12 HK | CULTURE Friday, August 31, 2018 DAILY HONG KONG EDITION Music Season of operatic bounty The Fall 2018 season is underway in HK and its neighboring cities. Peter Gordon has the lowdown.

Chinese soprano He Hui sang the lead in Puccini’s in an Opera Hong Kong production in 2015. This season she’s back in Soprano Etta Fung (left) with Colette Lam in Opera Hong Kong’s Macao, Shenzhen and Beijing. The Magic Flute.

Sopranos Oksana Dyka (left) and Mlada Khudoley (center) sing in Hong Kong in October with tenor Alfred Kim.

Mozart’s The Magic Flute was Opera Hong Kong’s season-opening show this year.

he Fall 2018 opera Paolo Olmi will be in the pit Hartman (who returns from performed on Nov 10 and 11. season (and yes, this for this entirely new produc- both the 2012 and 2013 pro- And for those who want an- year there really is a tion from Opera Hong Kong ductions). This will also be a other dose of Puccini, local vo- “season”) kicked o and New York City Opera. The chance to appreciate perfor- cal startup More than Musical Tlast weekend with the Opera show stars Oksana Dyka, one He Hui will perform several roles as part of her 20th anniversary tour, including in a New Year’s Eve mances by the leading local is staging a “reduced” version Hong Kong production of of the world’s most renowned concert in Macao. PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY mezzo-soprano Carol Lin as of Puccini’s Tosca from Oct 30 Mozart’s The Magic Flute at contemporary Turandots, well as the award-winning to Nov 3, sung by Karen Ho City Hall. These semi-staged joined by Alfred Kim, who conductor Lio Kuokman. Chia-ling, who appeared in summer productions are de- sang Calaf at Covent Garden purveyor of quack potions. popular and heart-rending ous Hong Kong productions, Dream of the Red Chamber at signed to showcase local sing- and Valeria Sepe who will Puccini returns to wrap up story of a young Japanese including Korean soprano Getting intimate the 2017 Hong Kong Arts Fes- ers. This year the soprano Etta be remembered from her the season of full-scale pro- girl wooed and dumped by Lee Sang-eun (Gilda in the Interleaving these are a tival. Fung made a stunning Queen poignant Desdemona in the ductions with Musica Viva’s a dashing American naval 2013 Rigoletto), tenors Domi- quartet of smaller produc- Several vocal concerts of of the Night and showed her- company’s 2016 production of Madama Butterfl y from Dec o cer will feature several nick Chenes (Rodolfo in last tions. Musica Viva will be of- note have been lined up as self as a singer to watch. . 7 to 9 at City Hall. This ever- singers returning from previ- year’s La Bohème) and Je rey fering a local-cast production well. On Sept 29, Chinese The must-see highlight of Also featuring a world- of Donizetti’s comic opera prima donna and Hong Kong the season will surely be the class cast is the curtain-raiser Don Pasquale on Sept 28 and favorite He Hui is singing at company’s Turandot, running for the Macao International 29, while the Macao festival the Shenzhen Concert Hall as at Hong Kong Cultural Cen- Music Festival at the end of is putting on what may well part of her 20th-anniversary tre Grand Theatre from Oct September: Donizetti’s best- Well Met be the Chinese premiere of tour. For those who won’t 10 to 14. Puccini’s fi nal opera known comedy, the bubbly Paralleling the live per- Semiramide (a serious op- opera house o ers seats as Gioachino Rossini’s one-act mind traveling a bit to listen is the tale of the eponymous L’Elisir d’Amore. The leads in formances is a season of era, not a comedy, this time) good as those a orded to the comedy Il Signor Bruschino to their favorite soprano, she Chinese ice princess melted this Zurich Opera House pro- recorded Live from the Met and Jules Massenet’s take on Live from the Met cameras. performed by the Chamber is reprising at National by an implacable love. With duction are the internation- broadcasts. These are on Cinderella, Cendrillon. They Most importantly, perhaps, Opera of Geneva at the iconic Centre for Performing Arts in no desire to marry, she sets ally renowned Mexican tenor in cinemas and other loca- feature international stars of all the singers in these pro- Dom Pedro V Theatre on Oct Beijing on Oct 23. On Nov 29 suitors three unanswerable Arturo Chacón-Cruz and Ital- tions around town, includ- like Plácido Domingo, Sonya ductions, only Joyce DiDona- 12 and 13. Both are archetypal He is back in Hong Kong at riddles to be solved on pain ian soprano Laura Giordano, ing Bethanie and the new Tai Yoncheva, Michael Fabiano to has visited Hong Kong in romantic farces about mixed the Youth Square Y Theatre to of death. Prince Calaf is none- who sang the opera together Kwun JC Cube, from Septem- and Joyce DiDonato. living memory and that was identities from two of Italy’s participate in the Italian Cul- theless smitten and nothing earlier this year at Palermo’s ber through December. These Seeing opera on the big for something very di erent. leading bel canto composers. tural Institute-hosted TriOp- will dissuade him from trying Teatro Massimo. Filled with up-close and high-defi nition screen is no substitute for a These broadcasts, clear Something entirely dif- era — a trio of soprano, fl ute his hand. To everyone’s sur- irrepressible music, The Elixir performances are highlights live performance but it’s cer- and vivid, with easy-to-follow ferent comes in the form of and piano — in a free Rossini prise and Turandot’s horror, of Love tells of the country from the Metropolitan Op- tainly complementary. For subtitles, are great intro- Shanghai-born and Pulitzer concert to celebrate the com- he solves the riddles, but of- bumpkin Nemorino, hope- era’s recent season: Puccini’s one thing, Hong Kong will ductions to opera for those Prize-winning composer Du poser’s 150th birth anniver- fers her a way out: If she can lessly in love with the town’s La Bohème and Tosca, Gi- probably freeze over before new to the form. Beginners Yun’s modern English-lan- sary. guess his name by dawn, she’s “it” girl, Adina, who has just useppe Verdi’s rarely-per- someone produces Luisa should check out the emo- guage opera Angel’s Bone, The year 2018 closes out in o the hook. Cue Nessun Dor- gotten herself engaged to a formed Luisa Miller, Mozart’s Miller or Cendrillon here. tional roller-coaster of La Bo- which deals with the di cult style with He performing in ma (No one must sleep), Puc- visiting sergeant. Nemorino Così Fan Tutte, Donizetti’s Also, broadcasted shows hème or the rom-com L’Elisir subject of human tra cking. a New Year’s Eve concert at cini’s most famous tenor aria. procures the help of Dr Dul- L’Elisir d’Amore, Rossini’s come a lot cheaper, and no d’Amore. It forms part of the New Vi- Macao Cultural Centre Grand Veteran Italian conductor camara, a less-than-honest sions Arts Festival and will be Auditorium.

Comment How HK arenas can bring back the stars By REBECCA LO None of Hong Kong’s venues is opened in 1994 with 40,000 seats. was designed to be a scoreboard stage and have to squint at the ceil- are typically found wanting in the cav- purpose-built for arena-style mu- for instant replays rather than ing-mounted scoreboard to be able ernous 19-meter-high hall. The MTR On June 29 and 30, Canadian sical extravaganzas. Hong Kong Poor vision showcase a performer’s virtuosity. to see anything. Moreover, interna- station is at the opposite end of the chanteuse performed Coliseum in Hung Hom, opened Cantopop concerts usually take The 1,600-square-meter Coliseum’s tional acts have to start the booking 70,000-square-meter complex and com- in Macao’s Arena. The show in 1983 with a seating capacity of a back seat to sporting events, uni- two tiers of balcony seating are po- procedure way ahead of the perfor- peting with the tra c headed to and followed her March 2008 Taking 12,500, was originally designed to versity congregations and the an- sitioned on a continuous incline mance dates to secure a spot at the from the adjacent Hong Kong Interna- Chances World Tour, also per- be an indoor sports facility, comple- nual Miss Hong Kong beauty pag- rather than staggered. This means Coliseum. Most don’t bother. tional Airport can be a nightmare after formed at the then spanking new mented by the outdoor Hong Kong eant at the Coliseum. The central that those in the back rows are AsiaWorld-Expo’s arena, opened a concert is over. Venetian Arena. This was the sec- Stadium in Causeway Bay which four-sided color projection system nearly 60 meters away from the in 2005 with a seating capacity of By comparison, Cotai Arena’s 15,000- ond time Dion had passed over 14,000, should have been the an- seat capacity within 13,440 square me- Hong Kong to sing in our sister swer. The 10,880-square-meter ters features staggered inclined seat- SAR. arena is nearly seven times the ing. Together with its 22-meter ceiling The last time Dion performed in size of the Coliseum yet with just height, the steeper seating puts fans Hong Kong was in 1999. A part of 12 percent more seating, which closer to the stage, with more inclined her Let’s Talk About Love World means that its shallow inclines put sightlines that minimize restrictions. Tour, the show took place on a Kai fans further away from the action The entire arena o ers free Wi-Fi, al- Tak airstrip. Dion has a reputation with more restricted sightlines. The lowing fans to share their experience for covering every inch of a stage screens are too small, and acoustics instantaneously. Rigging, staging and to personally address fans. It is no carpentry specialists help artists put on wonder then that she chose the a sophisticated and seamless show. The state-of-the-art Cotai Arena, twice, upper level has its own dedicated esca- over a return to Kai Tak. lators and concourse similar to contem- Dion is not alone. Since its open- porary stadiums, making it easy to fi nd ing in 2007, Cotai Arena has hosted a seat as well as leave the venue when performers ranging from Beyoncé the show’s over. Even factoring in the to the South Korean Su- hour-long ferry ride back to Hong Kong, per Junior and Hong Kong starlet it may be quicker to get home after at- G.E.M., although Macao’s popula- tending a concert at Cotai Arena than tion is roughly a tenth of Hong AsiaWorld. Kong’s. Local, regional and inter- Left: Canadian superstar Celine Dion If Hong Kong wants to be Asia’s world national superstars increasingly has repeatedly passed over Hong Kong city, it needs to up its game to attract pick Macao over Hong Kong. And venues in favor of performing in Macao’s high-caliber acts with venues that do Hong Kong residents think nothing Cotai Arena. Above: South Korean boy their talent justice. And that includes re- band Wanna One performed in Hong of hopping across the Pearl River examining its current o ering of arena- Kong’s AsiaWorld-Expo in July. PHOTOS Delta to catch a concert. PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY sized venues.