Overseas visitors will be treated to a feast of international events at the City Festival, Hong Kong’s annual urban cultural festival held early next year.

A diverse programme will be staged at various venues from January 18 – February 9, including latest shows from international festivals and the best of Hong Kong’s local talent.

Along with music, dance, theatre and art exhibition the festival also crosses into other fields such as city studies, ecology, commerce, gastronomy, fashion, health and psychiatry.

“The City Festival is always looking for opportunities to bring arts into contact with seemingly unrelated areas of urban activities. By doing this, it aims to engage artists and performers in meaningful dialogues with different sectors of the community.”

This year the spotlight will be on Vienna, featuring a Viennese-style rooftop party serving food and wines from Vienna, along with music films, performances and exhibitions.

Highlights include a Hong Kong-Vienna photographic cultural exchange curated by Norman Jackson Ford of Hong Kong in collaboration with Klaus Pamminger and Susanne Gamauf of Vienna.

The music offerings will be diverse. Austrian DJs Chris Esycho and Ralf Reiter will introduce the vibrant Viennese club scene to Hong Kong, while brothers Wolfgang and Christian Muthspiel will perform the classical, contemporary music from their Duo Due tour of Austria, Switzerland, Germany, France and the US.

The show 9 O’Clock Comedy, a sell-out at the Melbourne Comedy Festival, will be another must-see event, while live music performances by guest artists from Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, the Philippines, UK and the US will be held at the Fringe Club on Fridays and Saturdays throughout the festival.