2006 Hong Kong Arts Festival Advance Sales Break Records! Counter Booking begins Saturday

December 01st, 2005

The five-week advance booking period for the 2006 Hong Kong Arts Festival has now come to an end.  Response has been exceptionally strong, with the box office income accounting for over HK$14 million, which has set a new record for advance sales.  Over 7,200 advance booking forms were received, which exceeds last year’s total by 1,300. More than 48,000 tickets – 44% of the total capacity – are already sold.  Patrons continued to make use of the quick and convenient electronic booking facility, with almost two-thirds of the advance bookings placed via the Internet, an increase of 30% over last year's total.

Tickets going fast!Counter booking for tickets will go on sale from 10:00am on Saturday, 3 December from all URBTIX outlets.

Fans and Festival goers who have not yet booked their seats will be able to purchase the remaining tickets over the counter at URBTIX outlets from the end of this week onwards. Tickets to performances at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts will also be available from HK Ticketing outlets.

Top 12 Best-sellers Based on the actual number of tickets sold, the top 12 favourite programmes are: Birmingham Royal Ballet – Beauty and the Beast, National Theatre of Britain - The History Boys, Semper Opera Dresden and Opera Nuremberg – Don Giovanni, U-Theatre and the Shaolin Temple Wushu Training Centre - A Touch of Zen, Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan – Cursive: A Trilogy, Actors' Family - The Legend of the White Snake, The Unexpected Man, Eva Yerbabuena Ballet Flamenco - Eva, Michael Tilson Thomas and San Francisco Symphony, Rosas, Circus Ronaldo - La Cucina dell’Arte and Salif Keita.

There are only a limited number of remaining tickets to these much sought after performances: ExxonMobil Vision - Pong Nan in Concert, ExxonMobil Vision – Lio Kuok Wai Piano Recital, The History Boys, Beauty and the Beast and La Cucina dell’Arte. Tickets to the above performances are scarce so act fast!

Extra showsAs a result of this strong demand the Festival is also delighted to announce extra shows. There will be one additional evening performance of Red Priest on the 26 February; one additional evening performance of A Touch of Zen on the 27 February; and one additional evening performance of The Unexpected Man on the 12 March.

Ticket hotlinesAs well as booking tickets over the counter, patrons can also order their Festival tickets on the following hotlines:URBTIX Telephone Reservations: 2734 9009 (from 4 December onwards)URBTIX Telephone Credit Card Bookings: 2111 5999URBTIX Registered Patron Telephone Application and Bookings: 2734 9011HK Ticketing Booking Hotline: 31 288 288 (for HK Academy for Performing Arts performances only)

Half-price Student TicketsThrough the Student Ticket Scheme, the Arts Festival is able to provide half-price student tickets for full-time students. Thanks to the many philanthropic donors, the Scheme will provide some 9,000 student tickets. The donors include CYMA Charity Fund Ltd, HSBC, Lee Hysan Foundation, Zegna Cultural Foundation and two anonymous Platinum Award donors. We would like to extend our sincere appreciation to all corporate and individual donors who have shared our vision in making arts events accessible to young people.

The Festival Programme & Booking Guide is available at all URBTIX outlets, while free copies of the Festival VCD/CD-ROMs with video intros and CD samplers with audio excerpts of selected programmes can be picked up from the Festival Information Counters located at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre and Hong Kong City Hall (while stock last). More information on the Festival can also be found on our web site at www.hk.artsfestival.org.

For further enquiries, please contact Ms Katy Cheng on 2824 3555.

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