Vivaldi meets Silk Road at Hong Kong Prison Yard Festival
The historic Tai Kwun complex transforms into a stirring music hub combining classical with contemporary, featuring the Australian Chamber Orchestra, local talent and a blend of traditions
While this heritage complex in Central was once a place of silence and restraint during its many decades as a police station and prison, a music festival this month is set to transform the yard into a spirited outdoor performance space. From December 5 to 15, the Prison Yard Festival returns with a series of concerts, with the Australian Chamber Orchestra (ACO) headlining the line-up. Under the artistic direction of Richard Tognetti, the ACO will present six ticketed programmes, reflecting on the historical interactions between Western and Eastern musical traditions, with performances designed to juxtapose classical repertoire with contemporary works.
A highlight will be Vivaldi’s Four Seasons reimagined in collaboration with Egyptian-Australian oud virtuoso Joseph Tawadros. This performance, to be held on December 5 and 8, will conjure the old Silk Road, where western Europe and the Ottoman Empire converged, fusing Italian baroque with Arabic elements – reminiscent of a time when Venice was one of the world’s most powerful entrepots.
On December 7, the ACO will perform Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings, flanked by modern compositions such as Wojciech Kilar’s Orawa and Pavel Haas’ String Quartet No 2, arranged for a string ensemble. These pieces draw inspiration from Eastern European folk traditions from Poland’s mountainous Podhale region, as well as the Moravia region of the Czech Republic.
The Cong Quartet, winners of the 2022 Adolfo Betti Award, will also take part in the festival. Their concert on December 8 will feature Hong Kong-born, Philadelphia-based composer Adrian Wong’s Childhood Sweet, which captures the essence of local desserts – think durian, herbal jelly and tofu pudding – through music. The performance will culminate in Schubert’s String Quintet, with ACO principal cellist, Timo-Veikko Valve, joining the quartet to explore the themes of joy and anxiety in the Austrian composer’s final works.
The festival will continue to feature local talent, welcoming back a chamber ensemble led by Wang Liang, the second associate concertmaster of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. They will perform George Enescu’s virtuosic Octet, showcasing each musician as a soloist within a unified ensemble. Enescu’s work pays homage to Bach, incorporating complex fugues that reflect his deep appreciation for the German composer’s legacy.
