operalab
This new version of the iconic opera is scored for five singers and chamber ensemble. It is set over two scenes and set in a bar. Carmen, Micäela and Mércedès are bargirls; Don José is a police officer who stumbles upon a criminal operation run by the gangster Escamillo.
The new production from Xinghai Conservatory in Guangzhou, derived from the original for the 2025 French May Festival, ran on 16-17 June 2026.
The production, developed for the French May, presented by the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and Opera Hong Kong, debuted on 30 May 2026. The performance featured Etta Fung as Mimi, Vivian Yau as Musette, Chen Yong as Rodolphe and Lam Kwok Ho as Marcel, with Arièle Zanini on piano. See full details.
Among the many Chinese who found cultural and intellectual inspiration in Paris between the World Wars were a number of now well-known artists, writers and musicians: Sanyu, Lin Fengmian, Pan Yuliang, Li Jinfa, Xu Xu, Shao Xunmei, Xian Xinghai, Ma Sicong.
This story of impoverished artists, equal parts humour, romance and tragedy, happiness and sadness, tells a completely recognisable and relatable tale of a group of young people in the period of self-discovery between feckless youth and adult responsibility.
Echoing the classic French novel by Henri Murger, based on the iconic opera by Italian composer Giacomo Puccini and sung in French, Scènes de la vie de Bohème is an intimate dramatic adaptation of Giacomo Puccini’s classic opera. Reduced to the four principal roles, this new version is designed to focus on the emotional ties between the two couples while telling a story of the Chinese cultural diaspora in Paris: a story of love, loss, art, poverty and the richness of life.
The new version debuts for the French May as part of La vie bohème 2026 on 30 May at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University’s Jockey Club auditorium. The performance features:
Etta Fung – Mimi
Chen Yong – Rodolphe
Vivian Yau – Musette
Lam Kwok Ho – Marcel
Piano: Arièle Zanini
The full version of Carmen Wong, complete with new score for chamber ensembles, was performed three times with three different casts at the Shenzhen School of Music.
This new version for five singers is set over two scenes and set in a bar. Carmen, Micäela and Mércedès are bargirls; Don José is a police officer who stumbles upon a criminal operation run by the gangster Escamillo.
Carmen Wong is a new adaption of George Bizet’s iconic opera set in a Hong Kong of the 1970s. Developed for the French May and as part of the “Carmen 2025” programme celebrating the opera’s 150th anniversary, and premiering at the Hong Kong Peninsula, Carmen Wong had two staged performances at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University in October 2025.
These staged performances featured Ashley Chui and Etta Fung as the two bar hostesses Carmen and Micaëla, Chen Yong as José and Isaac Droscha as the colonial policeman Escamillo, with Jaclyn Chiu on piano and including narration taken from Prosper Mérimée’s original novel.
Carmen Wong, the new localised version reduced to the four principles debuted at the 2025 French May at Felix in the Peninsula Hong Kong on 31 May, featuring Ashley Chui and Etta Fung as the two bar hostesses Carmen and Micaëla, Chen Yong as José and Isaac Droscha as the colonial policeman Escamillo.
It will be performed twice more on 21 July and 20 September.
2025 is the 150th anniversary of Georges Bizet’s iconic “Carmen”. In celebration, this multimedia presentation offers a new rendition of the timeless story. Centred on selections from the opera sung by some of Hong Kong’s most acclaimed vocalists, infused with narrative from the original novel by Prosper Mérimée (itself celebrating its 180th anniversary!) – it brings to life one of Europe’s most fascinating literary characters.
Sung in French with English surtitles and English narration, this “Europe Day” event is the first major performance of “Carmen 2025”, a year-long programme of opera, literature, music and dance, commemorating the dual anniversaries of the novel and opera.
Le toréador (1849) is a opéra-comique by Adolphe Adam, a French composer best known for the ballet Giselle. The story is of a ménage–a–trois between an erstwhile soprano, her oft–absent and unfaithful husband, and a previous lover. The work features famous variations on the folk–song Ah! vous dirai–je, maman (better known as Twinkle, twinkle, little star in the English–speaking world). This semi–staged performance resets the story in contemporary Hong Kong as The Triad, or Three in Accord (retaining the musical pun in the original French title Le toréador, ou L’accord parfait).
The premiere takes place on 6 June 2024 at the Asia Society as part of the French May and will feature Etta Fung as Coraline, Chen Yong as Tracolin and Isaac Droscha as Don Belflor, with Hsu Wei-en on piano. This will be Hong Kong (and likely Greater China) premiere.
OperaLab’s new production of George Bizet’s “Dr. Miracle” for Opera Hong Kong in cooperation with HKUST and in association with the French May premiered at HKUST’s Shaw Auditorium on 15 May 2023.
It featured Etta Fung as Laurette, Isaac Drocha as her professorial father, Chen Yong as Silvio, Romeo and the eponymous Dr. Miracle and Ashley Chui as the stepmother Véronique.
Marco Iannelli’s new score was performed by the OperaLab Chamber Orchestra conducted by Hsu Wei-en.
Dr Miracle appeared in a double bill with a new production or Gaetano Donizetti’s “Rita“.