Grammy Award-winning violinist Joshua Bell returns to Hong Kong to open the HK Phil’s milestone 50th season
- The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra’s 2023/24 season, led by music director Jaap van Zweden, begins with the Asian premiere of Bell’s project, The Elements
- Also marking the golden jubilee season will be a series of international tours, appearances by classical music stars and an exhibition of the orchestra’s archival collection
When Grammy Award-winning violinist Joshua Bell was invited to present his latest music project with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra (HK Phil) to kick off its 50th season in September, his answer was an “easy yes”.
“I always have a good time in [Hong Kong], having played several times with the HK Phil. But I haven’t been back in a while because of the pandemic, so it’s exciting to return and present the Asian premiere of my latest work,” Bell said in an interview with the Post from New York City, where he is currently based. “I think of Hong Kong as a major hub for culture and a place I want to come to more often.”
He recently returned from a music festival in Colorado, where he heard The Elements – a highly anticipated music project envisioned and commissioned by Bell – workshopped from start to finish for the first time.
“The work is derived from a concept I’ve had for several years of wanting to come up with not just a new violin concerto, but something with a prominent theme that could be interesting for an audience in the same way that Antonio Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and Gustav Holst’s The Planets have been and still are,” Bell explains.
The Elements, which will first premiere in Europe before making its Asian debut in Hong Kong, is a collaborative work that celebrates the beauty of our natural world. It is made up of six distinct pieces themed around the classical elements and written by leading American composers: Jake Heggie with Fire, Jennifer Higdon with Air, Edgar Meyer with Water, Jessie Montgomery with Space and Kevin Puts with Earth and Earth (reprise and finale).
