World Cultures Festival on Nordic Arts (Hong Kong)

Organised by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department since 2005, the biennial World Cultures Festival has explored a number of fascinating regions and enabled audiences to enjoy their creative brilliance. This year, the Festival will be held from 18 Oct to 17 Nov to showcase the artistic gems of five Nordic countries: Finland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Iceland. The programme encompasses music, dance, drama, literature, circus arts and more to engage audiences through inclusive, people-oriented themes and a focus on key social issues.

 An operatic version of Ingmar Bergman’s award-winning film Autumn Sonata, together with celebrated vocalist from the Nordics, and the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra will open the festival. Enthrallingly converted into a two-act opera, the work by Finnish composer Sebastian Fagerlund adds an intense musical angst to the raw truths bared in the tale of an inharmonious relationship between a concert pianist and her daughters. 

The Chronic Life (Photo credit: Jan Rüsz)

On theatre, renowned theatre director Eugenio Barba directs the acclaimed Odin Teatret in The Chronic Life, in which the Danish-based acting lab delves into the disoriented times of 2031. 

Ibsen’s Ghosts (Photo credit: Erik Berg)

Human nature is examined in an unconventional Norwegian ballet, Ghosts, which reinterprets a play by Henrik Ibsen for modern times. With original music by Sigur Rós, the Icelandic contemporary dance production The Best of Darkness wrestles with the inner vulnerabilities of humans. In Breath, two masterly avant-garde Finnish performers, Tero Saarinen and Kimmo Pohjonen, showcase breathtaking dance, music and visual effects, while hearing-impaired Finnish rapper Signmark voices out themes of equality and inclusiveness in his songs and music.

Limits (Photo credit: Mattias Edwall)

Sweden’s Limits by Cirkus Cirkör brilliantly deploys the techniques of cirque nouveau, stretching physical frontiers and soaring beyond borders to reflect on the global refugee crisis. The Danish multimedia production NeoArctic takes audiences to a visual-music journey addressing an ecosystem emergency.

Finland’s Arctic Odyssey is a spell-binding encounter with the eclectic arts of indigenous people from diverse regions of the far north. The Sounds of Finland connects innovation and tradition in a concert centered on the zither-like kantele, an instrument with a history of more than 1000 years. In addition, Nordic and local groups will present an upbeat sonic celebration spotlighting women singer in the Nordic & Hong Kong Band Sound Gala.

The Sounds of Finland – Kantele vs Electro-folk (Photo credit: Katariina Salmi, Antti Kokkola)

What’s more, the Festival will have a refreshing Nordic Café series that will turn the Hong Kong Cultural Centre’s Studio Theatre into an informal salon for the enjoyment of chamber music, play reading and improvisational theatre while attendees comfortably enjoy snacks and drinks.

To find out more about the World Cultures Festival, click here.

Visit Hong Kong Cultural Centre’s website here.