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World of performing arts

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World of performing arts
News and reviews of the performing arts – ballet, contemporary dance, opera, theatre, musicals and more – in and around Hong Kong and beyond.
Soprano Lise Davidsen and tenor Michael Spyres in the title roles in a rehearsal of Tristan und Isolde at New York’s Metropolitan Opera. Photo: AP

Tristan und Isolde is a challenging opera to stage. Yuval Sharon did it anyway

Richard Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde is one of opera’s hardest to put on, but Yuval Sharon – who makes his Met debut – loves a challenge.

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Fame and celebrity

Timothee Chalamet faces the music for saying ‘no one cares’ about opera, ballet

Performing arts in Hong Kong

Review | Stella Cole Quartet’s delightful delivery of jazz and film classics in Hong Kong

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On Our Radar

The Hong Kong Arts Festival is back. These are the shows to book first

Tradition meets tech as stages both real and virtual host dance, music and immersive magic.

The Czech Republic’s National Theatre Brno will perform Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin at the 54th Hong Kong Arts Festival. Photo: National Theatre Brno
TV shows and streaming video

From Heated Rivalry to Two Strangers, how romcoms are taking over TV and theatre

A clutch of new romantic comedies are warming hearts this winter across various media. But why are they proving so popular?

Performing arts in Hong Kong

Review | She seduced some of the most powerful men. A ballet tries to tell her story

Despite some excellent dancing, Ballet Nacional de España’s La Bella Otero fails to do justice to the notorious Belle Époque star’s story.

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What's hot in Korea

This award-winning playwright rejected Hollywood… for a Korean zombie musical

Jethro Compton shares why his choice to adapt musical The Last Man for UK viewers is about ‘experiences’ rather than advancing his career.

Jethro Compton attends the 2025 Laurence Olivier Awards after winning the best new musical award for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. The playwright says his new role, as a dramaturge on Korean zombie play The Last Man, is about “having new experiences and working with interesting people”. Photo: Getty Images
Performing arts in Hong Kong

Hong Kong group brings ancient Silk Road murals’ musical depictions to life

The Hong Kong Gaudeamus Dunhuang Ensemble’s musical compositions are inspired by ancient artworks from China’s Mogao Caves.

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US-China relations

Exclusive | Hong Kong pianist brings music – and a message of openness – to Washington

Fresh from his Cliburn win, Sham says music can bridge divides as he tours the US amid geopolitical tensions and decoupling debate.

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Performing arts in Hong Kong

Review | Trump is abducted by aliens and has Chinese ‘twin’ in chaotic Cantonese opera

Showing in Hong Kong, Trump on Show 4.0 combines political satire and surreal Sino-US commentary but feels like a ‘paper tiger’ with no bite.

Elvina Kong (left) performs as Japanese politician Sanae Takaichi and Lung Koon-tin as US president Donald Trump on the opening night of the Trump on Show 4.0 at Sha Tin Town Hall in Hong Kong. Photo: Contemporary Drama Association
Performing arts in Hong Kong

‘Unconventional bodies’: inclusive dance team’s upcoming Hong Kong show

Unusual Symptoms’ experimental dance project Harmonia challenges audience biases about the human body.

Harmonia, performed by the inclusive dance theatre group Unusual Symptoms, stars performers with congenital limb differences, dwarfism and wheelchair needs – and challenges audience biases about the human body. Photo: Unusual Symptoms
Wellness

Hong Kong Ballet and Pure Fitness join forces to offer new exercise programme

The dance and strength training crossover aims to dispel the perception of ballet as an inaccessible and elite art form.

Performing arts in Hong Kong

Hong Kong concert where audience can walk around and see musicians up close

Neither audience members nor performers will be confined to their seats at the concert from the inclusive music ensemble Paraorchestra.

Fame and celebrity

First, Ralph Fiennes played Eugene Onegin in a movie. Now he directs the opera

Fiennes made his opera directing debut this week at the Paris Opera’s ornate Palais Garnier with his unique take on Eugene Onegin.

Ralph Fiennes attends the 2025 British Academy of Film and Television Awards in London, Britain, in 2025. The actor has made his opera directing debut with a cinematic take on Eugene Onegin. Photo: Reuters
Performing arts in Hong Kong

Review | HK Phil brings Mahler’s Symphony No 7 to life in energetic, eerie concert

Singaporean conductor Kahchun Wong skilfully led the rendition of Mahler’s complex work in a show brimming with soul and spooky eccentricity.

Singaporean conductor Kahchun Wong leads the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra in their performance of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 7 at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre on January 23, 2026. Photo: HK Phil
Performing arts in Hong Kong

Review | The National Ballet of China return to Hong Kong with a dazzling Giselle

Led by prima ballerina Qiu Yunting, whose dancing was exquisite, this purists’ version of Giselle was only marred by the recorded music.

On Our Radar

Beare’s Premiere Music Festival 2026 bids farewell to Hong Kong

As the curtain falls on the city’s principal chamber music event, the stellar line-up of musicians promises to send it off on a high note.

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Channing Tatum

Chiselled abs and sex positivity: Magic Mike Live to heat up New York

Featuring ripped male dancers, the stage spin-off of Channing Tatum’s Magic Mike film franchise is a ‘dance spectacular with a sexy twist’.

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Channing Tatum (centre) throws fake money after announcing plans to bring the “Magic Mike Live” show to New York in October 2026. Photo: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP
Chinese culture

World’s first Chinese rosewood cello stars in Hong Kong exhibition

Made over six months from a 200-year-old piece of Chinese rosewood, or huanghuali, the cello is now on show at Sheung Wan’s Liang Yi Museum.

Performing arts in Hong Kong

Singaporean musician living with OCD uses toy pianos to tell her story

Margaret Leng Tan talks about weird instruments and ‘the magic of timing’, following her Hong Kong performance of ‘Dragon Ladies Don’t Weep’.

Performing arts in Hong Kong

Hong Kong composer’s unusual journey from finance to writing Cantonese musicals

Lora Chow’s musical Dr Clown will feature at the coming Fringe Festival in Hong Kong. We look at her eclectic career path, driven by passion.

Composer Lora Chow, at the Fringe Club. 13JAN26 SCMP / Jonathan Wong
Classical music

The new generation of talented leaders taking centre stage at Royal Opera House

Hrusa takes over from Antonio Pappano, Royal Opera’s music director for 22 years; Scappucci is first principal guest conductor in 30 years.

Music director Jakub Hrusa during a performance with The Royal Opera Chorus and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House in London, in September 2025. Photo: AP
Icons and Influencers

Q&A | High barre: a chat with dancer Roberto Bolle ahead of Caravaggio in Hong Kong

Bolle discusses how dance became his life as he prepares to bring Caravaggio to the Hong Kong Arts Festival in March.

South Korea

Frozen, Spirited Away among shows lighting up Seoul’s theatre stages in 2026

Broadway imports Hell’s Kitchen and Lempicka, novel adaptation Arang and musical Six also among the South Korean capital’s highlights.

Performing arts in Hong Kong

New Hong Kong street dance festival aims to change ‘troubled kid’ stereotype

Hong Kong’s Flo Fest will see performances from eight emerging local choreographers as well as from Ivan Michael Blackstock and The Ruggeds.

Performers take the stage during the opening day of Flo Fest, a street dance event founded by the Hong Kong Street Dance Development Association, on January 3, 2026. Photo: Karma Lo
Chinese culture

‘I’d lie on the floor and cry’: Peking opera actress on the art’s challenges

Peking opera actress Zhang Wanting performs poses that can take months to perfect, and leave more than a few bruises.

Peking opera actress Zhang Wanting (left) performs a difficult balancing move during a show at the Jixiang Theatre in Beijing, China. Photo: AP
Andy Lau Tak-wah

Hong Kong magician wants to change public perception, one trick at a time

Magic is more a performing art than entertainment, says Zenneth Kok, whose Hong Kong show, The Memory Wall, is coming to the Fringe Club.

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What to do in Hong Kong

Coming arts events in China’s Greater Bay Area in January 2026

China’s Greater Bay Area is hosting a number of arts happenings in early 2026. Here is a selection of must-attend events.

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