ENG-2013 — Page 398

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Recreation, Sport, Culture and the Arts

classical music to people from all walks of life. In 2013, the orchestra performed with Canada's National Arts Centre Orchestra in Hong Kong, and performed at the 'La Folle Journée' festival in Japan.

Zuni Icosahedron

In 2013, Zuni Icosahedron organised the third 'Architecture is Art Festival' and presented experimental theatre programmes The Trial and Hua-Yen Sutra 3.0. It was the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts' company-in-residence and was invited to major cities in the Mainland, Asia and Sweden. Zuni also published Asian Performing Arts - From the Traditional to the Contemporary, in search of the future of intangible cultural heritage.

Culture and Arts Presentations

LCSD Cultural Presentations

The LCSD provides high quality cultural programmes throughout the year. In 2013, 989 performances were held, featuring local and visiting artists, and attended by more than 384,600 people.

LCSD organised a variety of thematic series in 2013. 'Verdi & Wagner Year' celebrated the 200th Anniversary of the birth of the two great opera composers and included Wagner's opera The Flying Dutchman produced by Opera Hong Kong, Verdi's opera Rigoletto by Musica Viva, Dresdner Philharmonie's (Germany) concerts of Wagner's orchestral works, and screenings of the complete Wagner's Ring Cycle with discussion sessions led by critics.

'Footprints of Time - Literary Figures and Their Sojourn in Hong Kong' was another series of performances in music, theatre and dance based upon the literary works of Yu Kwangchung, Dai Wangshu and Xiao Hong and staged in venues with strong historical ties to these literary figures.

International artists featured in LCSD programmes included soprano Renée Fleming, guitarist Pepe Romero, violinist Kyung-Wha Chung and mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kožená, while dance troupes included María Pagés Compañía (Spain), Geneva Ballet (Switzerland), and Ballet Nacional de España (Spain). Other visitors included the Tianjin People's Art Theatre and the Zunyi Acrobatic Troupe of Guizhou Province (both Mainland China), the Choir of King's College, Cambridge (United Kingdom), and the Little Singers of Paris (France).

The LCSD's large-scale community events in 2013 included the 'Cantonese Opera Day' and 'Dance Day: The LCSD also supported local arts development and organised a number of programme series, including those for young recitalists and music groups, for emerging choreographers and dancers, for promising theatre groups, for young Cantonese opera artists, for promoting cutting-edge multi-media shows to young audience, and for appreciating and celebrating Chinese traditional music.

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