HK Phil brings its 1974 inaugural programme back to the stage in celebration of 50th anniversary season
- The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra will restage the concert that marked its professional debut, playing Beethoven’s Egmont Overture and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No 5
- Three of the ensemble’s former and current musicians – Fan Ting, Andrew Simon and Richard Bamping – share their memories of several other significant milestones
In 1974, an amateur ensemble called the Sino-British Orchestra turned fully professional, becoming formally known as the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra – or the HK Phil, as it is often affectionately called today.
To open this chapter in the orchestra’s history, the HK Phil performed its inaugural concert on January 11, 1974, which featured Beethoven’s Egmont Overture and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No 5.
Fast-forward 50 years, and the orchestra is once again set to perform these two masterpieces in January along with Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy, to celebrate its golden jubilee. For many of the HK Phil’s long-serving musicians, this milestone is certainly a meaningful, even moving occasion worth observing.
“The HK Phil’s journey from an amateur orchestra to one of the best orchestras in Asia is a good journey. This is also a journey of my life. After all, I started to play with the HK Phil when I just turned 14,” says Fan Ting, formerly the orchestra’s principal second violin and now a member of the HK Phil Board of Governors.
The anniversary also feels intimately personal for Andrew Simon, the orchestra’s principal clarinet. “I moved to Hong Kong [from the United States] in 1988 and joined the HK Phil when I was 25. Today, I am 60 years old and serving my 35th season, which makes me perhaps the longest-serving principal clarinet in the world,” he says with a note of awe.
