Hong Kong Arts Festival 2024 highlights – Van Gogh set to music, ballet from Teatro alla Scala, Angelique Kidjo’s return, a full-length The Peony Pavilion
- Immersive Van Gogh with the Netherlands Chamber Choir, the Bavarian State Opera in Richard Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos – festival promises a feast for arts fans
- The Teatro alla Scala ballet company will perform Le Corsaire, there’s Peking opera Shakespeare, a 55-scene The Peony Pavilion and Grammy winner Angélique Kidjo
Audiences have come to expect at least a few big spectacles at the annual Hong Kong Arts Festival: opera, ballet and preferably, a few world-famous stars performing.
“This is the first fully back-to-normal edition since the pandemic. We are bringing back advance booking since the full line-up can be confirmed by October.
“And we are bringing shows that were delayed from when the Hong Kong borders were shut, as well as new commissions and touring productions that reflect the way the world has changed in the last few year,” she says.
Big-budget showcases include the Bavarian State Opera’s version of Richard Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos, the ballet company of Milan’s Teatro alla Scala performing Le Corsaire, an immersive audiovisual experience that combines Van Gogh’s paintings with music performed by the Netherlands Chamber Choir, and an inventive combination of classical music and heavy metal by the Baltic Sea Philharmonic.
Other spectacles include Peking opera pioneer Wu Hsing-kuo’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar and the Shanghai Kunqu Opera Troupe’s performance of the complete, 55-scene classic The Peony Pavilion.
