ENG-2015 — Page 387

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Recreation, Sport, Culture and the Arts

pianist Nelson Freire, violinist Itzhak Perlman, tenor lan Bostridge and guitarist Yang Xuefei. Visiting dance groups included Sydney Dance Company and Australian Chamber Orchestra in a joint performance, and Ballet Flamenco Sara Baras from Spain. Multi-arts and theatre groups included iluminate, winner of America's Got Talent, Gecko from the United Kingdom and Li Liuyi Theatre Studio.

The Music Delight Series and the Dance x Multimedia Series featured programmes that attract young audiences. Performance platforms were created for emerging artists in Our Music Talents Series, Dance On Series and New Energy Series, as well as the large-scale community event Dance Day.

The department held its sixth Chinese Opera Festival in the summer and the annual Cantonese Opera Day in November.

Entertainment Programmes

In 2015, the department organised 22 major festive and thematic carnivals and 625 district art shows with a total audience of about 863,000.

Arts Education and Audience-building Projects

In 2015, the department organised 1,137 arts education and audience-building activities in schools, community halls and other public venues to promote the arts and encourage participation in cultural activities.

It built a broader platform for arts education at the tertiary level in order to develop an appreciative audience. To further foster the development of community arts and widen the audience base, two special themes were set for the 2015 Community Cultural Ambassador Scheme, namely, 'Enhancing the Participation of Ethnic Minorities in Performing Arts' and 'Building Elderly Audiences!

Major Culture and Arts Events

Hong Kong Arts Festival

The 43rd annual Hong Kong Arts Festival consisted of 16 world premieres and 10 Asian premieres, including the festival's own productions: chamber opera Datong, new play The Amahs, and The Crowd, a play performed in collaboration with the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre. The total audience for 137 performances and 315 associated events was close to 160,000. Highlights included The Bolshoi Opera and Bolshoi Ballet; Los Angeles Philharmonic with Gustavo Dudamel; Staatskapelle Dresden with Christian Thielemann; Bobby McFerrin and Madison; Joyce DiDonato's Drama Queens; recitals by Seong-Jin Cho, Kavakos and Pace; the Hong Kong Jockey Club Contemporary Dance Series and the Asia Pacific Dance Platform.

International Arts Carnival

The department's annual International Arts Carnival in July and August opened with the Shaanxi Acrobatic Troupe. Some 137,000 people attended the carnival's 414 events, which included acrobatics, music, magic, musicals, shadow puppets and physical, multimedia and interactive babies' performances.

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