ENG-2016 — Page 393

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Recreation, Sport, Culture and the Arts

Hong Kong Sinfonietta

The Hong Kong Sinfonietta is one of Hong Kong's leading symphony orchestras. It gave about 120 performances in 2016, collaborating with renowned artists such as Vilde Frang, Fazıl Say and Daniel Müller-Schott. The orchestra also made its debuts in Singapore, Portugal, Taipei and Kaohsiung.

Zuni Icosahedron

Zuni Icosahedron's original theatre productions included Sigmund Freud in Search of Chinese Matter and Mind, Wittgenstein, Mahjong History Theatre: Death of Old China and Love Comedy on the Rocks. It also presented an arts education programme, Creative Playground, co-created a new work, Lord Guan Yu on Stage, with the Guo Guang Opera Company and performed Flee by Night in Berlin.

Culture and Arts Presentations

The Leisure and Cultural Services Department presents quality cultural programmes throughout the year. In 2016, more than 370,000 people attended 911 performances featuring local and visiting artists and arts groups. Visiting musicians and groups included The Philadelphia Orchestra, The English Concert, Ensemble intercontemporain, Les Vents Française, Joshua Bell, Murray Perahia, Julia Fischer and Mischa Maisky. Visiting dancers and groups included Carlos Acosta, María Pagès Compañía from Spain and the Royal New Zealand Ballet. Visiting multi-arts and theatre programmes included The Tiger Lillies Perform Hamlet by Theatre Republique from Denmark, Beijing Fayuansi by the National Theatre of China and Richard III by Schaubühne Berlin from Germany. A special series, Circus in Town, featured two visiting circus groups, Cirque Éloize from Canada and NoFit State Circus from the United Kingdom. A thematic series, Shakespeare Year, marked the 400th anniversary of the bard's death.

To support emerging local artists, performance platforms were created in the Our Music Talents series, Dance On series and New Energy series.

Chinese opera audiences were treated to the department's seventh Chinese Opera Festival in the summer and annual Cantonese Opera Day in November.

Arts Education and Audience-building Projects

In 2016, the department organised 1,078 arts education and audience-building activities in schools, community halls and other public venues to promote the arts and encourage participation in cultural activities.

The department also sought to motivate students to engage in arts and cultural activities by extending its collaboration with the Education Bureau in designing arts education programmes which tied in with the school curriculum. To develop community arts and widen the audience base, two special themes were set for the 2016 Community Cultural Ambassador Scheme: 'Enhancing the Participation of People with Different Abilities in Performing Arts' and 'From Family!

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