Manfred Honeck Will Conduct PASTORAL and ELEKTRA With the Hong Kong Philharmonic

Conductor Manfred Honeck will return to the Hong Kong Philharmonic for its 2026/27 season opening. In celebration of National Day and the Belt and Road Initiative, the HK Phil will welcome conductor Yuan Ding and award-winning pianist Zitong Wang, both making their HK Phil debuts. All performances will be held at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall. Tickets are now available at URBTIX.

Season Opening: Manfred Honeck's Pastoral and Elektra (16 & 17 September)

Celebrated conductor Manfred Honeck returns to open the HK Phil's 2026/27 season with two starkly contrasting works.

The programme opens with Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony, a visionary work that opened new possibilities for symphonic music and gave it a vivid narrative voice. Honeck juxtaposes its evocation of Beethoven's love of nature with his own Suite from Strauss's Elektra co-arranged with Czech composer Tomáš Ille. Set against the backdrop of Mycenae in the years after the Trojan War, the Suite further distils the world of Elektra, Clytemnestra, and Orest through its music.

National Day Concert: Zitong Wang Plays Prokofiev (24 September)

Described by Chopin Courier as “one of the most captivating personalities”, Zitong Wang, Third Prize Winner of the 19th International Chopin Piano Competition, makes her HK Phil debut performing Prokofiev's Piano Concerto no. 3.

Under the baton of Yuan Ding, Principal Resident Conductor of the China National Opera House, the concert opens with Chinese composer Yao Chen's Garden: Unearthing the Way Home, a poetic soundscape inspired by the art of garden. The evening concludes with Rachmaninov's First Symphony.

HK Phil and Swire share a common vision of promoting Hong Kong as a global arts and culture hub. Sponsored by Swire for the third consecutive year, the Belt and Road concert aims to foster cultural exchange by presenting musicians and masterpieces from Belt-and-Road countries.