62 Mui Cheuk-yin’s Love Letter to Hong Kong’s Dance History 但願此身輕似燕 載得動許多愁⸺ 梅卓燕給香港舞蹈史的三封情書
65 Tragedy—Humanity in a Nutshell 看透人性的千年悲劇
66 Back to the Original Universe of Thunderstorm 回到《雷雨》本來宇宙⸺ 李六乙與曹禺的舞台對話
68 Glimmers of Hope Amid the Ruins 咆哮中留下愛的迴聲
70 Standing at a Moral Crossroads in Crime and Punishment 孰對？孰錯？梁天尺、袁富華罪與罰之對決
72 Rediscovering an Opera Legacy: a Three-Century Retrospective of Cantonese Opera 古腔戲寶拾遺 回溯粵劇三百年
74 A Thousand Shades of Tenderness: Yue Opera as an Emotional Outlet for Women 萬種柔情 越劇女�情感出口
76 The Secret Life of Geiko and Maiko 揭開藝妓神秘面紗 光環背後的辛酸
79 Noh: the Aesthetics of Subtlety 日本的幽玄美學 能劇版《梁祝》全球首演
香港藝術節的資助來自
The Hong Kong Arts Festival is made possible with the funding support of
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香港賽馬會慈善信託基金、香港賽馬會、其各自關聯公司或任何參與彙編此載內容或與彙編此載內容有關的第三方（統稱「馬會各方」）皆無就內容是否準確、適時或完整或使用內容所得之結果作 任何明示或隱含的保證或聲明。任何情況下，馬會各方皆不會對任何人或法律實體因此載內容而作出或沒有作出的任何行為負上任何法律責任。 None of The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, The Hong Kong Jockey Club, their respective affiliates or any other person involved in or related to the compilation of the contents herein (collectively, “the HKJC Parties”) makes any express or implied warranties or representations with respect to the accuracy, timeliness or completeness of the contents or as to the results that may be obtained by the use thereof. In no event shall any HKJC Party have any liability of any kind to any person or entity arising from or related to any actions taken or not taken
The 2025 Hong Kong Arts Festival will take audiences on a dreamlike journey that both honours tradition and celebrates innovation, presenting a variety of programmes ranging from masterpieces by influential artists through to modern works that push the boundaries of the performing arts.
Reviving classic works while staying close to the spirit and intent of the original is a challenging task. This year, Bizet’s influential opera Carmen and Bournonville’s classical ballet La Sylphide have been masterfully restored, thanks to the efforts of scholars and artists who delved deeply into the past to restore these masterpieces. The Festival also features several remarkable adaptations, including plays such as Wuthering Heights, Crime and Punishment, Thunderstorm and Hippolytus, which examine human nature. And then there’s the outstanding 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, which uses blacklight theatre puppetry to submerge the audience in an extraordinarily creative underwater world.
This year the Festival showcases numerous programmes that transform the viewing experience by integrating the arts with technology. Le Bal de Paris and the Jockey Club InnoArts Series: No reality now both utilise VR headsets and transcend venue limitations in different ways. Cross-border collaborations are also explored in various Classical music programmes: Beethoven Wars: A Battle for Peace merges animation with a concert, offering audiences a different perspective on Beethoven’s compositions, while Amopera combines dance, visuals and music, pushing the boundaries of opera.
These masterpieces emerged from the dedication and creative minds of talented artists, whether they are solo dancers or choreographers, lifelong pianists or titans of Chinese opera. Each of them has contributed to the preservation of our priceless cultural heritage, inspiring a younger generation of performers to explore the world of creativity.
For now, we hope that you enjoy this year’s edition of FestMag and appreciate the experiences that have shaped the performers at the 2025 HKAF.
Flora Yu Executive Director, Hong Kong Arts Festival
The views and opinions expressed or implied in this magazine are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Hong Kong Arts Festival or its sponsors Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is strictly prohibited
An International Arts Festival in Hong Kong Connecting China and the World 扎根香港的國際藝壇盛事 聯繫中國與世界
The HKAF, launched in 1973, is a major international arts festival committed to enriching the cultural life of the city by presenting leading local and international artists in all genres of the performing arts as well as a diverse range of “PLUS” and educational events in February and March each year.
The HKAF is a non-profit organisation. The total estimated income for FY2024/25 (including the 53rd Hong Kong Arts Festival and 2025 “No Limits”) is approximately HK$150 million. Current Government annual baseline funding accounts for around 12% of the Festival's total income. Around 23% of the Festival’s income needs to come from the box office, and around 45% from sponsorship and donations made by corporations, individuals and charitable foundations. The remaining 20% is expected to come from other revenue sources including the Government’s matching grants scheme, which matches income generated through private sector sponsorship and donations.
The HKAF has presented top international artists and ensembles across multiple genres, such as*:
● Western opera: Bayerische Staatsoper, Oper Leipzig, The Bolshoi Theatre, The Mariinsky Theatre
● Chinese opera: China National Peking Opera Company, Hebei Clapper Opera Troupe, Shanghai Kunqu Opera Troupe, Shanghai Zhang Jun Kunqu Art Center, Suzhou Kunqu Opera Company of Jiangsu, Zhejiang Xiaobaihua Yue Opera Troupe
● Classical music: Cecilia Bartoli, Riccardo Chailly, Seong-Jin Cho, Gustavo Dudamel, Philip Glass, Bruce Liu, Yo-Yo Ma, Denis Matsuev, Anna Netrebko, Gianandrea Noseda, Seiji Ozawa, Thomas Quasthoff, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Tan Dun, Muhai Tang, Christian Thielemann, Bamberg Symphony, London Symphony Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Rundfunkchor Berlin, Thomanerchor Leipzig, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
● Jazz and world music: Bobby McFerrin, Youssou N'Dour, Esperanza Spalding, Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club, Pink Martini
● Dance: Mikhail Baryshnikov, Sylvie Guillem, Akram Khan, Natalia Osipova, American Ballet Theatre, Cloud Gate Dance Theatre, The Hamburg Ballet – John Neumeier, New York City Ballet, Paris Opera Ballet, Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch, Teatro alla Scala Ballet Company
● Theatre: Peter Brook, Robert Lepage, Yukio Ninagawa, Robert Wilson, Berliner Ensemble, National Theatre of China, Royal Shakespeare Company
● Large-scale special events: World of WearableArt, Zingaro
● Outdoor events: Power Plant, Super Pool, Chorus
The HKAF actively collaborates with Hong Kong’s own creative talent and showcases emerging local artists. Over the years, the HKAF has commissioned and produced over 250 local productions across genres including Cantonese opera, theatre, chamber opera, music and contemporary dance, many with successful subsequent runs in Hong Kong and overseas. Recent HKAF productions include Miss Julie, Table for Six on Stage, Loveless Romance, We Are Gay, The Plague, Always by Your Side, Pavilion of a Hundred Flowers, A Floating Family––A Trilogy, Hong Kong Odyssey, Danz Up, Datong––The Chinese Utopia, The Amahs and Murder in San Jose, to name a few.
The HKAF frequently partners with renowned international artists and institutions to produce exceptional works, such as Der Fensterputzer (The Window Washer) co-produced by the HKAF, Goethe-Institut Hong Kong and Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch, Richard III and The Tempest produced by The Old Vic, BAM and Neal Street under “The Bridge Project” with the HKAF as a co-commissioning institution, Green Snake co-commissioned with Shanghai International Arts Festival, Dream of the Red Chamber co-produced with San Francisco Opera, and Laila, a coproduction of the HKAF and Finnish National Opera and Ballet.
The HKAF invests heavily in arts education for young people. Over the past 32 years, our “Young Friends” scheme has reached around 836,000 local secondary and tertiary school students. A variety of arts education projects serving primary, secondary, and tertiary school students have been launched in recent years, featuring activities such as student showcases, pre-performance talks, open rehearsals, opportunities to attend Festival performances, as well as in-school workshops and lecture demonstrations led by international and local artists. Donations to the “Student Ticket Scheme” also make available approximately 10,000 halfprice student tickets each year.
The HKAF organises a diverse range of “Festival PLUS” activities in community locations each year to enhance engagement between artists and audiences. These include films, lecture demonstrations, masterclasses, workshops, symposia, backstage visits, exhibitions, meetthe-artist sessions, and guided cultural tours.
The HKAF actively promotes inclusion via the arts to every corner of the community. The “No Limits” project, co-presented with The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, was launched in 2019. Through a series of performances and diverse arts experiences for students and the community, “No Limits” strives to create an inclusive space for people with different abilities to share the joy of the arts together.
To provide greater financial security and long-term sustainability for the Festival, the Hong Kong Arts Festival Foundation was officially launched in 2022. Donations to the Foundation will be used towards enabling the Festival to present in the future large-scale or special projects which its annual budget cannot cater for.
* 有關香港藝術節的過往節目 Details of past HKAF programmes https://www.hk.artsfestival.org/en/about-us/past-programmes/past-programmes-2024.html
Estimated Income Sources for the Hong Kong Arts Festival Society in FY2024/25 (About HK$150 million) 香港藝術節協會 2024/25 年度預計收入來源（約港幣一億五千萬）
Around �
Sponsorship & Donations
贊助和捐款
Other Revenues (including possible Government Matching Grant for Sponsorship and Donation Income)
其他收入
（包括按捐款和贊助收入 可望獲得的政府配對資助）
To nd out more about sponsorship opportunities and donation details for the Hong Kong Arts Festival, please contact the HKAF Development Department. 誠邀贊助或捐助香港藝術節；詳情請與藝術節發展部聯絡。
A new production of Carmen takes an unexpectedly traditional approach to staging the iconic opera. Rather than opting for a contemporary reimagining, this rendition transports audiences back in time, meticulously recreating the aesthetic and ambience of the 1875 original.
French Romantic composer Georges Bizet’s 1875 masterpiece Carmen still feels strikingly modern, with its strong female lead, and the contrast between the wildness and violence of the two central characters and their genuine emotional connection. Telling the story of Spanish soldier Don José’s downfall after he falls for the passionate gypsy Carmen, it introduced elements that were shocking at the time: characters, particularly female ones such as Carmen, that weren’t cardboard cutouts of supposedly virtuous attributes, as well as action deemed dangerously risqué.
Many contemporary productions of the opera utilise innovative modern staging. But a new production being brought to the Hong Kong Arts Festival by the Venice-based Palazzetto Bru Zane — an organisation dedicated to rediscovering and popularising French Romantic music from 1780-1920 — has done the opposite, taking the original Paris performance as its direct inspiration.
“It caused quite a scandal in 1875. Having this character who steals, who dies, in a theatre for the family. It was changed over the years and lost a bit of violence, so I went back to the source [an 1845 novella by Prosper Mérimée] to show how manipulative she is, and how violent they both are,” says its stage director, Romain Gilbert.
Fortunately, says Gilbert, plenty of sources were available to help with the process: illustrations and photos of sets and costumes, and in particular the detailed staging manual from the time. “In this small booklet, you can find almost all the information you need to revive the show. It’s the document that made Carmen so famous abroad. All operas at the time had one. It has information about the costumes, the sets, where people should stand, where the extras and chorus were on the stage.”
So profound have the changes in opera production been during the past 150 years that Gilbert’s role didn’t even exist when Carmen was first staged. Today, his role in drawing out the emotional development of the characters is critical.
1
1875 年的舞台手冊及 插畫詳細記錄了當時 的場景設計、演員的 �位及動作等。
The 1875 staging manual and illustration provided detailed set descriptions and positioning instructions, along with guidelines for the artists’ movements.
《卡門》第一幕場景（
《卡門》第一幕場景的劇照
服裝設計強調色彩對比，並根據 劇情發展逐漸加深色調。
The costume designs emphasised contrast, subtly marking the plot’s progression by gradually darkening the stage. 2
In 1875, theatres relied on dimmer gas lighting, requiring singers to perform as close to the front of the stage as possible for visibility. Luckily, modern lighting resolves this issue.
4 3
從此劇照可見，安東尼．芳娣的佈 景設計以手繪佈景為主，力求還 原 1875 年的舞台。
As shown in this still, set designer Antoine Fontaine has recreated the original stage design for this new production, with sets that, like in 1875, primarily feature handpainted ats.
“The character of Don José is very interesting psychologically. He’s fascinating for a director— always up and down. At the end of every act, he’s making a decision—and they’re always bad ones. He says: ‘If you don’t love me the way I want to be loved, I will turn violent.’ We need to understand where his violence is coming from.”
Physically recreating the production has involved numerous challenges. It was hard, Gilbert says, to find craftspeople capable of painting the sets, which are typically printed these days. Then there are the costumes, reflecting the Iberian setting in their bold use of colour, which were created by famed couturier Christian Lacroix.
“There is a museum in France dedicated to stage costumes [the National Centre of Stage Costume], which houses a guard's costume used in the 1875 premiere of Carmen. We were able to see the exact yellow of the jacket and pants in order to be able to reproduce them.”
The production also varies in one key aspect from the 1875 Paris original—it features the recitatives, or sung narration, added by composer Ernest Guiraud for the version that subsequently toured Europe and the USA, rather than the spoken narration from Paris.
“We wanted to present the version that made Carmen famous,” says Gilbert. “With the spoken version, it would have been huge—you add maybe 40 minutes. We lose certain things but we gain in energy and dramatic tension.”
With Carmen celebrating its 150th anniversary in 2025, it’s that drama that makes the opera so enduring, Gilbert adds—together with the sheer power of its music. “This opera is played everywhere. Why is it so famous? Because the tunes are so captivating.”
Text: Richard Lord Chinese translation: Emily Wong
比才《卡門》Bizet’s Carmen 2025.3.27-30 | 香港文化中心大劇院
Hong Kong Cultural Centre Grand Theatre
3 月 27 日演出為香港賽馬會藝粹系列之一 由香港賽馬會慈善信託基金贊助
The 27 March performance is sponsored by The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust as part of The Hong Kong Jockey Club Series
《仙凡之戀》述說年輕男子占士熟睡時， 被歐洲民間傳說常見的森林仙女弄醒，並對她一見鍾情。 La Sylphide opens with a sleeping young man named James, who is awakened by a sylph, a woodland fairy from European folklore. He immediately falls in love with her.
Widely considered the first major Romantic ballet, La Sylphide premiered in 1832 at the Paris Opera, a version that has now been lost. At the Royal Danish Ballet, however, another version has been part of the company’s repertoire since 1836. That production was created by legendary ballet master August Bournonville (1805-79), who was inspired to choreograph his own La Sylphide in Copenhagen after attending a performance in the French capital.
Nearly 200 years later, Johan Kobborg, former principal dancer with the Royal Danish Ballet and The Royal Ballet in London, is staging the historically informed La Sylphide for the Czech National Ballet. He has painstakingly revisited the earliest-known surviving La Sylphide, reintegrating historic details while carefully considering how best to convey the ballet’s story in the present.
Just before Kobborg’s La Sylphide was premiered 2005, a fortuitous discovery bestowed an additional aura on the production: a library in Sweden unearthed an orchestral score with Bournonville’s handwritten notes that had never been seen in our time. Using these historic pearls of wisdom, Kobborg’s version includes elements of the Danish La Sylphide that had disappeared from previous iterations of the ballet, including the placement of the characters on stage, as well as musical passages that had been eliminated over the years. Thanks to insights provided by Bournonville’s notes, Kobborg confirms, “I have not cut anything from what is considered as close to the original as possible, but I have added things that used to be in the early versions of Bournonville”.
The Bournonville style
Kobborg remarks that Bournonville’s choreography is partly the result of Danish stages that have traditionally been smaller than those in other nations. This affects the dancers’ physical movements and spatial patterns because “the larger the stage, the larger your movements”, Kobborg says.
The Bournonville style also emphasises an understated approach to placement. The arms, for example, function as an organic continuation of the entire body without emphasis. Kobborg says: “In Bournonville, we try not to show any effort, the arms are not placed for effect.” The style also includes the use of mime, an integral element of the ballet master’s storytelling. These subtle differences can be a challenge for dancers unfamiliar with Bournonville’s style, but Kobborg recalls that the Czech dancers in La Sylphide were able to adapt quickly due to the diverse repertoire of their Prague-based company, in contrast to performers accustomed to a single choreographer or stylistic tradition.
As a respected dancer himself, Bournonville did much to promote the position of the male dancer. Kobborg describes how Bournonville reimagined partnering in which the male was no longer hidden behind the female for support. Instead, the two danced side by side, executing the same steps at the same time, something Kobborg considers “uniquely Bournonville”. One of the reasons that many men consider it so fulfilling to perform in Bournonville ballets is “because you are as important as your female counterpart”. Kobborg considers James, the male protagonist of La Sylphide, to be one of the most demanding and exciting roles in the Bournonville repertoire, saying it’s a part “that you don’t get tired of performing, as with the best ballets, you can evolve your interpretation because there is room for growth”.
蘇格蘭短裙 The Scottish kilt 占士的格子呢褶襉短裙，讓人一眼就能認出 故事發生在蘇格蘭，這個充滿異國情調的地 方，正好符合浪漫主義對原始環境的偏好。
James’ tartan kilt immediately identifies the ballet’s setting as Scotland, an exotic locale in keeping with Romanticism’s focus on untamed environments. While tights normally display the entire line of the male dancer’s legs, the kilt covers the thighs, framing the quick and precise choreography for the lower legs and feet.
A world of fairytales 奧古絲．布農維爾與安徒生的終生友誼 始於兒時，二人同樣熱愛舞蹈。不過安 徒生並沒有像布農維爾那樣，成為專業表 演者，而是撰寫了具影響力的童話故事，其 著作模糊了現實與幻想的邊界，為《仙凡之戀》 等芭蕾舞劇中的魔法精靈世界作出貢獻。
Lifelong friends since childhood, August Bournonville and Hans Christian Andersen shared a love of dance. While Andersen did not perform professionally like his schoolmate, he wrote influential fairytales that blurred the line between reality and fantasy, contributing to ballet’s world of magical spirits such as those that populate La Sylphide
捷克國家芭蕾舞團《仙凡之戀》
The Czech National Ballet—La Sylphide 2025.3.6-8 | 香港文化中心大劇院 Hong Kong Cultural Centre Grand Theatre
3 月 6 日演出為香港賽馬會藝粹系列之一，由香港賽馬會慈善信託基金贊助
The 6 March performance is sponsored by The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust as part of The Hong Kong Jockey Club Series
Text: Marisa C. Hayes Chinese translation: William Chan
Rudolf Nureyev (1938-93) is renowned as one of the 20th century’s most accomplished ballet dancers, yet his multifaceted career as a choreographer and artistic director has also left an indelible mark on the world of dance.
Nureyev was raised in a modest Tartar family in the remote Urals of Russia. He entered the professional training school at the esteemed Mariinsky Ballet in St Petersburg when he was 17 years old.
When the Mariinsky embarked on a tour of Europe in 1961, Nureyev’s performances were hailed as a triumph. Off stage, however, the dancer was closely watched by political agents. Nureyev feared imprisonment and requested asylum at the Paris-Le Bourget Airport, stating: “I want to stay and to be free.” His defection made the dancer a household name, with offers of engagement pouring in from around the world. Nureyev forged partnerships with leading international ballerinas, from Margot Fonteyn to a young Sylvie Guillem.
Nureyev is often compared to Vaslav Nijinsky, a Russian star of early 20th-century ballet, renowned for his technique and revolutionary choreography. Countering a model of female stardom from the 19th century in which men occupied a subordinate position on stage, both Nijinsky and Nureyev contributed to a seismic shift in the perception of the male ballet dancer. Nureyev underscored that pas de deux indicates a dance for two, not simply one partner supporting the other.
After expanding his own roles, collaborating with contemporary and classical choreographers of the era, Nureyev progressively began staging productions and choreographing for prestigious European institutions. He continued to pursue his goal of elevating the status of the male dancer alongside the ballerina by contributing new male variations to Marius Petipa’s classics, including Swan Lake and The Nutcracker
Nureyev’s precise technical exigencies included clearly defined positions, even for fast tempos, as the legs passed from one placement to the next. In this regard, he also ensured that fifth positions were crisply crossed, underscoring the articulation of the lower legs.
In 1983, Nureyev was appointed Artistic Director of the Paris Opera Ballet, where his choreography remains a pillar of the company’s classical repertoire. Many modern dancers still believe that Nureyev set the bar high, particularly for men. The Hong Kong Arts Festival’s Nureyev & Friends—A Ballet Gala Tribute along with related activities and exhibition provide a unique occasion to revisit the life and work of an icon, whose lasting legacy continues to shape the world of ballet today.
Text: Marisa C. Hayes Chinese translation: William Chan
Nureyev & Friends—A Ballet Gala Tribute 2025.3.21-22 Hong Kong Cultural Centre Grand Theatre
Exuberant Melodies From the UNESCO Creative City of Music
The Orchestra of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna is based at one of the most important opera houses in Italy. Established in 1956, the Comunale orchestra is the undisputed operatic and cultural heart of Bologna, a UNESCO Creative City of Music. The city hosted Mozart and Rossini, while the Teatro Comunale has staged works by Bellini, Gluck, Verdi and several Italian premieres of operas by Richard Wagner.
Famed conductors including Sergiu Celibidache, Riccardo Chailly, Daniele Gatti, Michele Mariotti and most recently Oksana Lyniv have served as musical directors, and the ensemble is internationally celebrated for its superlative performances and award-winning recordings.
The orchestra’s two passionate and fun-filled 2025 HKAF programmes are conducted by Maestro Donato Renzetti, one of Italy’s most renowned and revered conductors. Internationally distinguished for his concert, opera and recording projects, Renzetti was appointed Principal Conductor of the Filarmonica Gioachino Rossini in 2015.
Maestro Renzetti loves to share his passion for music and it is hardly surprising that the exuberant sounds of Gioachino Rossini stand at the centre of the 2025 Festival’s opening programme. Rossini was recognised as one of the greatest Italian composers of the 19th century who enjoyed unparalleled prestige, popular acclaim and artistic influence in the world of opera. Nicknamed the “Italian Mozart”, Rossini’s 39 operas sparkle with brilliant melodies that audiences found as intoxicating as
champagne. At the HKAF, celebrated bass-baritone Paolo Bordogna and multiple-award-winning Italian mezzosoprano Cecilia Molinari will perform scintillating arias and opera duets from the composer’s magnificent seria and comic operas.
Featuring an eclectic repertoire of delightful pieces, the Family Choice programme is anchored in the music of Maurice Ravel. Creating music with a distinctive French sensibility and refinement, Ravel’s fascination with the past powerfully emerges in Le Tombeau de Couperin and the incomparable Pavane, while his Ma mère l’Oye (Mother Goose Suite) is undoubtedly his most famous children’s work. Fabulous operatic excerpts from operas by Rossini, Puccini and Donizetti round out this enchanting programme.
Lauded for their dynamic and effortless interpretations, Renzetti and the Orchestra of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna create powerful and highly entertaining soundscapes, and leave audiences breathless with refined artistry and extraordinary musicality.
Text: Georg Predota | Chinese translation: Konstance Li 博洛尼亞市立歌劇院樂團 Orchestra of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna 2025.2.28, 3.1 | 香港文化中心音樂廳
Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall
2 月 28 日藝術節開幕演出為香港賽馬會藝粹系列之一， 由香港賽馬會慈善信託基金贊助
The 28 February Festival Opening performance is sponsored by The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust as part of The Hong Kong Jockey Club Series
樂團�於 2025 年�港，與女高音宋元明合作演繹華 格納不朽名作《崔斯坦與伊索爾德》中的前奏曲及 終曲〈愛之死〉。而鋼琴�張昊辰則將以他獨特的 詮釋，為李斯特的降 E 大調第一鋼琴協奏曲注入新 生命。
撰文：楊紫媛 | 英譯：瀧澤勳
After it was established in 2010, the China NCPA Orchestra swiftly won the hearts of audiences across China. With a global vision and a dynamic style, the centre’s resident orchestra frequently gives concerts onstage and provides accompaniment for operas from the pit. Despite its brief history and youthful lineup, with its musicians just over 30 years old on average, the orchestra has developed a striking sound all of its own.
The newly completed National Centre for the Performing Arts was looking for a resident orchestra to accompany its original operas. Within just two months, the centre had gathered 62 instrumentalists from 27 countries, many of whom had previously worked with some of the most celebrated orchestras in the world, including the Vienna State Opera Orchestra, the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne.
In 2012, conductor Lü Jia, who specialises in conducting operas, took over as Principal Conductor. The orchestra is now known for its mastery of both operatic and concert repertoires, and as it developed its performance style during the past 15 years, it started adding Asian flavours to the Classical works it performed both at home and abroad. Its clear renditions of challenging works have helped audiences further appreciate the glamour of Classical music.
The China NCPA Orchestra will arrive in Hong Kong in 2025 to bring the HKAF a performance of the best-known Prelude and “Liebestod” from Richard Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, with soprano Song Yuanming. And piano star Haochen Zhang will also join forces with the orchestra to showcase his unique bravura in Franz Liszt’s electrifying Piano Concerto No 1 in E-flat Major, S124.
Text: Trista Yeung
English translation: Amadeus Cheung
中國國家大劇院管弦樂團
China National Centre for the Performing Arts Orchestra 2025.3.29 | 香港文化中心音樂廳 Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall 藝術節閉幕演出由中國工商銀行（亞洲）贊助 The Festival Finale performance is sponsored by ICBC (Asia)
Renowned French composer Pierre Boulez once said that the 21st century would be an era of percussion music. Thanks to its varying rhythms and rich sonorities, the contemporary percussion repertoire has been increasingly welcomed as an interactive exchange of strength and passion, and exemplified by a stirring symphonic sound.
One of the most outstanding solo percussionists on the international stage today, Li Biao is joining forces with The Philharmonic Percussion Group of Berlin for two concerts that mark their much-anticipated return to the Hong Kong Arts Festival. Blending Chinese and Western genres, and the past and the contemporary, the eclectic programmes include Arvo Pärt's Fratres, John Cage’s Living Room Music, Christopher Rouse’s Ku-ka-Ilimoku and the world premiere of Drum Together, Li’s new composition.
The Philharmonic Percussion Group of Berlin comprises four outstanding percussionists from the Berliner Philharmoniker: Franz Schindlbeck, Rainer Seegers, Jan Schlichte and Vincent Vogel. Li and the ensemble began their unparalleled collaboration in 2010 and were immediately met with widespread acclaim. Today, this illustrious line-up continues to take centre stage worldwide. Apart from sharing the stage together, they have also been colleagues at the orchestra’s academy as well as cherished friends. Despite these varied identities, their mutual respect and lasting friendship remains strong and is built on a foundation of a love for music making.
As they have travelled the globe, the five percussionists have frequently performed percussion music with world-class orchestras in prestigious concert halls, a testament not only to their dedication and camaraderie, but also to the power of intercultural exchange.
From Bach to Boulez: the Long Journey of Pi-hsien Chen
The 75-year-old pianist Pi-hsien Chen was discovered for her musical talent in childhood. In 1960, at the tender age of nine, Chen was recognised for her exceptional piano skills and was permitted to study abroad, becoming the first gifted child from Taiwan to do so.
The young Chen left the island to study music in Germany, but being so far from home at such an early age proved to be a serious challenge. Due to the language barrier, Chen felt that loneliness was some sort of punishment and she found refuge in music. “When I played the piano,” she explains, “I found myself in a perfect world. Bach and Mozart embodied… a world of perfection.”
Chen won the first prize at the ARD International Music Competition in Munich in 1972. Her interest in new piano music evolved from collaborations with many contemporary composers. Today, Chen is internationally renowned for her dedicated interest and engagement with contemporary music.
Chen will appear at the Hong Kong Arts Festival in 2025 where she will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Pierre Boulez, the renowned French composer and conductor. Chen will not only pay tribute to the master and her collaborator during the Hong Kong recital, but will also perform works by composers whom Boulez admired.
The recital will start with Chen’s famous interpretation of Partita No 4 by Bach, while Beethoven’s Op 111 enters into a delectable dialogue with sonatas by Alban Berg and Boulez.
Text: Georg Predota | Chinese translation: Eos Cheng
陳必先鋼琴獨奏會
Pi-hsien Chen Piano Recital 2025.3.30
香港演藝學院音樂廳
The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts Concert Hall
我彈琴時便覺得自己身處完美的世界， 巴赫和莫扎特體現了那完美世界。
I found myself in a perfect world. Bach and Mozart embodied… a world of perfection
World-renowned pianist, conductor, teacher and lecturer Sir András Schiff is “one of the most penetratingly serious masters of the keyboard” today. Knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his services to music in 2014, Schiff has worked tirelessly to achieve greatness, yet his musical path to prominence has been an arduous one, to say the least.
Schiff was born into a wealthy Jewish family in Budapest in 1953, after the disaster of World War II caused huge damage to his family. Despite the deep emotional scars left by this tragedy, Schiff recalls having a normal and beautiful childhood.
Schiff never considered himself a child prodigy, saying that he preferred to play football. He still pities many of today’s prodigies, as “behind every single one of them are very benevolent but terrible parents, who are destroying these children”.
Nobody forced Schiff into music, but his mother often took him to concerts to hear virtuoso pianists Sviatoslav Richter and Arthur Rubinstein. These beautiful childhood memories and experiences shaped his adolescence and helped form his artistic personality.
Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall 3 月 18 日演出由信興集團贊助
The 18 March performance is sponsored by Shun Hing Group
Listening to pianistic greats at an early age also strengthened his belief in live music. Schiff loves to share art with others and, for him, live performances establish a three-way community involving the composer, performer and the listener. Cycles and carefully planned series of Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, Schumann and Bartók, the core of his repertoire, continue to form an important part of his activities.
As Schiff continued to grow as a pianist and interpreter, he developed an astonishing control of the keyboard. Penetrating clarity of counterpoint and a masterful control of balance in both hands produced deeper and more decisive interpretations. Paired with a keen intelligence in terms of phrasing, Schiff now tenderly shapes his music with an acute understanding of contrast and dramatic weight.
Schiff developed his rapport with audiences during his formative years in Eastern Europe. That interaction, however, has changed significantly over the years. As he writes: “The average listener of today has hardly the faintest idea… He neither knows anything about new music, nor can he differentiate between outstanding, moderately good and poor performances.” For Schiff, Classical music can be appreciated without specialist knowledge, but that appreciation greatly benefits from focused study and discernment.
Schiff built up his repertoire over the course of four decades. He strongly believes that in order to make a piece of Classical music transparent in the mind of the interpreter and understandable for the audience, the interpreter must intensely study the piece and the manuscript. “Only in that way,” Schiff explains, “can I understand more about compositional processes and the emotional situation of the composer.”
For his two performances at the 2025 Hong Kong Arts Festival, Schiff joins forces with his own personally selected chamber orchestra, Capella Andrea Barca, in two programmes, one entirely dedicated to the music of Mozart and another to Bach.
Music director Laurence Equilbey has earned a dedicated and enthusiastic following by combining historically informed performances with modern technology in her role as founder of the Paris-based Insula orchestra and accentus choir.
At the 2025 HKAF, Equilbey will present their first immersive project, Beethoven Wars: A Battle for Peace, that combines two rarely performed gems by Beethoven with the world of manga, projected on a screen.
“One of the core principles of Insula orchestra,” Equilbey says, “is to revive forgotten and rarely performed works.” Beethoven Wars: A Battle for Peace originated with Beethoven’s incidental music for the theatrical plays King Stephen and The Ruins of Athens . Beethoven originally wrote the music for the two plays by August von Kotzebue and intricately connected it to the dramaturgy.
The plays date from 1811 and the inauguration of a new theatre in Pest, in the eastern part of Budapest. Written at the height of the Napoleonic Empire, both plays were performed on the same evening programme. While King Stephen celebrates peace, heroism and the establishment of basic law after years of bitter conflict, The Ruins of Athens speaks of the importance of the arts for humanity.
Kotzebue was murdered for his advocacy of a liberal press and academic freedom, and his themes of idealism, love of humanity and the importance of the arts for social harmony strongly resonated with Beethoven. For Kotzebue, Beethoven crafted scores of symphonic richness, with clear musical intentions and a fullness of emotional character. His incidental music also features inspired choral sections that are rarely heard in concert performances.
For Equilbey, “the music conjures a vast musical panorama and engenders a rich palette of emotions”. Taking advantage of the manga universe created for Beethoven Wars allowed Equilbey to reinstate the melodrama and provided an opportunity for a performance of the complete score.
Towards a better world
In collaboration with film director Antonin Baudry, Equilbey created a large-scale project of dramatic richness using Beethoven’s incidental music. The story of this symphonic voyage into manga is loosely inspired by the librettos of both plays, and the original themes and places are transferred into an otherworldly setting.
in search of a better world. Their heroic quest brings them back to Earth, where the environment has been poisoned and destructive robots have taken charge. Overcoming all challenges, they establish a kingdom where war, suffering and tears have been replaced by art, beauty, music and science.
The idea of building a better world strikes a chord in the challenging times we live in today, while the manga setting is well suited to illustrating this dystopian universe and its endless cycle of hope and unity. Film co-director Arthur Qwak says: “The idea of manga immersion is to embark on a journey into a sublime setting and to follow the emotions experienced by the characters.” On stage, the performers are surrounded by a manga space opera projected on the screen of the auditorium.
It may be unusual to see cinematic visuals and sound design in a concert hall, but the project “believes in the wonder children feel when faced with beauty, in the possibility of peace, and in the reconciliation of people who have been enemies for generations”. Beethoven Wars aims to share this utopian vision with the widest possible audience, “from opera enthusiasts to manga enthusiasts and lovers of new stage experiences, regardless of their generation”, Equilbey says.
Insula orchestra and accentus—Beethoven Wars: A Battle for Peace 2025.3.26-28 |
Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall
Text: Georg A. Predota Chinese translation: Konstance Li
The content of this conversation was originally published in the 2022 house programme of Amopera and edited by FestMag. The original interview was conducted in Vienna on 30 September 2022.
Amopera is an original project by Klangforum Wien and Needcompany that premiered in 2022 at the festival hall of Erl in Tyrol, Austria. The title Amopera is a play on “Amo(r) opera”, which denotes the underlying theme of love, and “I am opera”, a direct reference to the production’s self-positioning as a “meta-opera” about the medium of opera itself. Amopera will make its Asia premiere at the 2025 Hong Kong Arts Festival.
嘉麗斯．曾（《百年》舞台美術）
Grace Tjang (Scenographer of Amopera)
馬田．西希斯（《百年》構作）
Maarten Seghers (Dramaturge of Amopera)
Both Needcompany and Klangforum Wien are in a certain way specialised collectives in their respective fields, but both are always eager to transcend their own metièr and be open to various other forms of art. How did the idea come up to work together on this meta-opera?
I t came from a simple question from Klangforum. The company knew our work and had seen our work, and wanted to work with us. And then there was this idea of digging deep into the operas of the 20th century.
If Needcompany makes performing art, more or less everything is at the service of this final intention. [But] Klangforum wants to be challenged in a different way beyond its musicality and instrumental skills. So I think that’s clearly a field where we do have a different tradition of creating art.
I think that terms like gesture, movement and space are as important in music as they are in dance and any other performing art. So how does it specifically feel for Needcompany to work with musicians as performers?
I can give you an example. We have Paul Blackman, who is a choreographer of the work I do with opera. He warms up and trains the musicians, and he was impressed by the approach of these musicians, who were not trained dancers, and by how strong they were.
We don’t have the pretention to say: “We will now present a kaleidoscope of the operas of the 20th century.” We are not doing the highlights of the operas, because there’s no Ligeti, there’s no Nono.
We use material from the operas to tell a new story, and the story is about Klangforum. And that was also a surprise for us, because every performance dictates its own story and also its own energy.
The central topic of Amopera is love, as the title suggests, and love is often described as a feeling, or a state of mind, that is “beyond words”. How do you approach these texts in terms of meaning and poetry?
My approach is different than that of Grace and Maarten. Maarten is more focused on the music, and Grace on the scenography and totality. I’m more focused on how I can, for example, help [the singers] Holger and Sarah survive with all that material. What is my tool, what is my focus as a director?
Chinese translation: Emily Wong
維也納現代聲音樂團 X Needcompany 《百年愛情角力》 Klangforum Wien and Needcompany —Amopera 2025.3.19 | 香港文化中心大劇院 Hong Kong Cultural Centre Grand Theatre
When T. S. Eliot published his magnum opus The Waste Land in 1922, four years after the end of World War One, the world that surrounded him was practically in tatters, both physically and spiritually. A century later, in a world no less harrowing, a powerful trio has teamed up to turn the Eliotian wasteland into a mesmerising stage performance, and a sonic and visual spectacle.
Much like Eliot, violinist Candida Thompson and choreographer Marco Gerris find themselves in a society where meanings are elusive and humanity has lost its direction. But this time, it is due to an excess of information. “We are bombarded with information from all sides, but somehow it only makes us…quite disconnected. And that’s a pity, because we need each other, in order to reach something bigger than ourselves,” Thompson says.
For Thompson, Artistic Director of the Amsterdam Sinfonietta, the solution to this disconnection is, precisely, to connect. So she went on to invite Farokhzad Layegh, whose music (itself inspired by Eliot and Iranian poet Ahmad Shamlou) was one of her inspirations in the first place, and Gerris, founder of a hip-hop collective known for its wildly imaginative crossovers.
The result is a beautifully crafted performance that blends and brings music, street dance and acrobatics to the theatre. The openmindedness is also evident in the choice of music: beginning with the first movement of Layegh’s entrancing original work Lexolalia Descenticum, The Waste Land also features a wide range of pieces by composers from Igor Stravinsky to more contemporary composers such as Michael Nyman and Fazil Say.
Text: Shao yi Chan｜Chinese translation: Fei Hung
《荒原》阿姆斯特丹小交響樂團 x ISH 舞集 The Waste Land by Amsterdam Sinfonietta and ISH Dance Collective 2025.3.15-16 | 香港文化中心大劇院 Hong Kong Cultural Centre Grand Theatre
Ryuichi Sakamoto’s reflections on time can be traced back to the early 1980s. However, it was during the creation of his 2017 album async—after recovering from cancer— that the Japanese composer began contemplating the theare piece TIME. He sought to explore music that defied traditional temporal structures, creating compositions without a clear beginning or end. TIME continued Sakamoto’s investigations into time, boldly negating conventional notions of time as a concept and using dreams to illustrate the multiplicity of time.
In this interview, stage director Shiro Takatani discusses his final collaboration with the musical maestro and their endless exploration of time.
The “uncertainty of time” plays a pivotal role in this work.
People tend to envision time as unfolding on an orderly straight line with tidy correlations between cause and effect. When we think of time, we think of a clock, whose hands measure the regimented movements of the sun and moon.
During the performance of TIME, a path is created through the water on stage using brick-like blocks. This idea of using small building blocks to create something larger represents the origin of mathematics. Things become easier to understand when broken down and organised into small, manageable pieces. Many people today find comfort and stability in this way of living. But what if there were another, freer outlook on time? Perhaps the world would become more hospitable to a wider range of people with diverse sensibilities.
As Sakamoto said: “The goal is not to repeat the same performance over and over, but rather, to explore what arises on the spur of the moment.”
Yes. Unfortunately, he could not join us for the rehearsals in Amsterdam. But we sent him videos each day and he responded with notes. Sakamoto always preferred live performances. I remember him asking: “Can we introduce more spontaneity and get the actors responding to change as it happens on stage?”
"I thought to create a theatre piece that could exist without the boundaries that separate performance and installation art. Working under the banner of the title TIME, I purposefully challenged myself to deny the notion of time itself" 坂本龍一
You could entrust the performing to the performers.
I think Sakamoto wanted the performers to exist as themselves in that moment on stage. Sakamoto said: “I want to create a performance with no beginning and no end. One where audiences can arrive and leave when they please.”
TIME opens with the sound of Mayumi Miyata’s shō. During a recent discussion with dancer Min Tanaka, Miyata interestingly said that the sound begins before the audience even hears it and continues after the performance has ended. More than the sound of her instrument, I think she was also referring to the sounds her body itself makes when playing or preparing to play. The performance begins before it starts and continues after it ends. I understood exactly what she meant. Indeed, where does a performance begin and end? If you watch the performance with attuned senses, you can begin to detect a kind of continuity. I hope audiences are able to share in this experience of time.
Scenes transcend time and seamlessly merge, altering the audience’s own perception of space and time.
When Sakamoto first mentioned the title TIME, I began thinking about the relationship between time and space, and what it might feel like to perceive time as non-continuous. Sakamoto selected the texts— Ten Nights of Dreams, Kantan and The Butterfly Dream—all stories about dreams. I think he chose these texts because in the dream world, time is not sequential. Our dreams feel strangely seamless; stories nested within stories. But we can also feel time distort in the reality of our waking lives.
During the pandemic, I went to China to help Sakamoto set up his exhibition there and had to quarantine for three weeks. When I arrived at the hotel and walked up to the reception desk, I was surrounded by staff wearing white protective suits. When I emerged to check out three weeks later, I encountered the same exact scene again in the lobby. It felt like the time I spent in quarantine had simply evaporated. When I messaged as much to Sakamoto, he replied: “Yes, that’s it! Remember that feeling!”
Discrete time is expressed here as a dream.
Sakamoto spent a lifetime making music. As music is truly the art of time, it should have a beginning and an end. As a non-musician, I can’t wrap my head around how music could exist if time wasn’t linear. But I think Sakamoto wanted to explore these further possibilities for sound and composition in a framework outside linear time.
English
Chinese
Yoshikazu Inoue
translation: Daniel González
translation: Trista Yeung
No reality now is a show which questions everything—life, death and the nature of reality itself—as it brings the real and virtual worlds face to face. The result of a four-year project led by choreographer Vincent Dupont and virtual reality (VR) expert Charles Ayats, No reality now uses unique, groundbreaking technology developed specifically for the show that allows the audience to experience parallel realities.
For the first time, thanks to VR headsets, each spectator can alternate between watching the live dance performance and an augmented version whenever they choose. Without the headset, audience members will see the stage and the dancers in real life. But when they put on the headset, they will enter a virtual world of infinite possibilities where space expands and the dancers are transformed into avatars or take on fantastical forms, such as turning into a silver sphere.
“We wanted the spectators to be able to navigate freely between live and VR,” Ayats explains. However, regular VR devices were seen as too cumbersome, so the show’s creators took inspiration from old-fashioned opera glasses, which allow spectators to “zoom in” whenever they chose.
In a triumph of technological wizardry, each headset provides the wearer with the perspective from their own seat and the network of 100 headsets can be reconfigured for each new venue. Dupont says that in order to achieve the goal of combining reality with VR, “we wanted [the spectators] to have the same perspective as they do for the live performance. If their point of view through the glasses was completely different, it wouldn’t work.”
Another major technological challenge, notes Ayats, was the live utilisation of motion-capture technology. “We really wanted to do it, but it wasn’t stable enough for two 40-minute shows a day,” he says. In the end they resorted to what Dupont calls, with a twinkle, “a sort of subterfuge”. The augmented version is instead pre-recorded and the dancers must duplicate the recording exactly.
While acknowledging that this is a constraint for the dancers, Dupont emphasises that VR is a tool which reflects the body with remarkable precision.
“When I watched their avatars, I found that I could recognise each dancer and their interpretation of the movement.”
No reality now takes place in a plain white setting of padded walls. It opens with a levitating corpse that comes to life— Death (the Reaper) and a Shaman complete the cast of three. Its key theme is the crossing of thresholds, the passages between real and virtual worlds, life and death, or the auditorium and the stage.
It is based on on Dupont’s 2010 work Souffles, which, he says, “deals with death, with the idea of a passage from one thing to another, and this new tool with the headsets also deals with passing from one state to another, to see things in a new way”.
Text: Natasha Rogai Chinese translation: Trista Yeung
賽馬會創藝科媒系列：《真．幻境界》
Jockey Club InnoArts Series: No reality now 2025.3.14-16, 18-19 | 香港文化中心劇場
Hong Kong Cultural Centre Studio Theatre
演出由香港賽馬會慈善信託基金獨家贊助
The programme is solely sponsored by The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust
“I wanted to do something that had never been done before—and that couldn’t have been done even five or 10 years ago,” Spanish choreographer Blanca Li says when asked what inspired her create the groundbreaking production Le Bal de Paris de Blanca Li (Blanca Li’s Paris Ball).
One of the most exciting trends in the performing arts industry is the increasingly imaginative and innovative use of virtual reality (VR) technology. Expanding the horizons of artists, VR technicians and audiences alike, it’s producing a torrent of new ideas and dance is at the forefront of the movement. Winner of the Lion award for Best VR Experience at the 78th Venice International Film Festival, Le Bal de Paris takes audience members on a thrilling journey, transporting them to the fabulous world of a timeless, romantic Paris.
While the separate HKAF VR programme No reality now breaks new ground by allowing the audience to navigate freely between watching a performance simultaneously live and in VR, Li has created a “collective experience” in which audience members move through actual physical space and become part of the action in the virtual world, instead of experiencing it from their seats.
Equipped with a mini computer, VR headset and earphones, participants control what happens to them in the virtual universe simply by using their bodies—if you take a step forward, so does your avatar. Each participant can choose which stylish Chanel costume they will wear and see themselves in the mirror in a virtual dressing room. Guided by the dancers who perform the principal roles, they will visit a succession of enchanted spaces— a magnificent ballroom, a garden and a nightclub—as well as crossing a lake on a boat and taking a ride on a tram.
Li wanted to make the show a“joyous experience”. And after the VR section ends, you are welcome to stay on and keep dancing in the real world.
Text: Natasha Rogai Chinese translation: Emily Wong
VR 互動體驗《巴黎舞會》
VR Interactive Dance— Le Bal de Paris de Blanca Li 2025.2.27-3.2, 3.4-9
Black-Light Theatre Magic Brings a Marine Fantasy to Life
with the puppetry. The actors not only perform on stage but also go backstage to manipulate the puppets. The puppets are brought to life by actors on stage who are clad in black outfits and gloves. They skilfully manipulate the puppets, creating bizarre half-human, half-puppet figures, all while maintaining meticulous control over their movements. “Costume changes and puppet changes are done in a few seconds in complete darkness.”
To create the illusion of fish gliding through water, the production decided against using projections and instead utilised the enchanting effects of black-light theatre. This creates a magical dance of light and shadow in which the puppeteers remain hidden, ensuring that the fantasy isn’t disrupted by any human forms. And it’s all made possible by precise lighting of the highest artistic order.
fabric of France. The members of renowned
a spectacular play with puppetry and blackwater on stage, audience members will still feel as though they are travelling deep under the sea during this oceanic fantasy.
Verne's masterpiece, first published in 1870, was first brought to the stage by Comédie-Française in 2015, helmed by visionary Comédie-Française Director Christian Hecq along with Valérie Lesort.
Set entirely within the submarine, the play invites viewers to peer through expansive cabin windows into the mysterious ocean depths, encountering colossal squid, shimmering jellyfish and menacing anglerfish. These wonderous sea creatures are the stars of the show, bursting onto the stage, floating elegantly through the water and sometimes launching attacks on the submarine.
Director Lesort has explained that there is a lot of magic happening behind the scenes
Director Hecq's lifelong fascination with puppetry is on full display throughout 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Puppets, he believes, act as extensions of the actors’ bodies, unlocking movements that are beyond the capabilities of humans. “I wanted to combine the puppets with really incarnated characters. In this show, everyone belongs to a very distinct universe: that of men and that of animals.”
Comédie-Française’s groundbreaking production earned the team the prestigious Molière award for Best Visual and Sound Design. And now, the troupe has been commissioned by the Hong Kong Arts Festival to team up with a creative team from Mainland China to debut a new Putonghua version of the production, featuring actors from Mainland China, at the Hong Kong Arts Festival in 2025.
Text: Eugene Chan
(This article contains excerpts from an interview conducted in 2015 with Chantal Hurault, Head of Communications and Publications at the Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier, compiled by the Hong Kong Arts Festival editorial team)
《鐘聲與魔咒》 Bells and Spells by Victoria Thierrée Chaplin starring Aurélia Thierrée 2025.3.11-12 | 香港文化中心大劇院 Hong Kong Cultural Centre Grand Theatre
Walls that move on their own, coat-racks that transform into a wooden dinosaur and runaway dresses—these items all come alive in Bells and Spells! This delightfully whimsical performance combines dance, mime and puppetry, and is influenced by actress Aurélia Thierrée’s background in the contemporary circus arts.
Aurélia’s parents Victoria Thierrée Chaplin and Jean-Baptiste Thierrée founded their first contemporary circus in 1970, and became pioneers of the New Circus movement, which almost exclusively features human performers such as acrobats and jugglers instead of animal acts. After Aurélia was born, they founded a new, smaller circus in 1974 called Le Cirque Imaginaire, which featured the couple and their children as performers.
Aurélia and her mother have never stopped collaborating, and the 2025 HKAF programme Bells and Spells is one of many of Aurélia’s shows that have been created by her mother.
Bells and Spells follows the misadventures of an eccentric thief who falls under the spell of the objects she steals. Victoria has said the show was partly influenced by the antics of Borra, the famed circus pickpocket of the mid-20th century who would relieve audience members of their possessions and then return them at the end of the show.
Bells and Spells relies on what Aurélia calls “timing and dexterity” to create illusions that make objects and props appear and disappear. Victoria says the show explores whether inanimate objects may not be so inanimate after all, and even if they could have a soul “that attaches itself to ours and compels us to love”.
Text: Adam Wright Chinese translation: Grace Lam
Lucie Jansch
Regardless of age, magic seems to possess an irresistible charm that captivates us all. Scott Silven first fell under the spell of magic when, as a five year old, he worked up the confidence to enter a magic shop in Glasgow, Scotland, which is believed to be the oldest such store in the world.
As Silven became a teenager, his years spent studying basic magic tricks became the catalyst for what became his life’s calling: the branch of magic known as mentalism, or the theatre of the mind. “This has less to do with props, coins and cards—the usual things that come to mind when you think of a magic show—and more to do with using the audience members’ memories, emotions and experiences, and hopefully crafting impossible
In the late 18th century, on the vast plains of central Argentina, South American gauchos (cowboys) created a dance that put their agility, strength and dexterity to the test. With breakneck footwork inspired by the galloping of horses, and the rhythmic spinning of the traditional boleadoras leather and stone weapon, malambo became one of the world’s first known competitive dances, and saw the gauchos engage in fierce competition with each other.
And now, much as how traditional Irish dancing was modernised and given a new lease on life by the Riverdance phenomenon, malambo has been experiencing a rebirth as a modern stage show thanks to Malevo, an all-male dance group created by director, choreographer and dancer Matías Jaime.
Initially a choreographer for Latin pop star Ricky Martin, Jaime created Malevo in 2015 to give malambo the same international recognition as Argentina’s iconic tango dance, and the group shot to global fame in 2016 when it appeared on the America’s Got Talent TV programme.
“The inspiration behind Malevo was to create another vision of a folk dance which until then had no real recognition, unlike the tango, and to also be able to convert it to our way of life and to show part of our roots,” Jaime tells FestMag. “The idea was not just a show that lasted two minutes on TV or 20 minutes at an event, but a full show based on malambo and our culture, with an avant-garde theatrical interpretation.”
Malevo channels the spirit and raw masculinity of the gauchos in a show that has toured throughout the USA, Europe and Australia, and is now coming to the HKAF in 2025. As the stage fills with dancers with fire in their eyes, and as they spin the boleadoras at speeds of up to 150 km/h, crack whips and beat on bombo leguero drums, it’s hard not to get swept away by this blistering and exhilarating take on the Argentinian tradition.
Jaime admits that Malevo’s modern, transgressive take on malambo has not been without its critics. “Like everything new that is not aligned with traditional standards, there may be criticism, or different thoughts and emotions, but Malevo has always received a lot of
support,” he says. “The public sees and feels the genuine respect we have for our art. It may have a new and avantgarde appearance, but we are always respectful of our roots, and this is what gives life and soul to our show.”
Jaime and his team are excited to be bringing Malevo to Hong Kong for the first time, and he says local audiences can expect to see something unlike anything they have seen before. “We are very grateful and happy to be coming and are looking forward to learning about your culture, your people and your traditions.”
Text: Adam Wright | Chinese translation: William Chan
對利卡瓦尼爾而言，肉體從不是限制生命的 枷鎖。很多被視爲對舞者（尤其是女性舞者） 的窒礙，如衰老和懷孕等生命形態，都被 她化為創作養分。她在 1999 年告別工作了 十八年的舞團 La La La Human Steps，並誕下 雙胞胎女兒。生產三週後，她便迫不及待回 到舞台，用舞蹈回饋宇宙給她的完美禮物。
Unlike other forms of art, dance revels in a raw corporeality and oneness with its creators, but this immediacy also leads to extreme demands on the artists’ bodies and disproportionately short careers. Yet, venturing beyond the usual path, three dancers have defied the years by creating their own unique bodies of work and revealing the essence of a dancer shaped by the passage of time.
How Louise Lecavalier
Found Inspiration in the Limitations of the Body
露薏斯．利卡瓦尼爾：
Pop star David Bowie gave a performance at London’s Dominion Theatre in 1988 that would go down in history. Among the show’s many stand-out elements was his dance partner—a brawny young woman who enthralled with her explosive antics and androgynous physicality that separated her from the other female dancers.
Now aged 65, Louise Lecavalier may be visibly leaner and toned down in velocity, but she’s no less brilliant or intense. Her latest piece, Stations, considered her most personal to date, represents an attempt to find the purest form of dance language beyond the limitations of the body.
But Lecavalier, who will appear at the 2025 HKAF as part of the Icons in Motion dance series, never saw the body as a constraint that she had to be freed from. Instead, she turns perceived limitations (especially for female dancers), such as ageing and pregnancy, into fuel for her creativity. In 1999, Lecavalier bid farewell to her dance company, La La La Human Steps, where she worked for 18 years, and embraced motherhood by giving birth to twin daughters. Three weeks later, she was seen dancing again—as she wanted to repay the universe for the gifts it had bestowed upon her.
Ageing, likewise, is simply an opportunity for her to “live in another body”. When asked about her secret to keeping up the pace during an interview with Critics at Large, Lecavalier shrugs: “It is a mind thing. The body just has to follow.”
Cristiana Morganti Jessica and Me 2025.3.8-9 | 香港大會堂劇院 Hong Kong City Hall Theatre
Cristiana Morganti can’t take herself seriously— a self-understanding that she takes very seriously.
Jessica and Me, her solo work that will make its Asia premiere at the 2025 Hong Kong Arts Festival, seems to be the apotheosis of this duality. Created in 2014, the piece coincided with an important watershed in her career. “I created the piece the same year that I left the company,” says Morganti, who danced for 20 years at Pina Bausch’s Tanztheater Wuppertal. “I needed so badly to see if I could do my own stuff, after so many years in a company working with a unique artist such as Pina Bausch.” She speaks as if she’s a third-person narrator: “I asked myself: will I be able to create my own universe in my pieces? Will I be able to discover my personal dramaturgy and develop my own vision?"
It was during this process of soul-searching that she rediscovered Jessica—her imaginary self from childhood—and through Jessica her own voice. But far from being the soulmate of our dreams, Morganti’s Jessica, who exists in the form of a taped voice, is unpredictable, nerve-wracking and borders on rude, as she continuously interrupts and ignores Morganti. If anything, the result is a curious blend of self-referential wit and comic whimsicality that has become a staple of Morganti.
A cruel art
If screwball humour and sheer virtuosity aren’t enough to pique your interest, Morganti’s brutal honesty will. While the veteran dancer mocks and dramatises her ageing in the piece (“I’d like to move slowly, slowly, slowly!”), she thrives in an industry where ageism is endemic. “If you want to go on, you have to let go [of] a lot of your habits... I would say it’s a very cruel art: in the moment you finally understand how to use your body and energy in the most efficient way, your body begins to stop following you,” she says lovingly of this cruel art form, that she sees also as a lesson in life and wisdom.
Text: Shao yi Chan
知否？知否？ 應是笑看人生 The Perks of Being Self-Critical 克里斯蒂安娜•莫甘蒂
Dancer-choreographer Mui Cheuk-yin is versatile, to say the least. In her solo piece Awakening in a Dream, she is lithe, ethereal and effortlessly graceful, using a paper fan to accentuate her delicate movements; while in Eulogy, she is a warrior and protector in equal measure, much like the umbrella she’s wielding.
Born in Guangzhou and raised in Hong Kong, Mui has spent the past 50 years recording and capturing life on one canvas alone: her body. At the 53rd Hong Kong Arts Festival, she will perform three of her solo pieces, As Quick as Silver, Awakening in a Dream and Eulogy. “For a work to become a ‘classic’ abroad, you have to perform it at least 100 times. But in Hong Kong, it's hard to even get a re-run for a show. I want to do my part to make classics for this city ”
Carving classics in dance
These three early works carry a lot of meaning for Mui— both personally and professionally. On the invitation of legendary dancer Pina Bausch, she performed two of these pieces for Tanztheater Wuppertal on its 25th anniversary. But more importantly, they represent touchstones in some of the most important stages in her career as a choreographer. Created in 1986, shortly after her studies in New York, Awakening in a Dream marks Mui’s transition from Chinese to modern dance.
The study trip had a profound impact on Mui, who was deeply rooted in classical Chinese dance. “Modern dance is all about looking at ourselves from a different perspective, including our dance techniques and our own culture.” Awakening in a Dream was a result of this deep dive and quickly became her signature work.
Her second breakthrough came in the 1990s after Mui returned to the United States to study postmodern dance. If modern dance was a reaction against tradition, postmodern dance was a return to the body and its communication with other parties. Two works, As Quick as Silver and Eulogy, were born out of this period.
Much like Mui herself, her movements are informed by a defiant yet composed spirit that courses through her works, from Chinese dance to modern and postmodern dance. Over the past five decades, she has stood proud amid the vicissitudes of the world, creating dances that have become cultural treasures of Hong Kong.
With a career that has spanned 50 years and counting, Mui has her own philosophy about ageing. “I believe there is a different kind of beauty to every stage of life. The power to move the audience, in the end, is not about the precision of your movements, but whether there is life in it. And the source of this life has something to do with age.” She remembers being questioned by poet Leung Ping-kwan when she first performed Awakening in a Dream: how could a young woman in her twenties understand the twilight sorrow of the ageing songstress, Lan Tien-yu? And she found the “real” Lan Tien-yu, so the story goes, when she danced the piece again in her fifties.
“I hope that I can still dance Lan Tien-yu when I’m 90— I’m sure it will be even better!”
Text: Shao yi Chan
我希望到了九十歲， 還能跳藍田玉。
I hope that I can still dance Lan Tien-yu when I’m 90
While modern theatre and film awards rarely set aside a category for tragedy like they do for comedy, tragedy sits unchallenged in the Western literary canon for its deep insights into the human condition, and ancient Greek tragedy is the foundation of this timeless dramatic genre.
In her latest work, Hippolytus by Euripides, Katerina Evangelatos, stage director and Artistic Director of the Athens Epidaurus Festival, attempts to recreate the hidden charm of the ancient Greek original by proposing a modern theatrical approach.
The story is quite straightforward: Aphrodite, the goddess of love, makes Queen Phaedra fall in love with her stepson, Hippolytus. But after being rejected, Phaedra takes her own life in shame and leaves behind a letter accusing Hippolytus of attempting to dishonour her. King Theseus, in a fit of rage, unleashes the powers of Poseidon on his son, leaving him with injuries that will claim his life at the end of the play. The production focuses on Aphrodite, who watches with voyeuristic pleasure as mortals become playthings of her vengeful whims. Aphrodite’s cruel manipulation of Hippolytus embodies a theme often found in Greek drama: the insignificance of human beings at the mercy of fate (the gods). And while the story may appear fatalistic, its human characters are far from mere pawns of the universe.
Phaedra is not just a lustful woman who blindly submits to her desires (the will of the gods), but tries her best to suppress them and ultimately fails tragically.
Profound interpretations of human nature and fate have made Greek tragedy timeless and enduring. This timeless dramatic genre has also inspired countless writers, including Chinese theatre master Cao Yu and his classic work, Thunderstorm.
Text: Shao yi Chan English translation: Murakami Rin
The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts Lyric Theatre
《雷�》Thunderstorm by Cao Yu 2025.3.5-9 | 香港演藝學院歌劇院 The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts Lyric Theatre
Back to the Original Universe of Thunderstorm
Thunderstorm shocked the literary world and set a new standard for modern Chinese theatre when it premiered in 1934. As Thunderstorm marked its 90th anniversary in 2024, various productions of this classic work were staged around the world. Li Liuyi, a stage director who has directed many of Cao Yu's works, also had his heart set on this work, but he stresses that his adaptation is “not subversive or deconstructive”, and he is determined to return to the characters’ most authentic psychological states.
Li has previously directed Cao Yu’s works such as The Wilderness, Peking Man, The Family and Sunrise. He describes directing Thunderstorm as a long-held dream, with the goal of “bringing theatre back to theatre, humans back to humans”. In an interview with FestMag, he says he’s using Cao Yu’s 1936 version as the basis for his performance, reinstating the prologue and epilogue that had been removed from later versions, while focusing on bringing the characters back to the “human” state as emphasised by Cao Yu in his creative statement, rather than just social symbols.
Cao Yu stated in a preface to Thunderstorm that the purpose of the play was not to expose the sins of extended families, nor was the story about karma. Instead, his aim was to reveal the cruelty of the world and the universe, and he saw Thunderstorm as a manifestation of his wonder at the mysteries of the universe.
Li believes that the laws of nature described by Cao Yu are in line with the spirit of Greek tragedy. For example, the recurring themes of “primitive” and “barbaric” in the script, especially in the portrayal of the female lead, Fanyi, are reflections of human instincts and primitive states.
Though often seen as a master of deconstructing classics, Li emphasises that the premise of this work is to be “not subversive or deconstructive” but to “retain the linguistic style of that era”. At the same time, there was no intent to act as a conduit for Cao Yu’s thoughts, but rather to “focus on the most important psychological structures and logic within the play to re-frame the story” and preserve its full dramatic character.
Li’s works are unique in the contemporary theatre scene— firstly in their alternative interpretation of classic texts; secondly in the extraordinary creation of stage space and visuals, which crafts a “new world” for each play; and thirdly in the rich and nuanced interpretation of the actors. In directing Thunderstorm, he has shifted away from his usual abstract and minimalist style, and opted for a realistic portrayal of abstraction. Renowned film art director Chang Suk-ping is in charge of stage design and overall visuals, creating a confined, suffocating space that sparks the imagination. To achieve this complexity, Li’s longtime collaborators, including Hu Jun, Lu Fang and Miao Chi, are delivering outstanding performances that build dramatic tension.
「《雷雨》所顯示的， 並不是因果，並不是報應， 而是我所覺得的天地間的『殘忍』。」
"Thunderstorm is not about karma or divine retribution, but rather the cruelty of the universe”
Text: Lin Wei-yu English translation: Murakami Rin
《咆哮山莊》 Emma Rice —Wuthering Heights 2025.3.26-29 | 香港演藝學院歌劇院
The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts Lyric Theatre
Wuthering Heights is seen by many critics as one of the greatest English-language tragedies. This captivating novel was written by visionary British author Emily Brontë from 1845-46 and deals with a protagonist whose obsession with revenge destroys the happiness of three generations. The book faced heavy criticism when it was first published, with detractors describing it as crude and full of morally corrupt characters. However, acclaimed British theatre director Emma Rice saw glimmers of hope and goodness in this ugly portrayal of human nature and has adapted it into a musical of the same name to evoke empathy for the underprivileged.
In her creative notes, Rice nostalgically recalls that when she was 12, the passing of a cherished childhood friend awakened her to the aching fear of death. It was then that she felt “the intoxicating pull” of Wuthering Heights and started identifying with the protagonist Heathcliff, who grew up neglected on the streets and was adopted by the kind-hearted man Earnshaw. Still, he was cruelly bullied by his foster brother and sought to take revenge after his love Catherine married another man. Rice poignantly writes: “In my teenage mind, I was Heathcliff. I was misunderstood, angry and grieving—I wanted people to feel, see and understand my pain.”
As she matured, her passion for Wuthering Heights gradually faded, but then in 2016, when she learned of the plight of refugee children in the Calais camp in France, she was reminded of Heathcliff’s traumatic childhood, prompting her to revisit the book. “I saw a story not of romance but of brutality, cruelty and revenge. A tragedy of what might happen if, as individuals as well as a society, we allow cruelty to take hold.”
Rice adapted the work into a stage play, performed by her company Wise Children. With powerful live music and choreography, the characters in the production sing and dance with raw intensity. “The characters are superhuman: Catherine, Heathcliff and Hareton, the Gods of Chaos, Revenge and Hope.”
Diverging from the original, Rice extracted the narration by the housekeeper Nelly Dean and recast it as the new character named The Moors. This role is played by multiple actors and as the play adopts the form of a Greek tragedy, The Moors serves as a Greek chorus, conveying the main plot points and relationships between the characters to the audience, and warning the characters against making unwise decisions.
Rice believes that this play, which is centred on the human condition, tells a story full of sorrow, hope, fear and dreams. And she hopes that audience members will note: “This is a revenge tragedy for our time and one that warns how our actions today will affect the world for decades to come.”
《罪與罰》Crime and Punishment 2025.3.21-23 | 香港演藝學院歌劇院
The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts Lyric Theatre
Standing at a Moral Crossroads in CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
Fyodor Dostoevsky penned his famous novel Crime and Punishment in 1866 as Russian society was gripped by turmoil. In this newly adapted stageplay, the story is shifted from 19th-century Russia to a contemporary setting. The adaptation stars Leung Tin-chak as the murderer and Ben Yuen as the chief inspector, who are locked in a fierce battle of wits over their personal visions of justice. In an interview with FestMag, the two actors delved into the profound moral conflicts between their characters, uncovering the timeless essence of human nature.
The plot centres on Edward Lai, an impoverished dropout who, obsessed with achieving “extraordinary” justice, commits the ultimate crime. However, after eliminating the victim he deems a “social parasite”, he becomes tormented by guilt. Leung Tin-chak, who plays the lead role, describes Lai as “aloof—a common trait among the young, clinging to the confidence and drive they had before entering society. He sees things in absolutes, but when reality doesn’t align with his imagined ideals, he’s left feeling lost and in pain. This is the turmoil of youth— a mindset that Lai frequently embodies.” Leung adds that Lai, at just 18 or 19 years old, is the youngest character he has ever played, making it a unique challenge to reconnect with a youthful mindset. In preparation, he watched numerous interviews with secondary school and university students to gain insights into their perspectives.
To fully immerse themselves in their roles, both Leung and co-star Yuen revisited the original novel, dissecting the complex layers of its characters. Yuen, who plays Chief Inspector Arthur Tung, explains his character’s scheming approach as he tries various methods to coax a confession from Lai. “His ultimate goal isn’t to arrest or punish him, but to free him from the torment of his conscience. Tung sees potential in Lai from an essay he once wrote and wants him to understand the true meaning of ‘right and wrong’. This essentially comes down to human kindness and conscience.”
On the surface, Chief Inspector Tung appears shrewd and composed, yet he grows increasingly exasperated as unrelated individuals come forward to confess to the crime. “He can’t understand why they are so eager to play the hero,” Yuen says. “This desire to be a hero existed even a century ago, and that’s what drew me to this role. At 50 or 60, Tung is a man driven by a mission to care for the next generation.”
The script, written by renowned British playwright Phillip Breen, was commissioned and produced by the Hong Kong Arts Festival. Despite the century-old origins of the original story, Leung found much that remained familiar. “How much have society’s views on social standing, wealth inequality, or marginalised groups—such as the poor, sex workers, alcoholics and those with mental issues—really changed? There still seems to be a sense of distance… The protagonist’s frustration and anger at injustice in the world have not faded with time.”
In Cantonese opera, one often hears the phrase “ 可怒也 ” (pronounced similar to “call lau yeah”), which is articulated in the Zhongyuan dialect, also known as “old Mandarin” or the “official language”. Historically, before the late Qing dynasty and the early Republican era, Cantonese opera was performed in such dialects, rather than in Cantonese itself. It was not until the 1910s and 1920s that performances gradually shifted to the use of vernacular Cantonese. As a result, Cantonese opera sung in the original dialects slowly faded from the stage. However, renowned Cantonese opera actor Yuen Siu-fai believes the use of ancient language in Cantonese opera is essential for refining a performer’s skills. Motivated by this belief, he has made great efforts to preserve and revive this lost operatic legacy.
Cantonese opera performed in the original language, also known as “formulaic plays” or “ancient opera”, places a strong emphasis on haubaak, a spoken soliloquy delivered without instrumental accompaniment, while placing less importance on actual singing. The style requires a powerful, resonant vocal delivery. Yuen tells FestMag that during his youth, it was mandatory for actors to study Cantonese opera in the original language, as this involved a comprehensive set of prescribed routines involving set pieces, spoken soliloquies, percussion and specific aria types such as bongji and yiwong. The structure of these performances was rigorous and precise, contributing greatly to an actor's training. “When there is no scenery on stage, the actor must convey that a mountain is truly a mountain and water is truly water, making the audience believe it solely through the emotions and expressions in the performance,” Yuen says.
Yuen is fortunate to have studied Cantonese opera in the original language under the guidance of various masters. For example, he studied the original language for the play Executing the Duke’s Second Brother under the tutelage of Tsui Suethung (the father of actor Tsui Siu-ming) in the 1970s. This play consists of the most traditional forms and set pieces, while the act of sworn brotherhood alone can be depicted in three distinct styles: “sash-cutting brotherhood”, “oath of brotherhood on the battlefield” and “brotherhood at willow camp”.
However, although actors from the previous generation knew how to sing Cantonese opera in the original language, they rarely performed it in recent decades. Additionally, the low level of education at that time made it difficult to preserve the complete scripts of these plays, which were primarily passed down orally and through physical demonstrations, which created challenges for the continuity of the tradition.
Yuen points out that Cantonese opera has a history of about 300 years, and its development can be divided into three stages, with the 1910s and 1920s serving as a watershed. Before then, Cantonese opera was primarily performed in the original language, likely due to the influence of non-local instructors who came to Guangdong province to teach opera. Following this period, local Cantonese actors gradually began performing in the vernacular Cantonese dialect, leading to the emergence of many new scripts written in Cantonese often incorporating popular tunes and melodies. In recent years, Cantonese opera has increasingly embraced Westernisation and modernisation, with various approaches and styles being explored.
Because prominent Cantonese opera performers in the past rarely performed in the original language, these types of productions have undergone fewer changes and more closely resemble their original form. To prevent them from disappearing, Yuen Siu-fai established the House of Cantonese Opera in 1993, dedicated to reproducing this traditional style. In recent years, he has visited places such as Guangxi province and Southeast Asia in search of veteran performers who are still alive, seeking their instruction and documenting their knowledge. And in collaboration with Cantonese opera performers from the younger generation, including Lam Tin-yau, Keith Lai and Wyborn Leung Wai-hong, he has been commissioned by the Hong Kong Arts Festival to launch a project titled 300 Years of Cantonese Opera, aimed at encapsulating the three centuries of Cantonese opera development into a three-year performance series. The first year's project, titled The Beginning, includes the full performance of Wu Song (in the ancient singing style), the scripts of which Yuen obtained by searching across Southeast Asia, and Making a Scene at the Green Bamboo Temple, which Keith Lai learnt from a senior artist, Man Chin-sui, in the United States.
Reflecting on his theatrical career spanning more than seven decades, Yuen further realises that the various Cantonese opera performances all trace their origins back to the formulaic plays he learnt in his youth. Mastering such ancient operatic language and preserving traditional routines and staging techniques are crucial for documenting the historical development of Cantonese opera, and ensuring the art form continues to flourish.
Text: Eugene Chan English translation: Stanley Leung
300 Years of Cantonese Opera: The Beginning 2025.3.6-8 | 葵青劇院演藝廳 Kwai Tsing Theatre Auditorium
a Three-Century Retrospective of Cantonese Opera Rediscovering an Opera Legacy:
A Thousand Shades of Tenderness:
Yue Opera as an Emotional Outlet for
Women
方亞芳（左）飾演祝英台唯妙唯肖。
Fang Yafen (left) o ers a poignant portrayal of Zhu Yingtai.
with FestMag, the Director of the Shanghai Yue Opera House, Fang Yafen, reveals how Yue opera’s themes of pursuing love and independence resonate with female audiences, offering an emotional outlet.
The Shanghai Yue Opera House will present several classic Yue opera works and excerpts at the 2025 Hong Kong Arts Festival. Fang will play Zhu Yingtai in The Butterfly Lovers (Yuan & Fan Version), portraying Zhu as spirited and intelligent in female attire, and as bold and heroic when disguised as a man. Liang Shanbo, played by Zhang Ruihong, differs from traditional male protagonists, as he is not only handsome but also tender.
The Yuan & Fan Version of The Butterfly Lovers originated from a 1954 colour Yue opera film starring Yuan Xuefen and Fan Ruijuan. Yuan Xuefen, a founding member of the Shanghai Yue Opera House and Fang Yafen’s mentor, never performed this play on stage after the release of the film, keeping it out of theatres for more than 60 years. In 2012, to commemorate the first anniversary of her teacher’s passing, Fang restaged the production, bringing back one of Yuan’s three most iconic crying scenes, “Yingtai Mourns at the Tomb”, stirring poignant emotions among the audience.
Fang explains that Yue opera has a history of just more than 110 years. Initially performed by all-male troupes, women were prohibited from participating until the 1930s and ‘40s when all-female Yue opera started to emerge.
“In the 1930s, the introduction of female performers, especially actresses playing male roles, satisfied the desire for women to create idealised male characters— dashingly charming, respectful of women, gentle and considerate—a projection of women's emotional aspirations,” says Fang. She points to the male protagonists of the excerpts “Reunion at the Garden”, from Questioning His Wife and Demanding to Find His Wife, and “Fortune-telling”, from He Wenxiu, as perfect examples of the “sweet, caring guy” image.
Fang believes that Yue opera’s appeal to women lies in stories that allow female characters to pursue love freely. “In areas like autonomy in marriage, mutual respect and reciprocal love, women were historically repressed. Through the emotions in the opera, they found an outlet for their feelings.” She cites The Jade Hairpin as an example: “The heroine, Li Xiuying, is mistreated by her husband, and while the social constraints of the time prevent her from rebelling, she ultimately compels him to kneel and apologise in the scene ‘Presenting the Phoenix Headdress’. For women, this provides a sense of satisfaction after releasing their grievances.”
“Reunion at the Garden”, excerpt from Questioning His Wife and Demanding to Find His Wife
However, Yue opera is not only about the tender romances of ordinary women, but also encompasses themes of loyalty and national duty. In “Farewell at Chongtai”, from The Soul of the Plum Blossom , the heroine Chen Xingyuan is married off to a foreign prince to secure peace for the kingdom, even though it means leaving her true love behind. “These female characters may appear delicate, but they carry immense inner strength.”
In the 1950s, Yuan spearheaded reforms in Yue opera. Over time, the troupe began admitting male actors, and since 1959 it has been performing both all-female and mixed-gender productions, making this a unique feature of the troupe.
Now the troupe is bringing a range of performances to Hong Kong that showcase both all-female and mixed-gender productions. Among them is Family, adapted from Ba Jin’s novel of the same name, which features a male and female cast, with Zhao Zhigang, known as the “Prince of Yue Opera”, in the lead role. “Whether it’s a mixed-gender or an all-female production, Yue opera always stands out because of the way we convey emotions through the story,” Fang concludes.
Text: Eugene Chan
English translation: Stanley Leung
上海越劇院
Shanghai Yue Opera House
2025.2.27-3.1 | 香港文化中心大劇院 Hong Kong Cultural Centre Grand Theatre
Tomitsuyu began as a maiko in 2013 and has dedicated 12 years to mastering her craft.
In the heart of Kyoto, geisha glide across the stage, adorned in resplendent kimonos and moving as gracefully as butterflies. Their enchanting dancing captivates audiences, but the path to becoming a geisha is as challenging as it is beautiful. Tomitsuyu, born into a family steeped in the kimono business, felt the allure of traditional Japanese performing arts from a young age. She made the bold decision to join an okiya (a lodging house where a geisha lives throughout her career) and become a maiko (an apprentice geisha), dedicating herself to this demanding art form.
“Maiko undergo rigorous training in classical Japanese arts,”
Tomitsuyu tells FestMag. This includes learning skills related to the tea ceremony, singing, dancing and instruments such as the shamisen and Japanese bamboo flute. Beyond mastering these arts, geisha must also learn etiquette, customs, the Kyoto dialect and the art of entertaining guests.
Tomitsuyu says her five years as a maiko were demanding. Days typically began at 8am or 9am, followed by a full schedule of lessons. Evenings were reserved for attending banquets at teahouses or ryōtei. Her busy schedule left little room for typical leisure activities. “ There was so much to learn; we were always occupied,” says Tomitsuyu, who will be performing at the 2025 HKAF programme Nagauta and Geisha: Treasured Traditions of Japan. “We hardly had time for phones or the internet.”
Maiko undergo rigorous training in classical Japanese arts, including the tea ceremony, singing, dancing and playing instruments.
Not everyone can endure the rigorous training. Tomitsuyu admits she initially struggled with the traditional group lifestyle and missed her family. “Geisha are always perfectly groomed and poised. Behind the makeup, they strive for perfection. I realised that being a geisha is more than just a job; it's a way of life.”
Twelve years ago, Tomitsuyu completed her training and earned the approval of her okāsan (mentor) and oneesan (senior geisha), marking her transition to a geiko (the Kyoto term for geisha) in the erikae (the turning of the collar) ceremony.
Reflecting on her journey, Tomitsuyu experiences a swirl of emotions. “The night before the ceremony, as my okāsan and oneesan took down my hair and cut a piece off, memories flooded back and I couldn’t help but cry.”
The passage of time has inevitably impacted geisha culture and there are now only around 200 geisha remaining in Kyoto. Tomitsuyu acknowledged the decline of the geisha profession. “Being a geisha is a way of life. Every gesture, every expression must adhere to tradition. Unless you truly love this art, it’s difficult to continue.”
Text: Trista Yeung
日本傳統藝能⸺長唄與藝妓 Nagauta and Geisha: Treasured Traditions of Japan
As the powerful and resonant tones of traditional chants fill the air, the Noh actors, wearing hauntingly mysterious masks, stride solemnly across the stage. Every movement is fluid, yet decisive, revealing why they have been described as “moving sculptures”. This Japanese cultural treasure has long been a passion of Kazufusa Hosho, the 20th grandmaster of the Hosho school. Since then, he has expanded the reach of Nōgaku (including the lyric drama Noh and the comic theatre Kyogen), introducing international audiences to the enigmatic beauty of Japan's aesthetic of yūgen, a profound sense of grace and subtlety.
能劇版《梁祝》全球首演
“Nōgaku is considered an ‘ambient culture’ in Japan, captivating audiences with its tranquil and profound atmosphere, encouraging them to engage in self-reflection,” Hosho tells FestMag. “Nōgaku is deeply rooted in the arts, and rather than imposing its message on the audience, it invites viewers to find their own meanings—much like appreciating a painting or sculpture.”
There are about 250 Noh plays, most of which have been passed down since the Muromachi period, with few new modern creations. However, Hosho has ventured beyond convention and will bring the world premiere of the Noh version of The Butterfly Lovers to the HKAF. “This adaptation embraces the subtle narrative techniques of Noh, paired with melancholic and intricate music, to depict the tragic love story between Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai,” Hosho says.
To capture the essence of Liang Shanbo, Hosho selected the “Kantan-otoko” mask from his family’s collection of more than 500 Noh masks, highlighting the character's melancholy and sensitivity. Hosho explains that Noh masks are the soul of Noh and each mask has a unique expression.
“Performers don't say they ‘wear’ a mask; they say they ‘attach’ it. When a Noh performer wears a mask, it’s as if the character's spirit possesses him,” Hosho says.
Text: Trista Yeung
能劇＋狂言⸺寶生流與大藏流山本家
Noh theatre + Kyogen play— School of Hosho and School of Okura-Yamamoto Ke 2025.3.10 | 香港大會堂音樂廳 Hong Kong City Hall Concert Hall 演出由伍集成文化教育基金會贊助
The performance is sponsored by the C.C. Wu Cultural and Education Foundation Fund
