ENG-1999 — Page 431

RECREATION, SPORTS AND THE ARTS

Cultural Events

Hong Kong Arts Festival

Since 1973, the annual Hong Kong Arts Festival has been regarded as a major international arts festival. The 1999 festival presented 37 programmes including over 100 performances and exhibitions. It was well received with some 90 000 tickets sold, averaging 91 per cent attendance. Highlights included the Kirov Opera, the Hamburg Ballet, the cross-culture performance of Lear and two chamber operas commissioned for the festival and directed by Lo King-man.

The City Festival

The City Festival is a reinvention of the Fringe Festival, and focuses on the multiplicities of a modern city. The first City Festival was launched in January by the Fringe Club, attracting over 350 000 people in a three-week programme held all over the region featuring performances, exhibitions, heritage tours, talks, panel discussions, workshops, and an outdoor arts fair. More than 170 groups and individual artists from Hong Kong and overseas took part.

The Fringe Club is located in a historical building in Central. It has two theatres, two art galleries, a rehearsal studio, a pottery studio and showroom, a restaurant, and some offices. Free use of these facilities is provided to artists on an open-access format throughout the year. It also engages in the production of a diverse range of arts programmes in and outside Hong Kong. The Fringe Club produced the highly successful Hong Kong Fringe Festival for 16 years.

Provisional Urban Council Presentations

Chinese Arts Festival

The Chinese Arts Festival — - A Celebration of Music was held over three weeks in October and November featuring 10 visiting and 42 local performing groups. Seminars, lecture-demonstrations, exhibitions and free outdoor performances complemented the main performances. A total of 133 308 people participated in various festival activities.

Cultural Presentations

The Provisional Urban Council organised a total of 577 performances of various types, attracting 282 411 people. Music highlights included concerts by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Daniele Gatti, the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Midsummer Classics by the Ulster Symphony Orchestra with the violinist/conductor Dmitry Sitkovetsky, Roby Lakatos and his ensemble, celebrated virtuosi Anne-Sophie Mutter, Maxim Vengerov, Katia & Mireille Labeque and Barbara Bonney, the International Young Concert Artist Series and a newly commissioned production of the French opera Carmen.

Highlights of dance programmes included performances by the People's Liberation Army Song and Dance Troupe, the Nederlands Dans Theater featuring works by its Artist Director Jiri Kylian, the Lyon Opera Ballet as well as local leading companies such as the Hong Kong Ballet and DanceArt Hong Kong.

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