Hailed by the Financial Times as a festival with a “finely hewn sense of craft”

Hailed by the Financial Times as a festival with a “finely hewn sense of craft,” the Intimacy of Creativity returns to Hong Kong for its exciting 2017 season!

New this season is the IC2017 Contemporary Song Festival taking place 27 Feb, 2017 – 5 March, 2017 presented in collaboration with the critically acclaimed New York Festival of Song (NYFOS).  Artistic Director, Bright Sheng, will be joined by featured Distinguished Guest Composer and the Queen’s Master of Music, Judith Weir; Distinguished Guest Artist Michael Barrett, renowned pianist, conductor, and co-founder and associate artistic director of NYFOS; together with guest vocal artists of NYFOS, including soprano Amy Owens, mezzo-soprano Katherine Pracht, tenor Jonathan Blalock, and baritone Tobias Greenhalgh; and Guest Artists Amy Sze, pianist, and Isaac Droscha, baritone.  Selected Composer Fellows will present and revise their art song/opera scene compositions inspired and/or influenced by Asian literature and culture after public, in-depth Open Discussions on the campus of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST).  The revised compositions will be formally presented at a Preview Concert at HKUST and a World Premiere Concert at the famed Asia Society Hong Kong Center in downtown Hong Kong.

IC2017 will conclude with the IC2017 Instrumental Chamber Music Festival taking place 17 April – 23 April, 2017.  Artistic Director, Bright Sheng, will be joined by Marc Satterwhite, Distinguished Guest Composer; Guest Artists Dan Zhu, renowned violinist and returning IC Guest Artist; Oliver Triendl, acclaimed German pianist and founder of the Classix Kempten Festival; Diemut Poppen, noted German violist; Chad Burrow, acclaimed clarinetist and Associate Professor of Clarinet at University of Michigan; and Emerging Ensemble-in-Residence, Altius Quartet.  Selected Composer Fellows will present and revise their chamber work after public, in-depth Open Discussions on the campus of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST).  The revised compositions will be formally presented at a Preview Concert at HKUST and a World Premiere Concert at the Hong Kong City Hall Theatre in downtown Hong Kong.

After receiving over 140 submissions from over 40 countries to the IC2017 Call-for-Scores, the following Composer Fellows have been selected to have their works featured: Juhi Bansal (India), Denise Mei Yan Hofmann (Hong Kong); Galison Lau (Hong Kong); Geli Li (China); Daniel Sabzghabaei (USA); Matthew Tommasini (USA); James Wade (Australia); YoungWoo Yoo (South Korea).

One participating Composer Fellow will be selected through 5 March, 2017 IC2017 World Premiere Concert Audience Vote to have their selected work featured on the 2017-18 season of NYFOS.  One participating Composer Fellow will be selected through 23 April, 2017 IC2017 World Premiere Concert Audience Vote to have their selected work featured on either the Freunde der Musik, Landshut; Kulturverein Zorneding-Baldham; or Classix Kempten International Chamber Music Festival, including possible broadcast on German radio.

One participating Composer Fellow from the entire season may also be offered a one-year renewable position at HKUST as Composer-in-Residence/Visiting Scholar in the Division of Humanities at HKUST.

Intimacy of Creativity 2017 is presented by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, together with HKUST School of Humanities and Social Science, HKUST Hong Kong Jockey Institute for Advanced Study, as part of the HKUST Music Alive! concert series. The 2017 season is presented in collaboration with the New York Festival of Song and Asia Society Hong Kong Center. Venue and ticketing sponsorship for the Hong Kong City Hall Theatre World Premiere Concert event is being provided by the Hong Kong Leisure and Cultural Services Department.  The media partner of The Intimacy of Creativity is Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK).  Intimacy of Creativity is generously supported by Dr. and Mrs. Helmut Sohmen in Memory of Sir Yue-Kong Pao CBE JP.