Great Music 2026 Delivers A-list Classical Names

Description

Home to two professional orchestras that both regularly bring star soloists to town, Hong Kong is rarely short of opportunities to witness world-class classical musicians at work. So any standalone concert series has to think hard and dig deep to make music fans sit up and take note.

Enter the proudly and simply named Great Music series, which over the past two decades has succeeded in making a sizeable mark on the city’s packed cultural calendar, simply by booking some of the biggest names in the business. This year appears especially enticing, with the bona fide classical superstars Renaud Capuçon and Jan Lisiecki among the talent enticed to our shores.

Great Music 2026: The overture

While the focus may be on blockbuster names, the 2026 series launches with the dramatic weight of a full visiting orchestra. The 280-year-old Gewandhausorchester Leipzig is famous for premiering several canonical works, including Beethoven’s epic fifth piano concerto, “Emperor”, and Schumann’s first symphony “Spring” – which both feature at its 2 June performance at Hong Kong Culture Centre. A day later, the German orchestra serves a delightfully contrasting double bill of Rachmaninov’s beloved second piano concerto, paired with Shostakovich’s dramatic 10th symphony. Both nights will be conducted by the orchestra’s much-in-demand music director Andris Nelsons, making his Hong Kong debut, while both piano concertos will showcase International Chopin Piano Competition-winning soloist Yulianna Avdeeva.

Two’s company: A pair of duos

Speaking of star soloists – the rest of the programme moves to Hong Kong City Hall for a series of intimate chamber music performances. Another former Chopin Competition winner, Polish pianist Rafał Blechacz has been playing alongside Korean violinist Bomsori since the pair’s acclaimed 2019 duo album for Deutsche Grammophon. On 22 June, they present an eclectic, mood-jumping programme featuring works by Beethoven, Paderewski, Franck and Szymanowski.

On 2 November, the celebrated long-time duo of celloist Sol Gabetta and Grammy Award-winning violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja will make its Hong Kong debut, presenting an entire evening of deliberately short pieces, more often employed as passing palate cleansers. An ideal taster for those who tire from sitting down to a whole symphony, let the programme guide you from Bach and the Baroque period, through romantic classics including Ravel, to modern works by Widmann, Ligeti, Xenakis and Kopatchinskaja herself.

Star soloists

Renaud Capuçon hardly needs any introduction – on October 11 the French violin superstar will present an all-Brahms programme, centred around the composer’s three violin sonatas.

Finally, the series wraps on 6 December with a solo recital by Jan Lisiecki, the Canadian former child prodigy who has outlived the early hype to establish himself as a major player, earning several major awards and releasing a run of bestselling albums. Returning to Hong Kong for the first time in eight years, fans can look forward to a dance-themed programme that traces traditions from the waltz to the tango, via works from Piazzolla, Falla and Martinů, as well as Brahms, Bartok and Schubert.