Background
The orchestra has promoted Hong Kong-based composers by commissioning and premiering numerous works of contemporary music, including the recent five-work cycle of Voices of Hong Kong, by John Chen, David Gwilt, Daniel Law, Law Ping-leung and Richard Tsang.
In February 1986, the HKPO made its debut tour of several cities in the People's Republic of China, with conductor Kenneth Schermerhorn and soloists Stephanie Chase (violin) and Li Jian (piano). In the autumn of 1995, the HKPO travelled to 9 cities in the United States and Canada in its North American début. In 2003, the orchestra made its European début with performances in London's Barbican Hall, Belfast, Dublin and Paris (Théâtre des Champs-Élysées).
Edo de Waart was the orchestra's Artistic Director and Chief Conductor, beginning with the 2004-2005 season, and he concluded his HKPO tenure after the 2011-2012 season. Past Music Directors include David Atherton, who is now the orchestra's Conductor Laureate. In January 2012, the HKPO announced the appointment of Jaap van Zweden as its next Music Director, as of the 2012-2013 season, with an initial contract of 4 seasons.
Of its HK$108 million budget for the 2009/2010 season, about sixty percent came from the Hong Kong government. The remaining forty percent came from box office revenue, performance fees, sponsorship, advertising and donations.
The orchestra gives more than 140 performances annually to an audience of over 180,000 in various venues including the Concert Hall of the Hong Kong Cultural Centre and the City Hall Concert Hall. In addition to classical performances, it occasionally appears backing local pop stars such as Hacken Lee, Jacky Cheung, Frances Yip, Teresa Carpio, Leehom Wang and Hins Cheung.
Read more about this topic: Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra
Famous quotes containing the word background:
“I had many problems in my conduct of the office being contrasted with President Kennedy’s conduct in the office, with my manner of dealing with things and his manner, with my accent and his accent, with my background and his background. He was a great public hero, and anything I did that someone didn’t approve of, they would always feel that President Kennedy wouldn’t have done that.”
—Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973)
“They were more than hostile. In the first place, I was a south Georgian and I was looked upon as a fiscal conservative, and the Atlanta newspapers quite erroneously, because they didn’t know anything about me or my background here in Plains, decided that I was also a racial conservative.”
—Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)