Lio Kuokman will take to the podium at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall to conduct the Hong Kong Philharmonic’s season opening concerts on 9 and 10 October. Kuokman will play-direct from the piano for the concert’s centrepiece, Beethoven’s Triple Concerto. He will be joined by soloists violinist Jing Wang and cellist Richard Bamping. The programme will also include Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man, Doming Lam’s Thanksgiving to Joe-Kwan, the Kitchen God and R. Strauss’s Rosenkavalier Suite.
Lio Kuokman said: “It is my great honour to conduct the season opening concert of the Hong Kong Philharmonic -an orchestra which has always been an important part throughout my musical journey. I am looking forward to sharing music with my hometown audience especially during the pandemic as the concert halls have just re-opened for live audience in Hong Kong. Together we will try to bring joy and hope through music.”
The Hong Kong Philharmonic writes: “’From note to hope; In music we rejoice’
“Welcome our dear audience to our greatly missed home – Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall! After all these challenging months, we are especially excited to raise the curtain of our 2020/21 season with renowned conductor Lio Kuokman.
“Also an acclaimed concert pianist, Lio will play and conduct Beethoven’s Triple Concerto, joined by HK Phil Concertmaster Jing Wang and Principal Cello Richard Bamping, to celebrate the composer’s 250th birthday and the joy of collective music-making.
“Lio will also conduct Thanksgiving to Joe-Kwan, the Kitchen God by Doming Lam, “Father of Hong Kong Modern Music”. The programme concludes with Richard Strauss’ colourful Der Rosenkavalier Suite and kicks off with Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man, which Lio and the HK Phil dedicate to each and every one of the healthcare professionals who have tirelessly combatted COVID-19 in Hong Kong.”
Next week on 16 October, Lio will conduct Orchestre national du Capitole de Toulouse. He will again play-direct Beethoven’s Triple Concerto and be joined by violinist Kristi Gjezi and cellist Marc Coppey. The programme includes Korngold’s Much Ado About Nothing Suite, Op. 11 and Strauss’s Le Chevalier à la Rose Suite de Valses, Op. 59
Born in Macao and educated as a pianist and a conductor at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, the Juilliard School, the Curtis Institute of Music and the New England Conservatory, Lio Kuokman is praised by the Philadelphia Inquirer as ‘a startling conducting talent’. He was the laureate of the third Svetlanov International Conducting Competition in Paris and has served as assistant conductor to music director Yannick Nézet-Seguin with the Philadelphia Orchestra.
Programme Director of the Macao International Music Festival since January 2020, in the recent years Lio has successfully collaborated with some of the leading orchestras across globe. Engagements over the past seasons in Europe, Northern America and Asia have included debuts and re-invitations with Hong Kong, Shanghai, Taiwan, Seoul Philharmonic, NHK, Tokyo Metropolitan, Hiroshima and Kyoto Symphony, Moscow Philharmonic, Russian National Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Orchestre Philharmonique de Marseille, Latvian National, Philadelphia Orchestra (regular series and at the Vail Festival) and Detroit Symphony among many others. Recent distinguished appearances include a celebration concert with Hong Kong Philharmonic in the presence of the President of China Xi Jinping. He enjoys a special relationship with Sinfonia Varsovia whom he conducted in a number of concerts featuring Nelson Goerner, Nicholas Angelich, Nelson Freire and Anne Queffélec during the 38th Festival International de Piano de la Roque d’Anthéron, He also collaborated with Sinfonia Varsovia at the La Folle Journées Festival in Nantes, Japan and Warsaw.
For more information and tickets, please visit:
9 and 10 October at 20:00, Hong Kong Philharmonic
16 October at 20:00 Orchestre national du Capitole de Toulouse
