Virtuoso bassoonist Mathias Racz (principal basson of Zurich's Tonhalle Ochestra) puts his instrument through its paces with the HK Sinfonietta to perform Messiaen's 'The Forgotten Offerings', Mozart's Bassoon Concerto in B-flat K191 and Beethoven's Symphony No 3 in E-flat, Op55 (Eroica).

Virtuoso bassoonist Mathias Racz (principal basson of Zurich's Tonhalle Ochestra) puts his instrument through its paces with a chamber orchestra of Sinfoniettists and other to perform Devnienne's Quartet in G minor for bassoon and strings, Poulenc's Trio Op 43 (oboe, basson & piano) and Roger Boutry's Interferences (bassoon and piano).

At the beginning of the 20th century in Nagasaki, a pleasure-seeking American naval lieutenant (Pinkerton) marries a young geisha (Cio-cio-san/ Butterfly). Against all odds, she is totally committed to the marriage and soon gives birth to a son. But the husband sails back to the US, only returning years later with his new American wife to claim his son.  Devastated, Butterfly makes an excruciating decision to end her life.

OHK's semi-staged production of this enduring tale of unrequited love focuses on the crucial dramatic moments of Puccini's masterpiece. The entire stage will be used to portray Nagasaki and Butterly’s house in the down stage, with costume referencing the first decade of the 20th century.

Note:

- Limited half-price tickets are available for senior citizens aged 60 or above, persons with disabilities and their carers, full-time students and Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) recipients on a first-come-first-served basis.

- Each purchase of any 2 tickets at $350, $250 or $150 is entitled to a pair of exquisite paper fans.

Details at www.operahongkong.org

French accordion virtuoso Richard Galliano is a rare and versatile talent known for drawing an extraordinary range of colours from his instrument. In this concert he offers a fresh new twist on Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and then takes up the bandoneon for an exhilarating musical tribute to tango master Astor Piazzolla. CCOHK completes the Latin-Baroque tinge with a zestful Bach-like fugue in Villa-Lobos’ Bachianas Brasileiras No. 9 conducted by Jean Thorel.

A political figure constantly under public scrutiny has just made a classic mistake, by having an affair, except that it is with one of the other political party’s secretary! As his wife approaches the hotel where he meets his lover, he is about to be caught red-handed.

His reaction? To cover up one lie with ten other lies. Things quickly go disastrously wrong and suddenly he is looking at a murder mystery. Is it even possible to still come out of the situation with his reputation untainted?

Three-time Grammy award winner and saxophonist Branford Marsalis marks his long-awaited Hong Kong debut with a pair of brilliant and lyrical alto saxophone solos by Glazunov and Milhaud. Under the baton of Alexandre Myrat, CCOHK delivers sumptuous strings in Robert Fuchs’ romantically charged Serenade No.3 and some light vaudeville entertainment in Milhaud’s Le Boeuf sur le toit. 

British-Norwegian violinist and fashion model Charlie Siem is one of the hottest properties in classical music today. His solo contributions in this concert include two romantic rhapsodies for violin: Ravel’s gypsy-fired Tzigane and Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending, a soaring and ravishing evocation of a lark in flight. Under the baton of Ken-David Masur, CCOHK is also heard in full flight delivering exquisite pastorale melodies in Grieg’s Holberg Suite and Respighi’s Gli Uccelli. 
 

Footprints in the Snow is another successful crossover presentation melding spoken drama and Cantonese opera on stage. In his last letter to his son Eric who moved to America for decades, legendary Cantonese opera playwright Yip Fei Hung confided that an unproduced script is under lock and key in a “Ying Seung” (“congealed box”). Arriving in Hong Kong to attend his father’s funeral, Eric hears that a new Cantonese opera troupe plans to present a lavish staging of this work. While searching for the script, Eric discovers more about his father’s life and love, including an unusual relationship with a retired actor who specialized in cross-dressing roles. A posthumous script reveals sensibilities hidden for a lifetime, leading to a struggle between two generations in their zeal to protect the legacy of Cantonese opera.

When three witches tell Macbeth that he is destined to occupy the throne of Scotland, he and his wife kill the first man standing in their path, the virtuous King Duncan. But to maintain his position, Macbeth must keep on killing – first Banquo, his old comrade-in-arms; then, as the atmosphere of guilt and paranoia thickens, anyone who seems to threaten his tyrant's crown.

Tang Shu-wing's dynamic interpretation of Shakespeare's tragedy inhabits a hallucinatory world of sound and shadow. It starts in a modern setting with a contemporary couple dreaming they are Macbeth and his fiendish wife. Transplanted back in time to chilling mists, witchcraft, war and apparitions, fate sees their ambition destroyed in a welter of blood.

In a beautifully stark setting, Aurélien Bory’s creation for Stéphanie Fuster explores the lure of flamenco, its familiar heat and passion refined to their essence as a powerful and personal story unfolds.

A smash hit everywhere since its creation in 2009, What’s Become of You? was nominated for an Olivier, Britain’s most prestigious theatre award, in 2014, following its season at the Barbican Theatre as part of London International Mime Festival.