal and blossoming—echoing both the first day of spring and the symbolic reopening of the villa,” says Surprise Surprise founder Hugo Belloy. “The orchestra programme … combined classical, cinematic and more fantastical references, [while] two dancer-hosts embodied spiritual figures of Haw Par Mansion, using movement and ritual to guide guests into the world of the house … Each performance was selected to embody either the past or the future of the house, while the guests themselves represented the present.”
Guests were invited to explore inside the house, where DJs including find Cocoa, Melt Mode, Hen Yanni played sets in moodily lit bedrooms and living spaces, until the early hours of the morning.
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Zabrina is the Senior Editor, Arts and Culture of Tatler Hong Kong. She specialises in performing arts, visual art and film. Her wanderlust was first fuelled by the Mighty Rovers Antarctica Expedition 2010. Over the years, she has interviewed A-list artists and filmmakers, including Oscar winners Chlóe Zhao and Tim Yip, Golden Horse winner Sylvia Chang, In the Mood for Love cinematographer Christopher Doyle, Pachinko author Min Jin Lee, and Coachella’s first Chinese solo singer Jackson Wang. She won gold at the WAN-IFRA Asian Media Awards for her 2021 feature on the waves of hate crimes targeting Asian Americans.
