ENG-2014 — Page 392

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Recreation, Sport, Culture and the Arts

Zuni Icosahedron

Zuni Icosahedron's original theatre productions in 2014 included Contempt 2014, Memorandum, Dream Illusion Bubble Shadow and Red Rose, White Rose. It was invited to perform in Macao, Shanghai, Taipei, Wuzhen and Yokohama, and invited to present at the 48th Annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival at Washington, DC.

Culture and Arts Presentations

LCSD Cultural Presentations

The LCSD presents high quality cultural programmes throughout the year. In 2014, 971 performances featuring local and visiting artists were attended by more than 364,000 people.

Numerous internationally renowned artists and arts groups were featured in 2014. Music programmes included pianists Evgeny Kissin, Mikhail Pletnev and Ivo Pogorelich, the Czech Philharmonic, and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields led by pianist Murray Perahia. Visiting dance groups included Ultima Vez from Belgium and 'Peacock Princess' Yang Liping from the Mainland. For theatre, the National Theatre of Scotland teamed up with the Royal Shakespeare Company in Dunsinane. The 'Richard Strauss Year' Series, celebrating the 150th anniversary of the composer's birth, featured the opera Salome, produced by Opera Hong Kong.

New programme series designed to attract young audiences included the 'Music Delight Series' combining classical music with comedy, and the 'Dance x Multimedia Series' mixing modern. dance with hi-tech visual effects.

2014 also saw the opening of the New Wing of the Ko Shan Theatre, a venue dedicated to Cantonese opera. An original Cantonese opera A Heroic Woman of the Ming Dynasty featuring Cantonese opera stars Yuen Siu-fai, Yau Sing-po and Wan Fai-yin was premiered for the opening celebration.

The fifth Chinese Opera Festival featuring different genres of Chinese opera was held in the summer and the annual 'Cantonese Opera Day' was organised in November to promote Cantonese opera to a wider public.

Entertainment Programmes

In 2014, the LCSD organised 23 major festive and thematic carnivals and 641 district art shows with a total audience of 1,014,000, featuring a range of local and overseas performances and

arts.

Arts Education and Audience-building Projects

In 2014, the LCSD organised 1,188 arts education and audience-building activities in schools, community halls and other public venues to promote the arts and encourage participation in cultural activities.

A pilot project 'General Education in Arts Programme for Tertiary Students (Theatre)' was launched to give tertiary students an in-depth understanding of theatrical arts. Celebrating its fifth year, the 'Community Oral History Theatre Project' staged its first joint-district performance

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