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The Hong Kong Philharmonic's performances of Brahms' Second and Fourth symphonies at City Hall prove acoustically problematic under chief conductor Jaap van Zweden. 

Jaap van Zweden and the Hong Kong Phil excel in Shostakovich's Ninth Symphony and give an atmospheric reading of the Sea Interludes by Britten, but cellist Jan Vogler struggles to settle in Elgar’s Cello Concerto. 

Never mind the cowbells... the Hong Kong Phil delivers a photo-enhanced rendition of An Alpine Symphony at the Cultural Centre. 

This production brought the work into the 21st century, at least visually, with a more modernised and digitally-stylised telling than their recent attempts.

Pianist Colleen Lee displays both dexterity and delicacy in Mozart's Coronation concerto, while HK Phil strut their romantic stuff in Schumann's Rhenish Symphony.

It was in the return of the love theme that was initiated with the greatest delicacy that elevated the movement from the whimsical to the sublime.

Zee Zee dazzles Hongkongers in Liszt's First Piano Concerto and the HK Phil excels in Brahms with Austrian conductor, Christoph Koncz.

Chiyan Wong excels in Ravel, part of a diverse programme of music and dance from the Hong Kong Phil and Ballet conducted by Christoph Koncz. 

Lang Lang joins Jaap van Zweden and the HK Phil for an all-Beethoven concert in Hong Hong, kicking off the composer’s 250th festivities in style.

The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra excels in the bleakest of times for Mahler and Shostakovich under chief conductor Jaap van Zweden.

The HK Phil display virtuosic brilliance in an energetic rendition of Shostakovich’s witty Symphony no. 9 under Jaap van Zweden

The Hong Kong Phil and Long Yu crossing the cultural divide in a trio of Slavic works.

A globally-connected journey of exoticism: Yu Long delivers with Scheherazade.

The Hong Kong Philharmonic opens its 45th season with Mozart, Stravinsky and Rachmaninov. 

Scotch snap aplenty in evening of “Scottish Fantasy” with Hong Kong Philharmonic. 

The final instalment of the Hong Kong Philharmonic's Ring cycle merits the orchestra joining the international big league. 

Variations of tension, energy and contrast with Long Yu and the Hong Kong Phil.

Dutoit, Lugansky and the HK Phil perform at their finest in famous French and Russian repertoire.

What started with anomalies with the Hong Kong Phil ended in triumphant good cheer.

Yuja Wang joins Jaap van Zweden and the Hong Kong Philharmonic for Beethoven's Second Piano Concerto. 

As the last stop of their five-city international tour, the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra made its debut in the Sydney Opera House.

Jaap van Zweden to Alma Mahler: the Sixth Symphony couldn't be one of autobiographical clairvoyance – a triumph in artistic vision.

Elim Chan's homecoming in an evening of pride and joy with the Hong Kong Phil.

Joining Music Director Jaap van Zweden were some familiar faces who had appeared in Das Rheingold and Die Walküre in the same or different roles, and new faces appearing for the first time.

The Hong Kong Philharmonic's concert this weekend featured two long works by composers who were contemporaries and who struck up a friendship late in their career.

Dignified and intellectual Wagner, Schumann and Mendelssohn with the Hong Kong Phil.

Variety, energy and drama with Long Yu and the Hong Kong Philharmonic.

Karina Cannelakis and Hong Kong Phil excite and please with disparate programme of Mozart and Strauss. 

Yuja Wang playing cat and mouse with the Hong Kong Philharmonic in Brahms' B-flat second concerto.

Opportunities missed to exploit dynamic contrast in Xian Zhang's Roman Festivals with the Hong Kong Philharmonic.

Earnest singing and dramatic insight made Das Rheingold with the Hong Kong Philharmonic a remarkable evening. 

Vassily Sinaisky and the Hong Kong Philharmonic more at home in Tchaikovsky's focussed lightness than in Mahler's expansive intensity. 

Jaap van Zweden and Hong Kong Phil's Der Rosenkavalier Suite full of swagger, sarcasm and humour

Vladimir Ashkenazy presents his own refreshing orchestration of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition with the Hong Kong Phil

The day after Lorin Maazel conducted the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra in Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem last month, an estimated 140,000 fans read the blog post he wrote entitled “When Will We Stop the Slaughter”.

For the 40th anniversary season opening gala of the Hong Kong Philharmonic, it was fitting that Music Director Jaap van Zweden should have chosen Bright Sheng’s Shanghai Overture, which was originally commissioned by the composer’s alma mater, the Shanghai Conservatory, for its own 80th anniversary in 2007.

The première of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées was a roaring success, literally. There was such commotion among the audience that the dancers could hardly hear the music, despite the determined effort of conductor Pierre Monteaux to keep going.

Ferdinand David, the concertmaster of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra when Mendelssohn was conductor, must have been quite a virtuoso for the composer to have written his Violin Concerto in E minor for him.

Former Hong Kong Philharmonic Music Director David Atherton returned to his hometown on Saturday to lead the orchestra in a concert entitled “The King of Instruments”, a reference to works on the programme involving the organ, an instrument rarely heard in the symphony hall.

Although Mendelssohn and Elgar lived in different eras and composed in very different styles, a common thread runs through their works featured in Hong Kong Philharmonic’s performance on Saturday – all of them draw their inspiration from the British Isles.As well-heeled youngsters in the 19th century were wont to do, Mendelssohn embarked on a tour of Europe as part of his education.

Michael Francis is the go-to conductor to replace fellow maestros at short notice. The newly appointed Chief Conductor and Artistic Advisor to Norrköping Symphony Orchestra in Sweden stood in for Valery Gergiev with only 12 hours’ notice, and for John Adams with even less, in performances with the London Symphony Orchestra in 2007.

In terms of Mozart’s piano concerti, K482 is known less for its intrinsic musical quality than its predecessor (K467) and its successor (K488), but it is more famous due to the unusual circumstances of its public introduction.

Verdi’s La Traviata is frequently listed as one of the most often programmed operas worldwide. Since it premiered in 1854, it must have greeted audiences around the world tens of thousands of times.

It’s not often that Beethoven gets second billing in a concert, but Jaap van Zweden’s inaugural programme as Music Director of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra on Saturday gave this impression. Two student compositions with strong Chinese heritage stole the limelight this evening, which was also the orchestra’s celebration of China’s National Day on 1 October.

“Cultural melting-pot” is a term so often used to describe Hong Kong that it has become a cliché. On Saturday, the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra provided a living example of how the city relishes a mixture of cultural influences in a programme of works by French composers incorporating clear foreign influences, predominantly from Spain.

The central character in Benjamin Britten’s opera Peter Grimes is a fisherman outcast contending with the wrath of his community. The score for the Four Sea Interludes, extracted from it, weaves often threadbare orchestral parts into a menacing mosaic of moods in the story and conditions which the characters have to battle.

Overshadowed by far better-known and more frequently performed companions in his oeuvre, Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto no. 2 in G and the Manfred Symphony have received their fair share of criticism. Their length and stylistic oddities require strong force of will to pull off in performance – some performers (such as pianist Alexander Siloti) have gone so far as to make their own amendments.

To celebrate the 50th birthday of the City Hall Concert Hall on March 2nd, the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra chose a programme of short but diverse works with undulating emotional appeal. Star soloist for the evening was cellist Yo-Yo Ma, returning three and a half decades after his debut here.Under the baton of Lan Shui, the evening began with Brahms’ Academic Festival Overture.