Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra Artistic Director and Chief Conductor: Edo de Waart

Mission Statement

The mission of the Hong Kong Philharmonic is to inspire and expand musical appreciation in Hong Kong and to be a financially secure institution that brings distinction to the community through the Orchestra’s enriching performances and premier regional standing.

Profile

"HKPO’s beautifully poised string phrasing, homogenous wind sound and impeccably restrained brass suggested that you might hear different, but not better.” South China Morning Post

The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra (HKPO) is one of Asia’s leading orchestras. Enriching Hong Kong’s cultural life for over a century, the Orchestra has grown into a formidable ensemble of Chinese and international talents, attracting world-class artists to collaborate on its stage. HKPO annually touches the lives of over 200,000 music lovers through more than 150 performances. Under the leadership of Artistic Director and Chief Conductor Edo de Waart, HKPO continues to scale new heights in musical excellence. The continuing cycle of Mahler symphonies and challenging programming outside the traditional repertoire, have become highly anticipated events as well as musical milestones for the Orchestra.

Celebrated artists continue to grace our halls in the 2010/11 season: Lang Lang, Sumi Jo, Midori, Vadim Repin, Cho-Liang Lin, Wang Jian, just to name a few. Hong Kong audience will be treated to the music-makings of Maestro Carlo Rizzi, Ton Koopman and Stéphane Denève. Simon Trpčeski, who headlines the Rachmaninov cycle, will return with another brilliant interpretation of the composer’s famous Second Piano Concerto; while Russian composer Tchaikovsky will bring a close to a memorable season in a three-part concert tribute.

From April 2006, The Swire Group Charitable Trust became the Hong Kong Philharmonic’s Principal Patron. Swire’s sponsorship of the Hong Kong Philharmonic, the largest in the Orchestra’s history, supports artistic growth and development as the Orchestra takes its place on the world stage, and brings performances of musical excellence to the widest possible public. HKPO stays in tune with our city by presenting the orchestra in unexpected venues and bringing the excitement of the concert experience to every home through radio and television broadcasts including the largest symphonic event of the year, Swire Symphony Under the Stars at Happy Valley. The Orchestra runs a comprehensive schools education programme, HSBC Insurance Creative Notes, bringing the joy of classical music to primary, secondary and special school kids, and once in a while, the Orchestra drops the formality of the classical concerts to crossover with Western and Chinese pop stars. In February 2008, the Hong Kong Arts Development Council honoured the HKPO with the Arts Promotion Award, in recognition of its success in expanding its audience base and gaining public support in recent years.

The Orchestra also builds its reputation and raises its artistic standards by touring. Apart from participating in the Shanghai Spring International Music Festival and the Beijing Music Festival, the Orchestra undertook a China tour of Guangzhou, Beijing and Shanghai under the leadership of Maestro Edo de Waart in January 2009. This September, de Waart and the HKPO appear at the Expo 2010 Shanghai, performing Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and the newly commissioned work Rong written by Hong Kong composer Fung Lam in the Shanghai Oriental Art Center, as the first stop of the 2010 China tour. It will be followed by performances of Mahler’s Seventh Symphony in the Xi’an Concert Hall and Beijing’s National Centre for the Performing Arts.

The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra is financially supported by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
SWIRE is the Principal Patron of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra
The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra is the Venue Partner of the Hong Kong Cultural Centre