Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra’s European tour with Jaap van Zweden makes up for lost time
- A tour planned to milk HK Phil’s 2019 Gramophone orchestra of the year win, but delayed by Covid-19, finally happened. Post Magazine joined players on the road
On Valentine’s Day in 2024, Vanessa Chan, director of orchestral operations at the Hong Kong Philharmonic, had her final weekly check-up call with the European agent organising its forthcoming tour.
Covid-19 made that impossible, but five years on, van Zweden is leaving the orchestra at the end of June, and there’s been no announcement about his successor.
This European tour, the longest in the orchestra’s history, was now being billed as part of its 50th anniversary celebrations.
The plan was to begin with a warm-up performance in Singapore, from where the orchestra would fly to Frankfurt, Germany, and then make its way to Dresden for the first European concert. During the Valentine’s Day meeting, agents told Chan it looked as if Lufthansa, which has been having a season of industrial discontent, would not be on strike the following week. That was Wednesday.
Two days later, Chan discovered she had Covid-19 – the same night the orchestra played the first half of its touring programme at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre for the (full-house) enjoyment of its domestic audience.
