Mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato provided one of the highlights of this year's Hong Kong Arts Festival, her spot-on coloratura and sensitive phrasing to the fore in a concert of royal-themed baroque arias.

The Bolshoi Ballet made a triumphant return to Hong Kong with Flames of Paris, which combines spectacular dancing with dramatic power. 

Vivid rhythms, colourful orchestration and shaping the dramatic arc of the music are some of the things Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic do so well together, as they showed in performing John Adams' City Noir and Dvorak's Symphony No 9 From the New World.

Playing Mahler’s Symphony No 6 is like riding a shaggy monster, but conductor Gustavo Dudamel guided the magnificent Los Angeles Philharmonic through the lurching ups and downs with passion and precision. The modest young maestro gave no hint of showing off, but revealed his mastery of the music by his convincing pacing, expressive details and clarity of structure.

The Dutch National Ballet returned to the Hong Kong Arts Festival with a much-anticipated production of Cinderella created in 2012 by leading international choreographer Christopher Wheeldon. Visually strong, the work has some original ideas, striking moments and an enchanting Cinderella from Anna Tsygankova, but suffers from being over-plotted and under-choreographed. It's a better show than it is a ballet.

Juggler Sean Gandini estimates that 40,000 apples have so far been used during the performances of Smashed. The hour-long juggling spectacle, presented as part of the Hong Kong Arts Festival, requires 80 apples of the right colour and diameter for each of its performances.

It is a universally acknowledged truth that a public-domain novel in possession of a larger following must be in want of an adaptation. The Gate Theatre of Dublin first staged Pride and Prejudice in 1994 — before Colin Firth and his wet Darcy shirt changed the equation in a now-classic BBC miniseries — and the company's take on Jane Austen's 1813 book has stayed popular since.

Brilliant young virtuosos from Le Jardin des Voix Academy were ably accompanied by the Orchestra of Les Arts Florissants on a journey through 200 years of early opera in this Hong Kong Arts Festival concert.

The city’s flagship ensemble showed no sign of a recent mutiny as it unleashed a powerful sound in the absence of three backbone players in a performance for the Hong Kong Arts Festival.

In this new Hong Kong Arts Festival commission the overall storytelling of the drama is weak, even disjointed at times

The jeering and finger-pointing familiar to followers of the city's political scene infiltrated its musical shrine when audience members started clapping at the wrong moment.

'Fight Night', a piece of 'reality theatre' with a game show format, aims to stimulate audiences to think about elections, democracy and political manipulation.

Theatre-goers will see actress Lisa Dwan pay more than lip service to Samuel Beckett monologue at the Hong Kong Arts Festival, writes Victoria Finlay.

Hong Kong Arts Festival production The Amahs follows the lives of three women migrants to the city from rural China, and encapsulates Hong Kong's can-do spirit.

Conductor Gustavo Dudamel communicates his love of music to the audience and his orchestra.

The city's largest arts event has pledged to continue its diverse programming with local and international artists as it waits to hear whether government funding will be renewed.

Hong Kong will host its largest contingent yet from Russia's Bolshoi opera and ballet in next year's arts festival, but organisers hope to do more - if the government will increase funding.