For this exceptional duo night, we are featuring artists from the East and the West, bridging the two different cultures, instruments and interpretations. The Chinese pianist Niu Niu will bring all the transcendent classics to the Hong Kong audience, including solo version of Beethoven/Liszt – Symphony No. 5, and Niu Niu world premiere composition Impromptu No. 1 “Hope”. Niu Niu will also collaborate with French cellist Laurent Perrin on Gabriel Fauré’s Élégie, Après un rêve & Chinese folk tune Colorful Clouds Chasing the Moon for cello & piano.

Programme:
Niu Niu – Piano
Niu Niu – Impromptu No. 1 “Hope” (World Premiere)
Ludwig Van Beethoven – Franz Liszt Symphony No 5 (Transcribed for piano)

Laurent Perrin – Cello & Niu Niu – Piano
Gabriel Fauré
Élégie in C Minor Op. 24
Sicilienne in G Minor Op. 78
Romance in A Major Op. 69
Après un rêve in C Minor Op. 7 No. 1
Colorful Clouds Chasing the Moon arr. by Niu Niu for Cello and Piano

* The performance will last for 62 minutes with no intermission

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Copyright © 2021 French May Arts Festival in Hong Kong. All rights reserved

Bordeaux Wine, Nouvelle cuisine, Haute couture and Impressionist paintings — French culture has been fascinating the world with its sophistication and individualism. In the beginning of the twentieth century, French music undoubtedly made their marks in the history of Western Classical Music by their unconventional aesthetics of sound and the obsession of exploring ambiguity. Giocoso Trio will present to you a series of French music, ranging from Debussy to Koechlin. Experience a little temptation and sparkles for a soothing night.

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Copyright © 2021 French May Arts Festival in Hong Kong & Giocoso Trio. All rights reserved

Life comes full circle as any wise man will echo. With the restless tides ebb and flow, one would wonder if time unconsciously stands still. Rendezvous2, with our seasoned musicians, will explore this whimsical music journey of timeless classics that leads us back to our memory lanes once we incidentally met. Joining us in this chamber music night, we have Forstmann Quartett from Seoul, internationally renowned pianist and young talents from HK.

Presented by

Supported by

Copyright © 2021 French May Arts Festival in Hong Kong & Nicole Ho. All rights reserved

Let’s sing for MAYAA is an incredibly unique musical show putting together professional and semi-professional French & HK musicians from various musical background to offer an eclectic concert combining Opera, Jazz, French songs, Gospel, Flamenco, and even a marching band, as well as 2 young prodigies of international level. 2021 will be the 5th edition of this concert: 100% of the proceeds goes to MAYAA, a HK based charity supporting poor children for their education and their families, in HK and Nepal.

*The presenter reserves the right to change the program and the schedule should unavoidable circumstances make it necessary.

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In collaboration with

Copyright © 2021 French May Arts Festival in Hong Kong & Mayaa Hong Kong. All rights reserved

What if someone says the piano could sing as well as the Golden Oriole? Or, what a flute piece has to do with the density of platinum?

Project M0CH3 is a Hong Kong based flute and piano duo founded by Stephen Lee (flute) and Christine Cheng (piano). The duo aims to bring to the audience all the new Classical music written for flute and piano from around the world. In French May 2021, the group will present a refreshing programme featuring French contemporary classics, including Le Loriot by Messiaen, Le fou à pattes bleues by Murail, Density 21.5 by Varèse, as well as the electronic reimaginations of two iconic French classics by Debussy and Satie. To complete this French contemporary musical feast, Project M0CH3 will also perform a Nocturne by Louis Vierne, a composer who is considered as the precursor of Rock n’ Roll; a highly virtuosic Sonatine by the musical descendant of the impressionistic tradition, Dutilleux, and the celebrated Concertino by the pioneering female composer Chaminade. Join Project M0CH3 on 7th May 2021 at the Hong Kong City Hall Theatre and have a sweet taste of the latest French flute and piano music.

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Copyright © 2021 French May Arts Festival in Hong Kong & Project M0CH3. All rights reserved

Come travel with Happy Gabby to France for his Debussy Musical Adventure! Dress up as your favourite toy and be transported into the Toy Box, where wonder abounds. Take your ears on a musical journey, and let your imagination run wild! Bon Voyage!

Suitable for aged three and above.

Programme
DEBUSSY (arr. Luck) Clair de lune
DEBUSSY La boîte à joujoux (The Toy-Box)
DEBUSSY Children’s Corner: The Snow is Dancing, Golliwog’s Cake-Walk

*The performance will last for 1 hour with no interval.

Presented by

Copyright © 2021 French May Arts Festival in Hong Kong & Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. All rights reserved

In this delightful programme of 20th-century French musical treats, French conductor Sylvain Gasançon takes you to the Swiss Alps with Honegger’s atmospheric tone poem, and also leads you through a fascinating insect garden created by Roussel. Along the way, hear master orchestrator Ravel’s depiction of a little princess dancing a beautiful pavane, and a tribute to his friends in the Couperin suite. Born in France, HK Phil Co-Principal Flute Olivier Nowak will showcase his virtuosity in Ibert’s light-hearted concerto.

Programme
Honegger – Pastorale d’été
Ibert – Flute Concerto : 1st Movement
Ravel – Pavane pour une infante défunte
Milhaud – Concerto for Percussion
Roussel – Le festin de l’araignée excerpt
Ravel – Le Tombeau de Couperin

*The performance will last for 1 hour with no interval.

Presented by

Copyright © 2021 French May Arts Festival in Hong Kong & Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. All rights reserved

France always gives an impression of romance and french music is popular amongst the music lovers. Violinist Jue Yao will join hands with pianist Rachel Cheung, along with young musicians of Hong Kong String Orchestra exploring this charming country by presenting few French chamber music composed by Chen Qigang, Fauré and Chausson. Let’s enjoy the food of love – Music.

Programme:
Qigang Chen – L’Eloignement for String Orchestra
Fauré – Piano Quintet No.2 in C Minor, Op. 115
Chausson – Concerto for Piano, Violin and String Quartet in D Major, Op. 21

*The performance will last for 1 hour and 45 minutes with intermission.

Co-presented by

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Copyright © 2021 French May Arts Festival in Hong Kong & Hong Kong String Orchestra. All rights reserved

The 1998 film The Red Violin dramatises the “biography” of a mysterious and beautiful instrument made by the master string builders of Cremona, following its reversals of fortune over four centuries and across the globe. American composer John Corigliano won an Oscar for his breathtakingly beautiful and emotionally intense score for this movie.

This film is classified as Category II B. Not suitable for young persons and children.

Programme
John CORIGLIANO The Red Violin

*The performance will last for 2 hours 10 minutes with an interval.

Presented by

Copyright © 2021 French May Arts Festival in Hong Kong & Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. All rights reserved

City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong (CCOHK) pays homage to the legendary French pianist, jazzman and composer Claude Bolling in this electrifying jazz-for-all programme. Bolling’s crossover feat, the Suite for Jazz Trio and Chamber Orchestra is pure ear candy and brings Latin, ragtime, stomp and free modern jazz styles to an orchestral setting. Dazzling keyboard work and a melange of jazz and Latin rhythms are on offer in the Suite for Piano, Strings & Harp by the Grammy-award winning Michel Camilo. CCOHK is joined by Patrick Lui, semi-finalist at the Bucharest International Jazz Competition, and top jazz artists Sylvain Gagnon and Nate Wong in this exceptional jazz-classical tour de force.

Programme
Michel Camilo Suite for Piano, Strings & Harp
Claude Bolling Suite for Chamber Orchestra & Jazz Piano Trio

* With pre-concert talk by Vahan Mardirossian before performance on 1 Jun (Tue) 7:15pm
For more details, please see here.

Co-presenter Major partner

Supported by

香港城市室樂團為藝發局資助團體
CCOHK is financially supported by the HKADC

Copyright © 2021 French May Arts Festival in Hong Kong, City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong, Vahan Mardirossian © Raffi Mardirossian, Patrick Lui © PazuChan & Sylvain Gagnon © Lawrence Leung. All rights reserved.

George Balanchine’s glittering masterwork Jewels was inspired by a chance visit to iconic jewelers Van Cleef & Arpels on Fifth Avenue in New York, and since its premiere in 1967, it has become one of the most renowned works of the twentieth century. This dazzling three-act ballet celebrates the beauty and glamour of precious gemstones: in Emeralds, Balanchine evokes the French romantic style; in Rubies, he celebrates American exuberance and energy; and in Diamonds, he presents the magnificent grandeur of Imperial Russia. With music by Fauré, Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky performed live and extravagant costumes, the modern classic Jewels is the epitome of glamour!

Choreographer: George Balanchine
Live Accompaniment: City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong
Principal Guest Artist (Emeralds · Diamonds): Daniel Camargo
Piano (Rubies): Rachel Cheung

*The performance lasts approximately 2 hours, including 2 intermissions

Presented by Title Sponsor

Champagne PartnerMake-Up Partner

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Artist Residency & Programme Partner Media Partner

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Copyright © 2021 French May Arts Festival in Hong Kong & Hong Kong Ballet. All rights reserved

Arise is a project of openness, exposure and encounters. Christian and François Ben Aïm chose to work with new artistic collaborators, artists whose work they have been following for many years.

For the music, Piers Faccini, who creates restrained, captivating music by blending guitar and vocals, piano, organ, strings or wind instruments. Tinged with a radiant tone that has a shadowy side, it finds an echo in sacredness and clemency. His voice is his favourite instrument, and accompanies the piece with colour and simplicity.

For the dance, Brigel Gjoka, (National Opera of the Rhine, Nederland Dans Theater, Forsythe Company). Four artists and authors are therefore on stage, including Christian and François Ben Aïm. The performance can be adapted to include guest artists, dancers or musicians depending on the occasion, to create a dialogue with the specific characteristics of each individual performance space.

Arise is an invitation to stand up, transform, shine and radiate. The issues raised in the piece like the introspection, the spirituality, the loneliness and elevation are by essence timeless classics, universal and ageless philosophical questions. While this project was born in the heart of a chapel, it was made to be adapted and to circulate, to be subsequently performed in specific venues, sacred or atypical, steeped in history, be they imbued with a soul or empty and abandoned, provided they encourage a thoughtful reflection on the space and the notion of elevation. This is a timeless moment, a break, a “back into life” that allow to take the road differently. This poetic performance, this universal tale, reveals what is most alive in each of us, a new vision of the world, a new way to look destiny but a classic question of human being, an existential reconsideration that is an intrinsic value of human life.

SACRED
Just as some monuments contain relics, we ask, where is the sacred within us? Dance is our catalyst and our filter in this quest, allowing the body to attain a dimension that is normally hidden. The piece also features choreographic moments, experiences and situations of presence that constitute myriad attempts to uncover the essence of what we are, that sacred part of our humanity. It seeks to bring forth and reveal this buried vein of pure metal.

TRANSPARENCY
If an invitation to contemplation imposes itself, the piece wishes above all to experience the opposite movement: that of openness, associated with a feeling of freedom and heightened senses, a turning outwards, a radiation that borders on the search for transparency.

VOICE
The music, played live, is considered the essential counterpoint to the physical and emotional charge of the venue, in that it relates to the present moment and tones down grandiloquence. However it also includes a vocal element, created in connection with what the voice calls forth from its interior vibration, from which the music finds embodiment. It is also about giving space to speech, which belongs to humanity.

Presented by

Copyright © 2021 French May Arts Festival in Hong Kong & Unity Space. All rights reserved.

Looking Back: 12 Years of The MET: Live in HD in Hong Kong brings you three French operas in the encore season this year! In Massenet’s Werther, star tenor Jonas Kaufmann brings aching intensity and vocal charisma to the tortured title hero, Sophie Koch, is an appealing and elegant Charlotte, the object of Werther’s passionate affection that will lead to tragedy. Richard Eyre’s atmospheric production is conducted by rising maestro Alain Altinoglu. Kaufmann will also sing the title role in Gounod’s Faust, adapted from the classic German legend. René Pape as Méphistophélès is menacing and elegant in equal measure, and Marina Poplavskaya delivers a searingly intense portrayal of the innocent Marguerite. This thrilling production is by Des McAnuff, Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts. Exhilarating soprano Lisette Oropesa shines as the title role in Massenet’s Manon, the young girl who is so obsessed with money that it leads to her tragic demise. This performance also features tenor Michael Fabiano as the impetuous Chevalier des Grieux and baritone Artur Ruciński as Lescaut. Maurizio Benini is on the podium to lead one of the most passionate scores in the French operatic repertoire.

Emperor Cinemas (Entertainment Building)
Address: 3/F, Entertainment Building, 30 Queen’s Road Central, Central

Festival Grand Cinema
Address: Level UG, Festival Walk, 80 Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon Tong

K11 Art House
Address: Level 4, K11 MUSEA, Victoria Dockside, 18 Salisbury Rd, Tsim Sha Tsui

MOViE MOViE Pacific Place
Address: Level 1, Pacific Place, 88 Queensway Road, Admiralty

MCL Cyberport Cinema
Address: Shop 103 on Level 2, The Arcade, Cyberport, No. 100 Cyberport Road, Pokfulam

Premiere Elements
Address: 2/F, ELEMENTS, 1 Austin Road West, Kowloon

Please visit presenter’s official website for ticketing details: www.themetinhongkong.info

Presented by:

Copyright © 2021 French May Arts Festival in Hong Kong & Foundation for the Arts and Music in Asia. All rights reserved

Organised by Alliance Française de Hong Kong with the support of the Consulate General of France in Hong Kong and Macao, French May Cinema Program is an invitation for you to “jump down the rabbit hole” to discover the Fantastic Fantasy of French filmmakers.

From illusionist and filmmaker Georges Mélies’s special effects (as seen in A Trip to the Moon / Le Voyage dans la lune), to Michel Gondry’s phantasmagoric sets of the subconscious (Mood Indigo / L’Ecume des jours), to the dreamy and imaginary world of Amelie’s film director Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Micmacs / Micmacs à tire-larigot), French Cinema explores the poetic depths of fantasy as a genre.

This year’s edition will draw you into a world of fairy tales and parallel universes. This selection of ten films not only includes new releases and rarely screened classics – such as “Donkey Skin” (Peau d’Âne) by Jacques Demy, and “The Beauty and the Beast” (La Belle et la Bête) by Jean Cocteau, but also family-friendly films such as “Tales of the Night” (Les Contes de la nuit) by Kirikou’s director Michel Ocelot, and “The King and Mister Bird” (Le Roi et l’oiseau) by Paul Grimault.

Last but not least, the Hong Kong’s Premieres of “The Lost Prince” (Le Prince oublié) by Michel Hazanavicius – starring Omar Sy (famous Lupin and TheIntouchables’ main character).

Online Booking: www.cinema.com.hk

Tickets available at the box office and ATM at the cinema from 20 April 2021 onwards

*The presenter reserves the right to change the program and the schedule should unavoidable circumstances make it necessary.

Presented by: Sponsors:

Supported by:

Venue Sponsors:

Copyright © 2021 French May Arts Festival in Hong Kong & Alliance Française de Hong Kong. All rights reserved