works as a cooperative. We develop chamber-size (“small footprint”) operas in Hong Kong, each for one or more institutional partners. Once performed, these works are made available, either as performances or productions, to others in Hong Kong and the wider region.
Production support includes
- dramaturgy
- scripts in English and sometimes Chinese
- subtitles in English, Chinese and (on request) other languages
- New scores for chamber ensemble written by Marco Iannelli for Rita, Pomme d’Api and Le docteur Miracle.
- directorial oversight (remote or on-site) if requested
The opera-films are available for broadcast on screening on request.
We choose operas that are accessible and adaptable and productions which are flexible and cost-effective, able to be performed in a wide variety of venues. We aim to reset operas locally, which can include rewriting dialogue and changing the occasional lyric. We may cut music and add vocal selections from other works if we feel it helps the story or deepen the experience.
As a result, several of our productions qualify as “new works”, the best example of which is Waitress on Top, which resets Giovanni Battista Pergolesi’s La serva padrona in a contemporary Italian restaurant, replaces the recitatives with dialogue, adds several selections from Gaetano Donizetti’s Don Pasquale. The opera-film version provides a tenor aria from La figlia del reggimento for the other mute waiter.
Most works are easily adaptable from Hong Kong to other settings and are are particularly suitable for younger singers and younger audiences.
Creative team
Artistic Director: Peter Gordon has been working as a writer, publisher, translator, organizer and director in culture and the arts in Hong Kong since 2000. He has been named a “Cavaliere dell’ordine della stella d’Italia” by Italy.
Music Director: Marco Iannelli is an award-winning Italian composer, musicologist and educator living in Hong Kong. He has worked with major European theatres such as Teatro alla Scala, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Opera Berlioz and Deutsche Oper Berlin.
Producer: Lorna Chan is founder of event design and management firm Let Me Plan It, which has produced films and concerts for such organizations as the Italian Government and the Peninsula Hotel.
Artists in rep
Etta Fung is one of Hong Kong’s leading coloratura sopranos and has sung leading roles with Hong Kong’s major opera companies, as well as overseas, and is the creator of Opera Sull’Aria in which she performs coloratura arias in the air combined with aerial silks.
Tenor Chen Yong has sung lead roles with opera companies and orchestras in Hong Kong, China and Europe.
Isaac Droscha frequently performs leading baritone roles in Hong Kong as well as in recital. He teaches at HKUST.
Ashley Chui is mezzo-soprano who appears with Opera Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Arts Festival and Hong Kong Festival Orchestra.
Hsu Wei-En is an award-winning
pianist on the faculty of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts.