Press Releases

The Hong Kong Arts Festival

Announces Full Programme Line-up of the 55th HKAF in 2027

Advance Bookings start at 10am on 7 October 2026

(Hong Kong, 6 October 2026)

The Hong Kong Arts Festival (HKAF) is pleased to announce the full programme line-up of the upcoming 55th HKAF scheduled to take place in February and March 2027, featuring nearly 1,500 outstanding international and local artists in over 190 performances of about 45 programmes, as well as about 300 “PLUS”, outreach and education events.

Detailed programme and ticketing information can be found on the HKAF website: www.hk.artsfestival.org/en/, and in the Festival’s Programme and Booking Guide, now available at major performance venues. Advance Bookings will open at 10am on 7 October 2026 on the website, by fax and by post.

“Organising an international arts event of this scale requires us to work extremely hard every year to raise the necessary funds. The Festival’s total budget this year is estimated to be over HK$160 million,” says Professor Lo Kingman, Chairman of the HKAF. “I would like to thank the Hong Kong SAR Government for providing a recurrent subvention that made up around 11% of our annual income through the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, with an additional 21% through Matching Grant. The Festival is expected to earn 24% of its income from ticket sales, with the remaining 44% coming from sponsorship and donations. I would like to take this opportunity to extend my heartfelt gratitude to all our sponsors and donors. In particular, I want to thank The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, which has been giving us tremendous support since the Festival’s establishment in 1973.”

Ms Flora Yu, Executive Director of the HKAF, introduces the programmes and outreach activities to be presented during the Festival: “As the HKAF steps into its 55th edition, this year’s Festival remains dedicated to bringing the world’s finest artists and works to Hong Kong.

The Festival will open on 18 February with a concert by Canadian pianist Bruce Liu and the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, and will conclude on 19 March with the magnificent Spartacus, presented by Kazakhstan’s State Ballet Company of Astana Opera Theater.

Audiences can look forward to an incredible range of groundbreaking works by visionary artists. Renowned directors and performers are reimagining traditional works through innovation, offering emotionally charged new stage productions adapted from theatrical classics. As always, the music programme features many highly acclaimed musicians and ensembles, spanning timeless classical masterpieces to newly reinterpreted popular music, and presenting a musical landscape of remarkable breadth and diversity. Opera and Chinese opera likewise form an important part of the Festival, encompassing both Western operatic treasures and celebrated works from the Chinese operatic tradition. The Festival’s artistic map this year extends further than ever before, reaching into Central Asia, Central Europe and the Caucasus, opening windows onto rich artistic traditions and creative voices that are seldom seen in Hong Kong. The Festival also upholds its commitment to arts technology with projects that push the boundaries of performing arts. To mark the Festival’s 55th edition and share the celebration with the community, we are also specially presenting the arts tech project Deep Space Hong Kong, which will run throughout the Festival. (For a full list of programmes, please see the next section of this press release.)

To further enrich the audience’s festival experience, the HKAF will again offer its longstanding series of ‘PLUS’ events, designed to encourage deeper audience engagement with the artists and their works. The Festival will also continue to organise a rich variety of arts education activities to foster a better understanding and interest in the performing arts among the younger generation.”

THE 55th HKAF PROGRAMME LINE-UP

FESTIVAL OPENING

The Festival Opening, a part of the Hong Kong Jockey Club Series, features Bruce Liu with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal. Led by Music Director Rafael Payare, the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal—one of the world’s leading orchestras—joins forces with Canadian pianist Bruce Liu, gold medallist of the 18th International Chopin Piano Competition, in Rachmaninov’s much-loved Second Piano Concerto.

FESTIVAL FINALE

The Festival closes in grand style with ICBC (Asia) Sponsors the HKAF Festival Finale: The State Ballet Company of Astana Opera Theater—Spartacus. A landmark of Soviet ballet, Yuri Grigorovich’s heroic staging of Spartacus brings together thrilling male dancing, a heartbreaking love story and Aram Khachaturian’s magnificent score, performed live by the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra.

OPERA

The 55th HKAF presents a sparkling work by the Slovenian National Theatre Opera and Ballet Ljubljana, allowing audiences to enjoy the wit, charm and vocal brilliance of a great comic opera.

• Johann Strauss II’s Die Fledermaus (The Bat), is the world’s best-loved operetta, overflowing with melody, champagne, mistaken identities and social intrigue, brought vividly to life by the company’s orchestra, chorus, soloists and dancers. The Mar 12 performance is a part of the Hong Kong Jockey Club Series.

MUSIC

The 55th HKAF offers a rich and wide-ranging music line-up, bringing together world-class orchestras, great masters, distinguished soloists, historic choral institutions, rising stars and cross-genre collaborations. Highlights range from monumental Bach passions to K-pop re-imagined for symphony orchestra.

• Jaeden Izik-Dzurko with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal: 2024 Leeds Competition gold medallist performs Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto, paired with works by Denis Gougeon and Richard Strauss.

• Bach’s St Matthew Passion marks the 300th anniversary of the work’s premiere, performed by the historic Thomanerchor Leipzig for which Bach himself served as cantor, together with Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, one of the world’s oldest orchestras.

• René Jacobs, B’Rock Orchestra and Zürcher Sing-Akademie—Bach’s St John Passion brings Bach’s sacred piece to life on period instruments, led by Baroque specialist René Jacobs.

• Steven Isserlis Cello Recital showcases one of today’s most distinctive cellists in an intimate programme ranging from Beethoven and Schumann to Janáček and Martinů, with pianist Connie Shih.

• Hankyung arte Philharmonic x SM Classics: K-pop Concert brings K-pop anthems into the concert hall on a symphonic scale. The Seoul-based orchestra performs orchestral arrangements of hits from SM Entertainment’s catalogue, joined by guest vocalists.

• Esther Yoo x Haochen Zhang Duo Recital brings together two acclaimed young musicians in a programme tracing the German-Austrian violin sonata tradition through works by Beethoven, Brahms and Richard Strauss.

• Fantasies in Dialogue: Traditions and Transformations—Ryan Chan and Anne Lam Organ Recital: Ryan Chan and Anne Lam perform on the Hong Kong Cultural Centre’s 8,000-pipe organ.

• The Art of the Prelude—Jaeden Izik-Dzurko Piano Recital follows the Romantic prelude tradition from Chopin and Scriabin to Franck and Rachmaninov.

• Yun Zeng x Zijian Wei—Horn and Piano Concert features Berliner Philharmoniker Principal Horn Yun Zeng and award-winning pianist Zijian Wei in a rare duo recital exploring the expressive range of the horn through Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Ravel, Falla and Piazzolla.

• Yun Zeng x Zijian Wei—A Horn and Piano Fairytale Adventure is a family-friendly concert combining performance, humour and instrument demonstration, featuring music inspired by Hansel and Gretel, Flight of the Bumblebee and other lively works.

• Alison Lau & Stan Geudens in Recital—Darkness for While is set in the tranquil Nan Lian Garden. Home-grown soprano Alison Lau and Belgian period plucked-string specialist Stan Geudens offers an intimate dialogue between the voice and the theorbo.

• Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra: The Flower Princess—A cantata for Chinese orchestra, narrator, and six singers pays tribute to Tang Ti-sheng ahead of the 110th anniversary of his birth and the 70th anniversary of The Flower Princess’s premiere, with music by Chan Hing-yan and text by Nicholas Louis Chan.

• Hong Kong Sinfonietta: Jazz, Classical & Everything in Between features two distinctive concerts curated by homegrown artists Cy Leo and Daniel Chu. Conducted by Yip Wing-sie, the programmes bring together classical music, jazz, improvisation and new creative voices from Hong Kong.

WORLD MUSIC

• Yandong Grand Singers & Bulgarian Eva Quartet brings together Kam Grand Song, the polyphonic choral tradition of Guizhou’s Kam people, and Bulgaria’s women’s close-harmony singing. The two ensembles perform separately before joining voices in a cross-cultural finale.

JAZZ

• Pianist and musicologist Ralph van Raat plays the jazz piano legend Keith Jarret’s The Köln Concert.

ARTS TECH

The Festival continues to embrace arts technology through mixed reality, immersive performance and interactive digital environments.

• The Wharf Group Proudly Sponsors Deep Space Hong Kong is a 55th HKAF anniversary special, presented in partnership with Ars Electronica from Austria. This immersive multi-user environment transforms a physical space into a series of interactive worlds, from games and cultural heritage to natural science, Hong Kong’s geology and an original experience by local artists.

(This programme is not available for Advance Bookings and will be open for public sales from 3 December)

• Jockey Club InnoArts Series: SHIFT by Ulf Langheinrich is a world premiere commissioned and co-produced by the HKAF, challenging the audience’s perception of reality through an immersive choreography of bodies, light and sensation.

• Playing with Fire: An Immersive Odyssey with Yuja Wang is a mixed-reality concert experience the in which a world-class Steinway Spirio player piano features Yuja Wang’s pre-recorded performance accompanied by her holographic presence in a 360-degree VR environment.

CHINESE OPERA

The 55th HKAF celebrates the richness of Chinese operatic traditions with the finale of its three-year Cantonese opera project and a landmark celebration of Peking and Kun opera.

• 300 Years of Cantonese Opera: The Next Chapter—The Orphan of Zhao concludes the Festival’s three-year Cantonese opera project with a contemporary re-imagining of one of Chinese drama’s most enduring classics, led by Artistic Director Yuen Siu-fai and written by Keith Lai.

• A Grand Celebration of Peking and Kun Opera—Classic Peking Opera Excerpts in Concert brings together leading artists Yu Kuizhi and Li Shengsu, joined by renowned guest artists and performers in more than 20 celebrated arias spanning two centuries of Peking opera.

• A Grand Celebration of Peking and Kun Opera—A Peking and Kun Opera Gala presents two gala performances in a single day, featuring festive opening rituals and excerpts from beloved Peking and Kun opera classics. The programme marks both the 30th Anniversary of the Establishment of the HKSAR and the 55th Anniversary of the HKAF.

DANCE

The 55th HKAF dance line-up brings together bold contemporary ballet, Central Asian classical grandeur, French choreographic legacy and the raw energy of Argentine tango.

• In Alexander Ekman’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Ballett Dortmund delivers a contemporary ballet adaptation of Shakespeare’s classic, marking the Hong Kong debut of this visually arresting full-length dance work inspired by Swedish midsummer traditions rather than Shakespeare’s plot. This Feb 19 performance is a part of the Hong Kong Jockey Club Series.

• In L’Arlésienne and Carmen by Roland Petit, the State Ballet Company of Astana Opera Theater performs a double bill of 20th-century French ballet masterworks. The matinee performances, presented as The Hong Kong Jockey Club Student Matinee Programme, are solely sponsored by The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust (by special arrangement with selected schools).

• DelOtroLado Company reveals in Tango Patagonia a lesser-known side of Argentina’s tango culture beyond Buenos Aires. The programme combines classic tangos, original music, dance, physical theatre, live performance and visual projections.

DANCE THEATRE

• Hamlet, Prince of Denmark is adapted as a multi-media dance theatre. Directed by Robert Lepage and choreographed by Guillaume Côté, who also dances the title role, the production uses movement, music, light, shadow and theatrical illusion.

MUSIC THEATRE

• Tristan & Yseult, the original Kneehigh/Emma Rice production, re-imagines the legendary medieval love story with live music, comedy, storytelling and aerial acrobatics, now revived with a fresh cast.

THEATRE

The 55th HKAF theatre line-up brings together major international artists and bold new adaptations, with works that revisit Shakespeare, Lu Xun, Eugene O’Neill, Alfred Jarry and the marionette traditions of Georgia through contemporary perspectives.

• Jockey Club East-meets-West Series: Macbeth is a major new Chinese-language production commissioned and co-produced by the HKAF. Starring celebrated actors Hu Jun and Lu Fang as Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, and directed by acclaimed French director Arthur Nauzyciel.

• Jockey Club East-meets-West Series: Aristophanes’ Lysistrata revives the Ancient Greek comedy into a colourful contemporary spectacle of music, dance and satire, directed by Katerina Evangelatos with a Chinese script by Nick Rongjun Yu.

• The True Story of Ah Q (after Christoph Hein’s original script) is an HKAF-commissioned and co-produced Cantonese theatre work, with Tian Gebing directing a new version of Christoph Hein’s re-invention of Lu Xun’s iconic anti-hero.

• UBU by Robert Wilson brings the late American theatre pioneer’s singular visual imagination to Alfred Jarry’s absurdist classic Ubu Roi. Inspired also by Joan Miró’s grotesque and playful depictions of Ubu, the work unfolds as a compact collage of puppets, newspaper-clad performers, recorded voices and striking tableaux.

• Radu Stanca National Theatre, Sibiu—Long Day’s Journey into Night brings Eugene O’Neill’s masterpiece to Hong Kong in a moving Romanian production directed by Timofey Kulyabin.

• Lost Dog—The Last Hamlet is a darkly comic collision of theatre, dance and music conceived and directed by Olivier Award-winning theatre-maker Ben Duke, imagining Hamlet as a “final performance” to revisit the play’s relevance in today’s world.

• Gabriadze Theatre makes its Hong Kong debut with two marionette productions, Ramona and Alfred & Violetta. Founded in Tbilisi in 1981, the company is known for its intimate theatrical craft and fantastical storytelling, creating miniature worlds of humour, tenderness and emotional force.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The 55th HKAF is most grateful to its many sponsors, the main ones being: The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, ICBC (Asia), The Wharf Group, Queen’s Museum, Shun Hing Group, Sir Edward Youde Memorial Fund and DANCE REFLECTIONS BY VAN CLEEF & ARPELS; Official Carrier Cathay Pacific Airways Limited, Official Outdoor Media Partner POADmedia Limited, Official Premium Car Partner Dah Chong Hong (Motor Leasing) Limited, Official Video Technology Partner Blackfoot Holdings Limited, Major Hotel Partner Grand Hyatt Hong Kong, and Musical Instrument Partner Tom Lee Music Co., Ltd.

[Sponsors and Partners]

HOW TO BUY TICKETS

The Programme and Booking Guide is now available at URBTIX outlets. Programme information is also available on the HKAF’s official website: www.hk.artsfestival.org. Advance Bookings for the 55th HKAF will be accepted from 10am on 7 October 2026 to 11:59pm on 20 November 2026. Patrons can submit their booking forms on the Festival website, by fax or by post, and enjoy discounts of up to 15% on ticket purchases during the Advance Bookings period.

Counter Bookings start at 10am on 3 December 2026. Patrons can book their tickets at URBTIX (online at www.urbtix.hk, by phone (852) 3166 1288 or at URBTIX outlets).

FESTIVAL “PLUS” and ARTS EDUCATION

In addition to our main performances, the Festival also offers a diverse series of “PLUS”, educational and outreach events:

“PLUS” PROGRAMMES—More Than Great Performances!

The “PLUS” programmes are aimed at broadening the Festival experience, providing audiences with different angles and options every year to learn more about the artists and their works. “PLUS” features a diverse range of activities, including exhibitions, masterclasses, workshops, backstage tours, artist talks, film screenings and local tours, bringing the arts closer to the public. For more details, please visit: https://www.hk.artsfestival.org/en/about-us/festival-plus.html.

YOUNG FRIENDS OF THE HONG KONG ARTS FESTIVAL

Established in 1992, the Young Friends of the Hong Kong Arts Festival is an integrated arts education and audience development programme for local full-time secondary and tertiary students aged 25 or below. It is designed to nurture young students' interest in the arts and has reached over a remarkable 850,000 students. Members of Young Friends can enjoy two selected performances and rehearsals throughout the Festival. In addition, Young Friends organises various workshops, talks and backstage tours to enhance students’ appreciation of the performing arts. For more details, please visit: https://yfs.artsfestival.org/en.

MEDIA INQUIRIES

For further enquiries, please contact:

•Ms Katy Cheng (Marketing Director): (852) 2828 4930 / katy.cheng@hkaf.org

•Ms Stephanie Cheung (Marketing Manager): (852) 2828 4938 / stephanie.cheung@hkaf.org

•Ms Anna Cheung (Deputy Marketing Manager): (852) 2828 4933 / anna.cheung@hkaf.org

[Photos downloaded here]

Prof. Lo Kingman, Chairman of the Hong Kong Arts Festival, giving a speech at the Press Conference of the 55th Hong Kong Arts Festival.

The Management of the Hong Kong Arts Festival pictured here with the artists and representatives of the sponsors of the 55th Hong Kong Arts Festival.

Prof. Lo Kingman, Chairman of the Hong Kong Arts Festival (middle), and Mrs. Lo (third from the right), Ms. Flora Yu, Executive Director of HKAF (first from the left), and Ms. Brenda Kan, Development Director of HKAF (first from the right) pictured with Ms. Winnie Yip, Head of Charities (Culture & Sports Cluster; Community Engagement) of The Hong Kong Jockey Club (third from the left), Dr. Connie Lau, Executive Manager, Charities (Culture) of HKJC (second from the left) and Ms. Queenie Lau, Deputy Executive Manager, Charities of HKJC (second from the right).

Ms. Flora Yu, Executive Director of HKAF (third from the right), Ms. Brenda Kan, Development Director of HKAF (first from the right) Mr. Kenneth Lee, Associate Programme Director of HKAF (first from the left), Ms. Vicky Fung, Music and Sound Design of The Wharf Group Proudly Sponsors Deep Space Hong Kong: Another World (third from the left) pictured with Ms. Agnes Hui, Head of Corporate Communications of The Wharf Group (fourth from the right).

Mr. So Kwok-wan, Programme Director of the Hong Kong Arts Festival (second from the right) pictured with the main cast of The True Story of Ah Q (after Christoph Hein’s original script), a new work commissioned and produced by the Hong Kong Arts Festival: Mr. Ronald Lam Tsz Kit (fourth from the left) and Mr. Kung Chi Yip (third from the left).

Dr. Yuen Siu-fai (third from the right), the artistic director and main cast, Mr. Lam Tin-yau (second from the right) and Ms. Cheng Nga Ki (second from the left), the main cast of 300 Years of Cantonese Opera: The Next Chapter pictured with Ms. Katy Cheng, Marketing Director of HKAF (third from the left) and Ms. Grace Lang, Programme Director of HKAF (first from the right).