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

The Intimacy of Creativity returns for its sixth season in collaboration with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, which presents the annual festival.

The Intimacy of Creativity continues to explore the creative process as selected composers present and revise their chamber music compositions after in-depth discussions between composers and performers.

New this season, The Intimacy of Creativity (IC) presents a Five Season Retrospective Concert of dynamic and engaging chamber music compositions and chamber music making in this very special performance featuring principal members of The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, joined by previous and new IC guest artists, as part of the 44th Hong Kong Arts Festival.

One emerging Composer Fellow from each previous season will have their works revisited in this special event, alongside the Asia premiere of the chamber ensemble version of Artistic Director and conductor, Bright Sheng’s Deep Red, featuring star marimba soloist, Pius Cheung.

As with each season, IC reflects back on the work of standard repertoire composers. The program concludes with Mr. Sheng conducting the string orchestra version of Arnold Schoenberg’s heart-wrenching work, Verklarte Nacht (Transfigured Night), based on a poem by Richard Dehmel, of devotion, hope and redemption through love.

The entire program will be recorded for commercial release on the Naxos International label in the newly opened Cheng Yu Tung Building Multipurpose Hall on the campus of HKUST.

In April 2016, Bright Sheng, will be joined by the entire Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra for an unprecedented three day residency of Open Discussions and a Preview Concert on the campus of HKUST This will be capped off by a World Premiere Concert in the iconic Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall, all events featuring Guest Artist and young violin virtuoso, Dan Zhu.

Over 140 composers from 30 countries have submitted their orchestral works to The Intimacy of Creativity 2016 call-for-scores, three of which will be selected for the unique opportunity to have their works featured at these special events. The First Round Panel Selection Panel includes Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra principal viola, Andrew Ling; and timpanist, James Boznos; along with Associate Artistic Director, Matthew Tommasini.