ENG-1998 — Page 428

RECREATION, SPORTS AND THE ARTS

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commissions The Dresser, featuring Chung King-fai, and Shooting Suns by Theatre Ensemble.

Hong Kong Fringe Festival

The Hong Kong Fringe Festival has developed since 1982 from an annual open arts festival into a successful year-round operation which gives Hong Kong's emerging artists the opportunity to hone their skills and create new works.

The 1998 Fringe Festival was staged over three weeks in January. Some 300 000 people attended performances and exhibitions by more than 150 groups and individual artists from Hong Kong and overseas.

'More than Gifts' and 'Donation from Dr T T Tsui' Exhibitions

Sixteen out of a total of 32 official gifts of superb craftsmanship, presented by the Central People's Government, Mainland provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities to celebrate Hong Kong's return to China, were put on display in June and July 1998 in the Sha Tin Town Hall. These gems of contemporary Chinese art range from cloisoneé and porcelain vases, inkstones and crystal bottles painted on the inside, to tapestry, sculpture, rock and shell carvings.

The remaining gifts of great size and weight were presented in the form of photographs at the 'More than Gifts' Exhibition. The exhibition was one of the programmes presented by the Provisional Regional Council to commemorate the first anniversary of the reunion. It attracted 19 650 visitors.

Another large-scale exhibition staged in the Sha Tin Town Hall in October and November focused on ceramic art in Han and Tang China. It offered the public a chance to view part of Dr Tsui Tsin-tong's selected treasures among his donation of Chinese antiquities to the Hong Kong Heritage Museum which will be opened in 2000. Some 25 741 people saw the exhibition

Provisional Urban Council Presentations

Cultural Presentations

The Provisional Urban Council organised a total of 436 performances of different types attracting 300 900 people. Music highlights included concerts by the Cleveland Orchestra under the baton of Christoph von Dohnanyi, the Israel Chamber Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic Brass Ensemble, the John Scofield Band, the Choir of King's College, Cambridge, celebrated virtuosi Murray Perahia, Evgeny Kissin, Midori and Kathleen Battle, and a newly commissioned production of the Italian opera La Boheme.

Highlights of dance programmes included performances by the Russian Seasons Dance Company, the Hong Kong Ballet, Dance HK/NY and the City Contemporary Dance Company, and solo pieces by dancer/choreographer Mui Cheuk-yi.

Theatre programmes featured a wide variety of works by creative forces such as the Theatre Fanatico, Theatre du Pif, the Exploration Theatre, the Chung Ying Theatre Company, the David Glass Ensemble and the Salzburger Marionettentheatre.

A series of programmes featuring outstanding artists and groups from the Mainland was presented to promote Chinese arts and culture. It included the