Hong Kong Sinfonietta
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Founded in 1990 by a group of local musicians with a mission to bring music closer to the community, the Hong Kong Sinfonietta (香港小交響樂團) today is an orchestra which has a full season with 56 contract musicians and a full-time management.
Re-organised in 1999, the orchestra appointed Tsung Yeh as its Music Director. In April 2002, renowned conductor Yip Wing-sie joined as the new Music Director, and the Hong Kong Sinfonietta continues with its mission, adding to its vision of "investing in a cultural tomorrow" - thus providing a platform for musical talents.
Since 1999, the Hong Kong Sinfonietta has collaborated with an illustrious array of international musicians and groups, including Vladimir Ashkenazy, Augustin Dumay, Fou Ts'ong, Christopher Hogwood, Luciano Pavarotti, Pinchas Zukerman etc. The orchestra has also been regularly on the participant list of all the major festivals in Hong Kong including the Hong Kong Arts Festival, Le French May, and festivals presented by the Hong Kong Government. As an evid believer of keeping music alive and comtemporary, the Hong Kong Sinfonietta was also the orchestra for many years for the local contemporary music festival Musicarama.
On tour, the Hong Kong Sinfonietta became the first Asian orchestra to be invited by the Saint-Riquier Festival to perform in the medieval town in northern France in 2001. In 2004, the orchestra returned to the Festival, as well as to the Flâneries Musicales d'Eté de Reims, as part of the Year of China in France. In August 2005, the orchestra was invited to two Lithuanian Festivals and was also the first Chinese orchestra to perform at the National Philharmonic Hall in Warsaw. In May 2006, the Hong Kong Sinfonietta was invited to join the biggest Mozart Festival in the world in Tokyo, playing six concerts at La Folle Journée Festival. The Orchestra returned to the Festival in 2007, playing six concerts under the theme of "Harmony of People". It also made its début at the 2007 Shanghai Spring International Music Festival.
At home, the orchestra performs year round, mostly at the Hong Kong City Hall Concert Hall. In 2006, it performed over 70 times with local and international soloists and groups such as the Hong Kong Ballet and Opera Hong Kong. Apart from standard orchestral repertoire, the Hong Kong Sinfonietta commissions new works every year and also ventures into crossover concerts with other art forms. It also boasts a rich Chinese orchestral repertoire which few orchestras in the world can rival with, mostly recorded on the HUGO label.
On the educational front, Hong Kong Sinfonietta pioneered specially-designed "educational" concerts for different age groups. New concepts on the Hong Kong concert stage: HKS for Kids (for children), Short-cut to Classical Music and Know Your Classical Music (for adults) have, since their inception in 2000, provided a new realm in "audience development".
