Keyboard conjurers: breathing new life into a burgeoning piano gem and a monumental organ symphony

As a spellbinding initiation into the full extent of keyboard instruments’ unique capacity for heart-stirring drama, this programme is hard to beat. This showstopper of a concert features two significant rare works, performed by two firecracker virtuosos of the keys.

Hong Kong-born, Berlin-based pianist Chiyan Wong has built a global reputation for his extreme technical mastery, combined with a sensitive, elegant approach to the instrument. He will perform Strauss’ Burleske, one of the great German Romantic composer’s innovative pieces that shows the clearest influence of Brahms.

During the same evening, Cameron Carpenter, who has spent two decades rewriting the rules of classical organ composition and performance with a daringly flamboyant style, will take on Symphonie Concertante, usually considered the magnum opus of Joseph Jongen. The late-19th- and early-20th-century Belgian composer was also an accomplished organist who studied with Strauss, and his work bears his mentor’s clear influence.

Both will be accompanied by the HK Phil, under the baton of Lin Daye, Music Director and Principal Conductor of the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra, and the first Chinese winner of the prestigious Sir Georg Solti International Conductors’ Competition. Providing a contrast in both era and culture, the orchestra will also perform Chinese composer Wang Danhong’s Southern Radiance.

Advance bookings will start at 10am on 16 October 2025