The Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia - Roma, returning to Hong Kong after a seven-year absence, will grace the Leisure and Cultural Services Department's (LCSD) Great Music 2025 this November under the baton of its newly appointed artistic director, the world-class conductor Daniel Harding. Marking the first stop of the Orchestra's Asian tour this year, the two concerts present exceptional collaborations, featuring the celebrated Italian pianist Beatrice Rana, a rising star on the European and American classical music scene, who will make her Hong Kong debut to perform a Ravel work, and three of today's most acclaimed opera vocalists that will conclude the programme with a grand rendition of Act I of Wagner's "Die Walküre". This is an unmissable event for both classical music and opera lovers.
 
　　The two concerts will open with the overture from Verdi's grand opera "Les vȇpres siciliennes". The first concert (November 20) will also feature pianist Rana, joining the Orchestra for a performance of Ravel's "Piano Concerto in G" - a work infused with jazz and Basque folk music elements that creates a rhythmically vibrant and entertaining dialogue between the piano and the orchestra. The evening will conclude with Rachmaninov's "Symphony No. 2 in E minor, Op. 27".
 
　　The second concert (November 21) is dedicated to masterpieces by great opera composers, featuring the overtures from Rossini's "William Tell" and Verdi's "La forza del destino". The Orchestra will also present a concert version of Act I of Wagner's "Die Walküre" - the second installment of the "Ring" cycle, and the very piece that opened its current season. The performance boasts a stellar cast, with tenor Klaus Florian Vogt and soprano Miina-Liisa Värelä as the god Wotan's twins Siegmund and Sieglinde, and bass Kwangchul Youn portraying Sieglinde's husband Hunding. This concert version will be performed exclusively in Hong Kong during the Orchestra's Asian tour.
 
　　The Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia - Roma was founded in 1908 and was the first in Italy to dedicate itself exclusively to the symphonic repertoire, promoting premieres of 20th-century masterpieces, including "Fontane di Roma" and "Pini di Roma" by Italian composer Ottorino Respighi. The Orchestra has collaborated with some of the greatest musicians and has been conducted by figures such as Mahler, Debussy, Richard Strauss, Stravinsky, Sibelius, Hindemith, Toscanini and more. It has performed in prestigious concert halls, such as the Berlin Philharmonie, Semperoper Dresden, and the Musikverein and Konzerthaus in Vienna. In recent years, the Orchestra's extensive recording activities have garnered international awards. Among the recordings, Puccini's "Turandot" won the International Classical Music Award for "Best Opera".
 
　　Harding is currently the music director of the Orchestra and Chorus of the Academia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and the music director of Youth Music Culture, The Greater Bay Area. He is honoured with the lifetime title of Conductor Laureate of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, with whom he has worked for over 20 years. He also served as the music and artistic director of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra for 18 years. Moreover, he has led critically acclaimed productions at the Teatro alla Scala Milan, the Vienna State Opera, the Royal Opera House, the Covent Garden and at the Aix-en-Provence and Salzburg Festivals. In 2002, Harding was awarded the title Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Government and in 2017 nominated to the position Officier Arts et Lettres.
 
　　Pianist Rana won the first prize and all special prizes at the Montreal International Competition at the age of 18, and has gained widespread recognition by receiving the Silver and the Audience Award at the 2013 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. In 2015, her first album featuring Prokofiev's "Piano Concerto No. 2" and Tchaikovsky's "Piano Concerto No. 1" with the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia - Roma, received international acclaim, including "Gramophone" magazine's Editor's Choice. She also won Young Artist of the Year at the 2017 Gramophone Classical Music Awards.
 
　　Hailed as one of the most promising sopranos in the dramatic field by "Opernmagazin", Värelä has performed Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde" with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel. In 2025, she made an outstanding debut at the Bayreuth Festival, an annual mega-event for Wagnerian opera. 
 
　　Vogt is acclaimed as one of the finest Wagner tenors of our time, renowned for his distinctive vocal artistry. His portrayal of the Knight of the Grail in Wagner's Lohengrin has taken him to the world's most important opera stages, including the Metropolitan Opera, the Royal Opera House and the Vienna State Opera. He was awarded Best Male Singer in the OPER! Awards 2025. 
 
　　Youn is one of today's most celebrated basses, and has performed on many international opera stages such as the Opéra de Paris, the Vienna State Opera and the Berlin State Opera. In 2018, Youn was awarded the title of "Kammersänger" by the Berlin State Opera, as well as the Ho-Am Prize in the Arts, cementing his status as a Korean national treasure.
 
　　The concerts by the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia - Roma will be staged at 8pm on November 20 and 21 (Thursday and Friday) at the Concert Hall of the Hong Kong Cultural Centre. Tickets priced at $450, $650, $850, $1,050, $1,250 and $1,450 are now available at URBTIX (www.urbtix.hk). For telephone bookings, please call 3166 1288. Discount schemes are available for the programmes to be held from October to November under Great Music 2025. For programme enquiries and concessionary schemes, please call 2268 7321 or visit www.lcsd.gov.hk/CE/CulturalService/Programme/en/music/programs_1836.html.
 
　　Two pre-concert talks (to be conducted in Cantonese) will be held at 6.45pm on November 20 and 21 respectively at Level 4 Foyer, Auditoria Building, Hong Kong Cultural Centre. The first talk entitled "A Tale of Two Worlds: Rachmaninov's Romance and Ravel's Jazz" will be hosted by music educator Calvin Lai, while the second talk entitled "IG Opera" will be hosted by voice pedagogue Chan Siu-kwan. Admission is free, with limited seats available on a first-come, first-served basis.
 
　　The LCSD's Great Music 2025, running from June to November this year, brings together world-class musicians and a celebrated orchestra for a spectacular lineup of performances, showcasing the city's unique charm as an international centre of arts and culture. For more details, please visit www.lcsd.gov.hk/CE/CulturalService/Programme/en/music/groups_1840.html.

Ends/Monday, October 20, 2025
Issued at HKT 11:00

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