Oh, To Believe In Another World – A film by William Kentridge

One of Hong Kong’s flagship orchestras, Hong Kong Sinfonietta has brought music closer to the community, and achieved significant local and international recognition for its passionate performances and innovative programming. The orchestra has collaborated with an illustrious array of international musicians and groups, including in recent years Ilya Gringolts, Martin Helmchen, Sergei Nakariakov, Jean-Guihen Queyras, Krzysztof Penderecki, The Royal Ballet, English National Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet and Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch.

Hong Kong Sinfonietta is a regular guest at international arts festivals and has toured 47 cities around the world. As an avid believer of keeping music alive and contemporary, the orchestra commissions and performs new works every year, and has enjoyed many triumphs with cross-genre productions such as A Soldier’s Story, The Passage Beyond in Concert and Pica Pica Choose, which melded dance and theatre with music to wide critical acclaim. It also became the first local orchestra to appear on the cinema screen in 2020 with its groundbreaking Back On Stage concert film series, and in 2021 further ventured into the cinematic world by co-curating the “Life is Art” film festival with MOViE MOViE. Following the success of the first edition in 2018, the orchestra organised the 2nd Hong Kong International Conducting Competition in 2023, providing a platform for young conductors to establish a network in Asia and attracting applications from 45 countries/regions around the world.

Hong Kong Sinfonietta has thrived under the leadership of Yip Wing-sie, one of Asia’s foremost conductors who was the orchestra’s Music Director from 2002-2020, and has been Music Director Emeritus from 2020 onwards. In April 2023, conductor, violinist, chamber musician and pedagogue Christoph Poppen took on the post of Music Director, while continuing his highly successful collaboration with the Cologne Chamber Orchestra as Principal Conductor, the Israel Chamber Orchestra as Principal Guest Conductor, and the Marvão International Music Festival as Artistic Director.

Conductor, soloist, chamber musician and pedagogue, Christoph Poppen has made a name for himself in diverse roles in the international musical world. Currently Music Director of Hong Kong Sinfonietta, he is also Principal Conductor of the Cologne Chamber Orchestra, Principal Guest Conductor of the Israel Chamber Orchestra, and Founder and Artistic Director of the Marvão International Music Festival. From 1995-2006, he was Artistic Director of Munich Chamber Orchestra, establishing the ensemble’s new profile in a short period of time. His distinctive programmes, often contrasting classical and contemporary styles with numerous commissioned works, have been highly successful.  He has appeared with orchestras such as Vienna Symphony, Staatskapelle Dresden, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Bamberg Symphony, Camerata Salzburg and Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra.

As an opera conductor, Poppen has collaborated with Staatsoper Stuttgart, Oper Frankfurt, Opera Köln etc. As a prize-winning violinist, he co-founded the Cherubini Quartet in 1978, and has been Professor of Violin and Chamber Music at Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich since 2003, as well as Chair Professor of Violin at the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía in Madrid since 2021.

Born in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1955, William Kentridge is internationally acclaimed for his drawings, films, theatre and opera productions, and creates works of art that are grounded in politics, science, literature and history, yet maintaining a space for contradiction and uncertainty. A frequent participant of Documenta in Kassel (2012, 2002 & 1997) and the Venice Biennale (2015, 2013, 2005, 1999 & 1993), his work has been seen in leading museums and galleries including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Albertina Museum in Vienna, Musée du Louvre in Paris and Royal Academy of Arts in London, as well as opera houses such as the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala and English National Opera. His theatrical productions – in particular his celebrated collaborations with the Handspring Puppet Company – have been performed across the globe. He was awarded the Commandeur dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in France and the Order of the Star of Italy, and received honorary doctorates from universities including Yale University, University of London and Columbia University.