The 36th Hong Kong Arts Festival opens Thursday with a
performance of Swan Lake by the world- renowned Stuttgart
Ballet.
The Festival will be held from Feb. 14 to March 16. According to
organizer of the event, Hong Kong Arts Festival Society Ltd, over
90,000 performance tickets have been sold as of Thursday,
accounting for over 90 percent of all seats.
The Festival this year will present over 100 performances and
events of 31 performing groups from Hong Kong, the Chinese mainland
and all around the world, including New York Philharmonic's three
concerts, the Teatro Regio di Parma's debut of Giuseppe Verdi's
monumental opera Rigoletto in Hong Kong, London
Philharmonic Orchestra's two concerts, Grammy-awarded jazz legend
Ornette Coleman's performance, American Repertory Theater's Asian
debut of Orpheus X and other world-class performances.
The opening of the Festival was officiated by Hong Kong Special
Administrative Region Chief Executive Donald Tsang, Hong Kong
Secretary for Home Affairs Tsang Tak-shing, Director of the Leisure
and Cultural Services Department Thomas Chow and Chairman of the
Hong Kong Arts Festival Society Charles Lee and some other
guests.
As an annual international cultural event, the Hong Kong Arts
Festival provides a focus for the best of international performing
arts and serves as a showcase for the best contemporary and
traditional performing arts from China.
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(Xinhua News Agency February 15, 2008)