International line-up for Hong Kong Arts Festival

Theatre legend Peter Brook, jazz saxophonist Ornette Coleman and the London Philharmonic Orchestra will be amongst the headline acts of the Hong Kong Arts Festival, which takes place from 14th February – 16th March 2008.

The major arts festival, now in its 36th year, brings international artists to the stages of Hong Kong as well as showcasing home-grown talent across a programme of music, theatre, dance and opera. In 2008, the line up will include some of the world’s finest performers from Hong Kong, China, Europe and the USA.

Highlights of the theatre programme include Fragments, a series of five short plays by Samuel Beckett directed by his personal friend, Peter Brook. The American Repertory Theatre presents a new twist on a Greek myth in Orpheus X, where the eponymous hero is reinvented as a vacuous rock star.

Hong Kong theatre will be represented in two productions specifically commissioned for the Hong Kong Arts Festival - Shakespeare’s bloody tragedy Titus Andronicus and The Shape of Things by Neil LaBute - whilst China’s most prominent director, Lin Zhaohua, will bring a production of Ibsen’s The Master Builder to the stage, performed in Putonghua with English and Chinese subtitles.

Teatro Regio di Parma presents the Asian premiere of Giuseppe Verdi’s monumental opera Rigoletto, offering audiences a rare chance to enjoy an authentic, 100 per cent Italian opera. The New York Philharmonic, under the direction of Lorin Maazel, and the London Philharmonic Orchestra, under the direction of Vladimir Jurowski, will join the Jazz Awards 2007 Musician of the Year, Ornette Coleman, and Hungarian pianist András Schiff in the musical programme.

Classical dance lovers will be treated to spectacular performances of Swan Lake and Onegin from the repertoire of revered choreographer John Cranko, staged by Stuttgart Ballet. The festival will also incorporate contemporary dance as the Pina Bausch Tanztheater Wuppertal returns to Hong Kong with Vollmond.

All events in the Hong Kong Arts Festival will be accessible to English-speaking audiences, with some events performed in English and others offering subtitles for international audiences.

The Hong Kong Arts Festival will take place at various venues in Hong Kong including HK Cultural Centre, the Lyric Theatre HKAPA and HK City Hall.

For further information on the Hong Kong Arts Festival, including full details of performance dates and productions, please see Hk.artsfestival.org.