Few concert halls in Hong Kong come with a skyline quite like this.
The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra will return to Central Harbourfront on November 13 for Swire Symphony Under The Stars, its annual free outdoor concert pairing classical music with one of the city’s most familiar nighttime backdrops.
This year also marks a first for HK Phil music director Tarmo Peltokoski, who will lead the event for the first time since taking up the orchestra’s top artistic post.
The program moves easily between playful orchestral color, Broadway-inflected melodies and blockbuster film music, giving the evening the broad appeal that has made the concert a fixture on Hong Kong’s cultural calendar.
One of the highlights will see Peltokoski step away from the podium to join Hong Kong pianist Aristo Sham at two pianos for Saint-Saëns’s Carnival of the Animals. Sham, winner of the gold medal at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, returns to perform one of classical music’s most characterful works, with its musical portraits of everything from swans to elephants.
Elsewhere, HK Phil principal clarinet Andrew Simon and vocalist Talie Monin will turn to the unmistakable world of George Gershwin, bringing a touch of American jazz and musical theater to the harborfront stage.
The program will then shift into more cinematic territory with John Williams’s Star Wars Suite, before Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture brings the evening to its traditional high-impact finale, accompanied by fireworks over Victoria Harbour.
Mayanne Mak will return as presenter, guiding audiences through the program.
The format has long made Symphony Under The Stars one of the orchestra’s most accessible annual events. Rather than the formality of a concert hall, audiences can gather outdoors with family and friends, with the Central skyline and harbor becoming part of the experience.
This year’s edition also carries particular significance for Peltokoski, offering a more relaxed setting in which to meet a wider Hong Kong audience beyond the orchestra’s regular concert season.
For those unable to attend in person, the performance will be streamed live through the HK Phil website, Facebook, YouTube and WeChat channels, as well as SwireThrive and Swire Pacific’s Facebook pages. It will also be broadcast live on RTHK TV31, the RTHK website and CCTV.com.
Admission is free, but tickets will be allocated through an online ballot.
Members of the public can register from 10am on October 16 until 7pm on October 20, with each applicant able to request up to four tickets.
Only one ballot entry may be submitted per person. If duplicate registrations are detected, only the latest submission will be processed, while all valid entries made during the registration period will have an equal chance of being selected.
Ballot results will be announced on October 23, with successful applicants receiving confirmation and electronic tickets by email.
Guests can enter by presenting the QR code on their e-ticket on a smartphone or by bringing a printed copy.
marco.lam@singtaonewscorp.com
