Some people say all beauty is nostalgic, because our memories offer a kind of utopia where all things good and beautiful can be kept safe while what's not beautiful can be filtered out. A 2023 global trend study revealed that the word "nostalgia" is often on people's minds, reflecting a kind of spiritual yearning after the pandemic years.

On the subject of nostalgia, one definitive classic is the film In the Mood for Love, which inspired yet another classic A Sigh of Love, a Sino-French collaboration featuring the Shanghai Ballet, which will be this year's Festival Finale. Interestingly, the Chinese name of both is hua yang nian hua, meaning "years in bloom". Now, after years of disruptions caused by the pandemic, the Hong Kong Arts Festival is ready to return to its own "years in bloom" at the 52nd edition, where we will present more than 1,400 of the best international and local artists.

The fascinating line-up includes a rich collection of timeless classics re-imagined with a contemporary vision and new aesthetics. Works with "nostalgic'' settings include the glamorous reincarnation of Strindberg's masterpiece Miss Julie in post­ war colonial Hong Kong, and Courville by contemporary theatre master Robert Lepage x Ex Machina. Equally inspiring are the Hong Kong theatre adaptation of Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, the reimagining of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar in Peking opera and kun opera, and Ariadne auf Naxos, the opera classic which will open the Festival.

There also won't be a shortage of masters and masterpieces at the 52nd HKAF. The legendary ballet company La Scala returns to the Festival with the world-class production of Le Corsaire, while the Shanghai Kunqu Opera Troupe's complete 55-scene Peony Pavilion, the China National Peking Opera Company, five­-time Grammy award winner Angélique Kidjo, flamenco legend Farruquito and theatre titan Peter Brook's final production, Tempest Project, will all add to another emotionally powerful
season for the Hong Kong audience.

The contemporary productions this year, destined to become the classics of tomorrow, include The Smile Off Your Face and A Game of You by Ontroerend Goed, the Belgian company that has reinvented the theatre experience as we know it. Added to the mix are I Am What I Am, an exhilarating Cantonese musical created by a dream team of music theatre talent, as well as the Baltic Sea Philharmonic, which subverts the very idea of the orchestra.

I hope you will join me and the rest of the Festival team as we return to full strength and celebrate yet another of our glorious "years in bloom".

Flora Yu
Executive Director
Hong Kong Arts Festival