operalab
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 Hong Kong Professional Vocalists Association is performing the OperaLab’s “fairy-tale” version of George Bizet’s first opera Le Docteur Miracle as part of the French May Arts Festival and with the support of the French Consulate, featuring the new selections for children’s soloists and choir written by Marco Iannelli. It will performed on 21-22 May at Tungpo.
More operetta than opera, and only about an hour in length, Dr Miracle is a comedy that doesn’t take itself too seriously, yet still shows early evidence of the talent of the future composer of Carmen. It tells the timeless story of a young woman in love with a boy her overbearing father thinks unsuitable — only a doctor or lawyer will do — but, despite the attractions of a vain and flirty stepmother, love finds a way through various disguises, a poisoned possibly omelette, and a fake doctor with a miracle cure.
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.
This second performance of Carmen Wong, the new localised version reduced to the four principles which debuted at the 2025 French May at Felix in the Peninsula Hong Kong on 31 May, features Ashley Chui and Etta Fung as the two bar hostesses Carmen and Micaëla, Chen Yong as José and Albert Lim as the colonial policeman Escamillo.
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.
Marco Iannelli’s new rearrangement for Il tabarro, the first of the three operas in Giacomo Puccini’s Il trittico, commissioned by Hong Kong’s Musica Viva, was played for three performances at the Hong Kong City Hall from 13-15 December 2024. The performances featured Turkish bass Burak Bilgili as Michele, the cuckolded barge-owner. He was joined by soprano Rianne Lau and tenor Yeghishe Manucharyan as the star-crossed lovers Giorgetta and Luigi.
This new adaptation aims to capture the origins of the novel in the semi-autobiographical novel Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger in 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.
The production, adapted by Peter Gordon and with a new musical arrangement by Marco Iannelli, keeps all the major music, arias and ensembles as well as the original, beloved story line, by moving Musetta’s Act II music to Scene 1 and reassigning some lines. The Star Ferry performances were reset in contemporary Hong Kong. It runs approximately 60 minutes.
Scene 1 opens with the writer Murger witnessing a death in hospital (as Mimì does in the original book), and then sitting down to write, stepping into the scene as Rodolfo. Scene 2 also open with Murger writing and again stepping into the scene for Rodolfo’s entrance.
The performances featured Etta Fung as Mimì, Ashley Chui as Musetta, Chen Yong as Rodolfo and Isaac Droscha as Marcello, with Jaclyn Chiu on piano.
The OperaLab production of Adolphe Adam’s Le toréador received the “Prix art et culture” of the 2024 Grand Prix France Hong Kong from the “Petit Journal“ and the French Consulate General.
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.