The Hong Kong Music Series

A bevy of more than 70 of Hong Kong’s finest composers, musicians and artists will be descending on London this month in the first large-scale musical exchange between the two cities. Committed to generating fusions and establishing dialogue, the Hong Kong Music Series promises to marry the fruits of two rich musical scenes.

An inaugural concert at St John’s Smith Square will place British composers Holst, Bridge and Britten alongside Hong Kong counterparts such as Doming Lam, who’ll contribute his arrangement of verse by the famous Chinese poet of the 8th century, Li Bai.

Transporting us to inner-city Hong Kong later in the season is a photographic series by architect Anthony Lai. Images are to be accompanied by a lyrical score composed by Fung Lam and performed by jazz guitarist Teriver Cheung. The installation, Hong Kong Episodes, joins a triple bill of contemporary works by the creative team Music Lab, Fingerman X Beloved Clara X SMASH, at Wilton’s Music Hall.

Renowned Kunqu opera singer Kong Aiping will draw on classical Chinese poetry, against a backing of traditional instruments, in Beyond the Senses at the Shaw Theatre. With more opera to send the whole series off with a bang, Datong: The Chinese Utopia, a chamber opera based on the life of 20th-century Chinese scholar KANG Youwei, gets its European première right here in London.

From contemporary to opera, there should be a piece to suit every taste – appropriate in a series dedicated to celebrating music’s power to bring communities together.