Star Trumpeter Tine Thing Helseth Heralds a New Year with the HK Phil

Every year, the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra (HK Phil) brings the Viennese tradition of the New Year Concert to Hong Kong to ring out the old year and herald in the new. This year on the 30 & 31 December in the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall, star trumpet soloist Tine Thing Helseth, and German conductor Christian Schumann, who has been labelled by Die Neue Züricher Zeitung "a shining star of the new German conductor generation", will join us for the festivities. Tickets going FAST!

Norwegian Tine Thing Helseth has rapidly established herself as one of the foremost trumpet soloists of our time. In these concerts she will perform works including Hummel's Trumpet Concerto, which is seen as a Himalayan feat for every trumpet player.

A piano prodigy, Hummel studied for a time with Mozart and became one of the greatest pianists of his day. As a composer, while he wrote prolifically for his own instrument, Hummel is best known today for his only trumpet concerto, which he composed in 1803 for Anton Weidinger. The Concerto was first played by Weidinger for members of the Esterházy court on New Year's Day in 1804.

Helseth will also perform Piazzolla's Libertango in an arrangement for trumpet and orchestra. We will continue the celebration with traditional new year pieces by J Strauss II, and the concert will close with the popular Blue Danube Waltz and Radetzky March before sending you out to join the crowd at the harbourfront for the New Year Countdown and Fireworks.

Holidays: A Viennese New Year will be held on 30 & 31 December 2018 (Sun & Mon), 8PM in the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall. Tickets price: HK$480, $380, $280, $220 are now available at URBTIX. For enquiries, please call +852 2721 2332 or visit hkphil.org.

Christian Schumann, conductor [full biography]
Christian Schumann is rapidly establishing a reputation as both an opera and symphonic conductor, as well as a leading international force in the contemporary and film music world. His debuts in the 2018/19 season include engagements with the HK Phil, Philharmonia Orchestra, London and Brussels philharmonics. Schumann first came to international attention when he won First Prize at the International Conducting Competition in Budapest. He then went on to secure the International Allianz Academy for Conductors Scholarship, which led to his appearances with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Philharmonia Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall.

Tine Thing Helseth, trumpet [full biography]

Norwegian trumpeter Tine Thing Helseth has rapidly established herself as one of the foremost trumpet soloists of our time, and has worked with some of the world's leading orchestras and chamber orchestras. Helseth has been the recipient of various awards for her work in classical music, including "Newcomer of the Year" at the 2013 Echo Klassik Awards, the 2009 Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship, and second prize in the 2006 Eurovision Young Musicians Competition, to which she returned to serve as juror for the 2016 competition. In 2007 she had the rare honour of being the first ever classical artist to win Newcomer of the Year at the Norwegian Grammy Awards.