The dynamic New Vision Arts  Festival runs from October - November
	insen celebrates 21st century multi-media art/music dialogue
	The world premier of city:zen will be staged in Hong Kong

Avant-garde, unconventional and cutting-edge - these are the themes that inspire and run through the New Vision Arts Festival due to hit Hong Kong in mid-October.

Artistes from around the world will converge in Hong Kong, collaborate with local talent, and put on a unique show for the pleasure of an arts-hungry audience.

“This festival is being organised for the third time in Hong Kong, and the aim is to give our audiences something really new and cutting-edge in terms of crossover art forms,” said Elaine Yeung, Senior Manager at the Festivals Office of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD).

“Most of our programmes are not readily available on the market, and many of them are specially commissioned for this festival. This festival is also a platform for artistes in Hong Kong to work with talent from around the world, and create something entirely unique in the process.”

East-West fusion

In the spirit of East-West fusion, crossover music will break new ground as Mongolian long songs and throat singing by the Khoomii Sound Machine blend with Western jazz and contemporary music played by artistes from Sweden, Austria, Korea and Argentina, and Hong Kong’s Dickson Dee.

The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra will perform one of the most controversial works of the 20th Century, Igor Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring.  They will also perform Iris Dévoilée (Iris Unveiled) - an orchestral suite devoted to the nine facets of a woman – composed by Paris-based Chinese composer Chen Qigang.

Opening the festival will be two signature pieces by US-based Chinese contemporary dance choreographer and painter Shen Wei, who is renowned for his unique style that combines dance with visual art.

Groundbreaking Singaporean director Ong Keng Sen will present Geisha, uncovering fresh insights into the famous Japanese cultural symbol; while Japanese Ryuichi Sakamoto will team up with German Alva Noto to bring insen, a unique collaboration where evocative music is transformed into digital sonic and visual images on a large LED screen.

World premiere

A specially-commissioned collaboration will be the world premiere of city:zen, blending the talent of British-Asian choreographer Shobana Jeyasingh with Hong Kong dancer and choreographer Mui Cheuk-yin. More eclectic fusion will be on display as the Yoshida Brothers of Japan put on their unconventional shamisen concert, mixing traditional Japanese instrumental music with elements of punk, folk, rock and jazz.

The festival will also host the “Theatre Criticism Project for Tertiary Students” in conjunction with the International Association of Theatre Critics (IATC) and the leading universities in Hong Kong. The aim is to foster the skills of arts appreciation and critique-writing in local students through a series of forums for exchange of ideas and views.

The New Vision Arts Festival, organised by the LCSD, will run from October 20 to November 19.

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New Vision Arts Festival