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Christopher Halls
Christopher Halls had an extensive career as a professional freelance violinist in Europe, the US and in his native Australia. He is a graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne and the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. He has been writing classical music reviews for the South China Morning Post since 2017.
Sharon Choa draws inspired playing from City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong and oboe and harp soloists, until lack of balance lets them down.
Lu, 2018 Leeds International winner, shows enough Baroque feel for Handel, is on surer ground in Schubert and comes into his own in Chopin.
Soloist Liya Petrova was up to most of the challenges posed by the Sibelius violin concerto, and received great support from the Sinfonietta. Asian premieres of two UK composers’ works were a mixed bag.
His playing by turns spectacular in execution and spellbinding in its tenderness, Bulgarian-Chinese cellist Zlatomir Fung and pianist Cheung, never second fiddle to him, deliver a recital to remember.
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Orchestra under Estonian maestro give a chilling account of Shostakovich’s Symphony No 5, after some riotous Rimsky-Korsakov and a commanding Stravinsky Violin Concerto with soloist Alena Baeva.
Senri Kawaguchi’s inspired drumming brings alive Hong Kong composer Ng Cheuk-yin’s Fly LIVE! and new work An Array of Stars in a fusion concert with Hong Kong orchestra.
Period instrument ensemble Concerto Italiano showed their mastery of baroque in a set of Vivaldi concertos; the Lucerne Festival Strings, performing with solo violinist Akiko Suwanai, were good in parts.
18-year-old British composer, conductor and performer awes Hong Kong audience with on-the-spot improvisation to cap concert featuring three of her orchestral compositions.
Performers who tackle Schubert’s piano sonatas need to understand how to bring out the layering of the composer’s musical ideas. Paul Lewis did that in spades in his concluding recitals in Hong Kong.
Chinese violinist Ning Feng’s immaculate playing in a Mozart trio, epic Brahms from the Miró Quartet and uncanny two-piano interplay marked the return of Hong Kong’s annual chamber music festival.
Chinese pianist Lang Lang mixes power-packed chords with spellbinding tenderness in a performance of Beethoven’s Concerto No 3 with the Hong Kong Philharmonic under Jaap van Zweden.
In Musicus Soloists Hong Kong’s evening of Nordic music, violinist Angela Chan’s solo in Arvo Pärt’s Fratres stands out, while their playing of Grieg’s Piano Concerto with Louis Lortie is eye-opening.
Celebrated soloist’s focused, warm and engaging tone, and communication with Hong Kong orchestra’s players, make for a memorable performance of Dvorak concerto. ‘Great listening’, indeed, as Ma said.
German violinist’s playing of Mozart’s Violin Concerto No 3 was by turns joyous, silky and seductive, and she gave an assured Asian premiere with the Hong Kong Sinfonietta of a concerto written for her.
British pianist Benjamin Grosvenor exhibited phenomenal dexterity during his ‘Chopin & Liszt’ piano recital that brought the house down at the Hong Kong City Hall.
The Elements for violin and orchestra has its Asian premiere with Joshua Bell as soloist, while performance of Tchaikovsky’s 4th symphony will go down as a highlight of Jaap van Zweden’s tenure in Hong Kong.
Star violinist Hilary Hahn showed her technical prowess in Brahms’ violin concerto, while Jaap van Zweden led a passionate and edgy rendition of Tchaikovsy’s Symphony No 6.
Korean-American violinist and Chinese star pianist, frequent chamber music partners, deliver a dazzling recital featuring works by Debussy, Grieg, Rachmaninov and the ‘Belgian Paganini’ Vieuxtemps.
The award-winning Verona Quartet brought the house down in their Hong Kong debut, with a chamber music masterclass full of intensity, impressive synergy and refined individual performances.
City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong, dressed as the players of Haydn’s 18th century patron Prince Esterházy would have been, entertain in performance of excerpts from 17 of composer’s works.
Estonian guest conductor draws a stirring performance of Sibelius’ Symphony No 5 from the Hong Kong Philharmonic and, with Chinese soloist Zee Zee, a sparkling, playful Liszt Piano Concerto No 2.
Violinist Isabelle Faust and pianist Alexander Melnikov were on the same page throughout their performance of Beethoven’s 10 sonatas for violin and piano, their playing equal parts brilliant and illuminating.
Russian pianist’s distinctive interpretation and devotion to blending the solo part’s lines with the playing of the Hong Kong Sinfonietta marked their performance of Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No 3.
Superb artistry, depth of interpretation and the sheer joy of the playing from young South Korea-born female musicians and local stand-in violist marked the Esmé Quartet’s concert.
The vastness of the Hong Kong Cultural Centre challenged the Insula period instrument orchestra, but Chinese pianist Yuan Sheng, playing a period piano, excelled.
Canadian shows dexterous touch, precision and uncanny maturity in two Chopin works, silky skills in Ravel’s impressionistic Miroirs, and mischief and fireworks in a demanding work by Liszt.
Vasily Petrenko, rumoured to be taking over from HK Phil’s music director Jaap van Zweden, conducted with calm and fluidity, while pianist Boris Giltburg amazed all with his total clarity and precision.
The Romer String Quartet came up trumps with their Mozart and Dvorak performances, the latter of which saw them joined by local pianist Rachel Cheung, at Hong Kong City Hall.
German showed beguiling lyricism, deft touch and brilliant dexterity in a high-octane programme of Beethoven sonatas, capped by a memorable ‘Waldstein’.
Orchestra’s sound palette, unique but hard to pin down, and supple power were on full display in programmes of late Romantic music, rounded off with Viennese waltzes and polkas.
