bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

sponsorType

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

factSheets

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

copyrighted

customTimezone

liveContents

Martin Lim

A language, the saying goes, is a dialect with an army.
In the absence of heavy artillery, a decent alternative is an opera tradition.
Finland, a nation of only 5.5 million people, waged one of the great nationalist wars of the 20th century – not in the trenches, but on the operatic stage.
Armed with quintessentially Finnish stories and their own distinct language, troops of composers, conductors and trained singers declared cultural independence against their intrusive neighbours, Sweden and Russia.

So what does this say about Autumn Sonata, Finnish composer Sebastian Fagerlund’s opera that opened the Nordic-themed World Cultures Festival on Friday evening in Hong Kong?
First, that its Swedish text (hewing close to director Ingmar Bergman’s screenplay of the original 1978 film) and its recent run at Sweden’s Malmo Opera indicate that Finland – once under Swedish rule and dominated culturally for a century afterward – now has full parity as a Nordic partner. And second, that Finnish composers have learned a lot in last hundred years about creating new opera.

At first glance, Bergman’s film about a concert pianist visiting her daughters after a seven-year absence is not obvious source material. The only music in the film results from on-screen piano-playing, which is problematic to recreate realistically on stage. Within the film, the entire narrative seems inextricable from the screen.
But while director Stéphane Braunschweig’s set designs retain the physical claustrophobia of Bergman’s domestic chamber drama, Fagerlund’s music (structured by librettist, or lyric writer, Gunilla Hemming’s text) deftly expands the story’s emotional dimensions.
Flashbacks are famously associated with film, but as Proust has written – and Fagerlund clearly reveals – music is particularly effective in messing with memory and one’s perceptions of time. So, too, does opera, with its “aria” moments, have the distinct ability to pause the narrative sweep and let particular characters explain their side of the story.

Perhaps Fagerlund and Hemming’s most inspired addition is using the chorus as the “audience” for Charlotte, the pianist mother.
“Show, don’t tell” is clichéd advice for authors, but not being able to show Charlotte’s brilliance as an artist on stage, the creators at least assemble a chorus of idealised admirers (performed by the Malmo Opera Chorus) who become effusively vocal in their praise. It is a much-needed defence, as Charlotte’s daughter Eva begins recounting her mother’s personal failings almost from the opening curtain.
The family conflict unfolds with painful clarity, revealing the backstory of Charlotte’s failed romances and scenes of Charlotte’s disabled daughter Helena, now discharged from hospital and living in Eva’s home.

Sopranos Erika Sunnegardh and Helena Juntunen, reprising their respective roles as Eva and Helena from the original production at the Finnish National Opera, hold their own musically and dramatically against their forceful mother. Mezzo-soprano Charlotte Hellekant invests her similarly named central character with a degree of pathos and humanity that makes her, if not entirely forgivable, at least fathomable.
Right from the opening prelude, though, the star of the show was Fagerlund’s score. Surrounding and ultimately transcending the vocal lines was a churning kaleidoscope of sonorities veering back and forth between chilling transparency and gut-wrenching outbursts.
The “autumn” of the title was surely a metaphor but, under conductor Patrik Ringborg, the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra wielded such a huge palette of musical colour that you could practically hear the leaves change.
Autumn Sonata, HK Cultural Centre Grand Theatre. Reviewed: October 18, 2019


Who is Camila Cabello’s rumoured new beau, Henry Chalhoub? The Lebanese businessman was spotted at an Elie Saab party with the ‘Havana’ singer, and was linked to Victoria’s Secret’s Joan Smalls

Who is Dawn Richard, who was ‘absolutely terrified’ of Diddy? The former Danity Kane member filed a lawsuit against the rapper in September ‘in support of Cassie’ and starred in Making the Band

Indian drummer Zakir Hussain dies at 73

Who is Kimberly Marasco, the author and poet suing Taylor Swift for US$7 million? She has written a book on the similarities between her poems and Swift’s songs, and even their choreography

Music

Opera Autumn Sonata, adapted from the original Swedish film, is an explosion of musical colour masterfully wielded by HK Phil

Charlotte Hellekant stars in Sebastian Fagerlund’s Autumn Sonata, part of the Hong Kong Leisure and Cultural Services Department’s World Cultures Festival, as a concert pianist visiting her daughters after a seven-year absence. Photo: Leisure and Cultural Services Department

(Right) Soprano Erika Sunnegårdh and Fredrik Zetterström in Sebastian Fagerlund’s Autumn Sonata as part of LCSD's World Cultures Festival 2019

(Right) Soprano Erika Sunnegårdh, (left) mezzo-soprano Charlotte Hellekant in Sebastian Fagerlund’s Autumn Sonata as part of LCSD's World Cultures Festival 2019

Soprano Erika Sunnegårdh and (right) mezzo-soprano Charlotte Hellekant in Sebastian Fagerlund’s Autumn Sonata as part of LCSD's World Cultures Festival 2019

(Right) Soprano Erika Sunnegårdh, (left) mezzo-soprano Charlotte Hellekant and (top right) Nicholas Söderlund in Sebastian Fagerlund’s Autumn Sonata as part of LCSD's World Cultures Festival 2019

HK Phil named 2019 Orchestra of the Year by Gramophone magazine; Jaap van Zweden, music director, hails history makers

Jaap van Zweden conducts the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. Photo: Daniel Aulsebrook/Hong Kong Philharmonic.

Music director and conductor of the HK Phil with the cast of Das Rheingold, Part 1 of The Ring Cycle, an opera-in-concert staged by the Hong Kong Phil (2015).

Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra music director Jaap van Zweden conducts American-themed concert titled "Jaap, to the New World" (June 2018).

Hong Kong Philharmonic principal viola Andrew Ling (left), principal clarinet Andrew Simon (second from left), and chief executive Benedikt Fohr (second from right), and Y. S. Liu, chairman of the Board of Governors of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Society, receive the Orchestra of the Year Award at the 2019 Gramophone Classical Music Awards ceremony on behalf of the orchestra. Photo: Gem Rey/HK Phil

Milestones on HK Phil’s journey to 2019 Orchestra of the Year – playing with Itzhak Perlman, Swire Group’s patronage, Jaap van Zweden taking over the baton

Jaap van Zweden conducts the Hong Kong Philharmonic. Photo: Hong Kong Philharmonic

De Waart Meets Wang Jian. Edo de Waart (pix) conducts the Chinese cellist (pix) and the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra in Chen Qigang's The Five Elements, Dvorak's cello concerto and Schubert's Symphony No 3 Rhenish. Jan 11-12 Fri-Sat, 8pm, HK Cultural Centre, 10 Salisbury Rd, TST, HK$120-HK$380 Urbtix. Pre-concert talks by conductors Jerome Hoberman … (Jan 11 Fri, in English) and Henry Shek … (Jan 12 Sat, in Cantonese), 7.15pm, free. Inquiries: 2721 2030. photo origin: unknown. credit: Cheung Chi-wai. *** This photo was licensed for one time use only. PLEASE CLEAR THE COPYRIGHTS WITH THE OWNER BEFORE REPUBLISHING THIS IMAGE.***

Conductor David Atherton acknowledges the applause after his first performance with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra in the City Hall in Central.

Russian conductor Mr Maxim Shostakovich is in Hong Kong to conduct the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra.

Isaac Stern, shown playing his violin in his New York studio in this Jan. 28, 1997 file photo, died Saturday, Sept. 22, 2001. Stern, the master violinist who saved Carnegie Hall from the wrecking ball, was 81. (AP Photo/Adam Nadel, File)

Foa at a 1959 concert with then amateur Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra which was just renamed from Sino-British Orchestra. Soloman Bard (third on front row from left), who invited Foa to take over as conductor in 1953, was the concertmaster (picture credit to Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra)

Lim Kek Tjiang, first music director of the Hong Kong Philharmonic, conducts the orchestra at the Hong Kong City Hall Concert Hall in 1974, the year the ensemble became fully professional. Photo: SCMP

The rise of concert films and music documentaries, from Pavarotti to Shakira, and the A-list directors, such as Ron Howard, drawn to the format

A still from the 2019 documentary film Pavarotti, directed by Ron Howard. It is one of a string of music documentaries and concert films being released this year.

A still from the 2019 documentary film Pavarotti.

Musician and director Bruce Springsteen arrives at the premiere of the film "Western Stars" which is screened as part of the London Film Festival, in central London, Friday, Oct. 11, 2019. (Photo by Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP)

The Beatles: Eight Days a Week - The Touring Years.

Time and motion: what exactly does an orchestra conductor do? A classical music critic explains

What does an orchestra conductor do? A music critic explains. Photo: Alamy

Italian conductor Gianandrea Noseda gestures as he conducts the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) during a concert at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC, on February 14, 2019. - and  Wilhelm Furtwngler, the 20th-century German conductor, 1928.(Photo by Andrew CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP) / Alamy

Russian conductor and Mariinsky Theater Artistic Director Valery Gergiev performs during a gala-concert dedicated to the Russia 2018 World Cup football tournament at Red Square in Moscow on June 13, 2018. (Photo by Sergei CHIRIKOV / POOL / AFP)

KT3H62 Fritz Reiner - Carnegie Hall 1947 (03) wmplayer 2013-04-16

Leonard Bernstein (pictured in 1945) was conductor and musical director of New York City Symphony. He was known for his flamboyant style. Photo: Alamy

Lifestyle

Arts & Culture


The 1978 film Autumn Sonata translates surprisingly well to an opera piece, composed by Sebastian Fagerlund
Singers Erika Sunnegardh, Helena Juntunen and Charlotte Hellekant excel, but the star of the show is the score itself



The 1978 film Autumn Sonata translates surprisingly well to Sebastian Fagerlund’s opera work of the same name, performed by the Hong Kong Philharmonic. The singers excel, but the star of the show is the score itself.


Classical music

Performing arts in Hong Kong

Opera Autumn Sonata, adapted from the original Swedish film, is an explosion of musical colour masterfully wielded by HK Phil

The 1978 film Autumn Sonata translates surprisingly well to an opera piece, composed by Sebastian Fagerlund Singers Erika Sunnegardh, Helena Juntunen and Charlotte Hellekant excel, but the star of the show is the score itself

The 1978 film Autumn Sonata translates surprisingly well to an opera piece, composed by Sebastian Fagerlund

Singers Erika Sunnegardh, Helena Juntunen and Charlotte Hellekant excel, but the star of the show is the score itself