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The globally renowned Academy of Ancient Music from the UK will visit Hong Kong in June for a concert featuring the sought-after British soprano Elin Manahan Thomas.
Under the leadership of its principal violinist, Pavlo Beznosiuk, the orchestra will perform Vivaldi's best-known baroque masterpiece, "The Four Seasons". Among the concertos will be a series of aria excerpts from Purcell's "The Fairy Queen" and Handel's "The Triumph of Time and Truth", "Ezio" and "Giulio Cesare".
The Academy of Ancient Music was founded in 1973 by Christopher Hogwood and was at the cutting edge of a revolution that swept across the musical world. Over the past 40 years the orchestra has performed live throughout the world and has produced Brit Award and Grammy Award-winning recordings.
The orchestra is renowned for thrilling audiences with its fresh, engaging performances of baroque and classical music. Playing original instruments and inspired by original sound worlds, the Academy of Ancient Music's music making takes on the spirit of exploration, innovation and free thinking that Bach, Handel and Haydn would have known.
Swansea-born Elin Manahan Thomas read Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic at Clare College, University of Cambridge, before moving to the musical world. Her recent performances include John Blow's "Venus and Adonis" in the Wigmore Hall, a British tour performing Handel with the Academy of Ancient Music, Fauré's "Requiem" with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and Vivaldi's "Gloria" at Snape Maltings with the City of London Sinfonia. Her operatic appearances range from Belinda in "Dido and Aeneas" to Berlioz's "Les Troyens".
The concert by the Academy of Ancient Music is presented by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department. It will take place at 8pm on June 23 (Sunday) at the Concert Hall of Hong Kong City Hall. Tickets priced at $100, $200, $300 and $400 are now available at URBTIX outlets, on the Internet and by credit card telephone booking. Half-price tickets are available for full-time students, senior citizens aged 60 or above, people with disabilities and their minders, and Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) recipients (limited tickets for CSSA recipients available on a first-come, first-served basis). A five per cent discount is offered for a single purchase of tickets for this programme and "Encore Series - Guitar Recital by Pepe Romero" to be held on June 16 at Hong Kong City Hall. Please refer to the programme leaflets for details.
A pre-concert talk by Dennis Wu will be held at 6.45pm on June 23 in the South Committee Room, 7/F, High Block, Hong Kong City Hall. Conducted in Cantonese, the talk will be free of charge on a first-come, first-served basis.
For programme enquiries, please call 2268 7321 or visit www.lcsd.gov.hk/CE/CulturalService/Programme/en/music/program_182.html. Ticketing enquiries can be made on 2734 9009 and credit card telephone bookings on 2111 5999. Tickets can also be booked online at www.urbtix.hk.
Ends/Monday, April 15, 2013
Issued at HKT 17:33
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