Hong Kong Chapter
Hong Kong Works
Boom Boom Battle of the Big Bad Bosses (Excerpt)
Yat Po Singers
When rival bosses gather, rumours swirl of a fierce musical showdown.
Their weapons of choice? Ancient melodies and rhythmic beats.
This non-verbal A Cappella showdown emerges from Yat Po Singers’ genre-defying practice of A Cappella theatre, in which vocal performance, movement, and theatrical storytelling are tightly woven into a distinctive performance language. On each side of the divide, human voices imitate and intertwine with the traditional Chinese instrument, the Sheng, while precise body percussion traces shifting power dynamics. Throughout, the rhythmic qualities of Cantonese infuse their rivalry with humour and cultural texture, revealing resilience within tension and absurdity within competition.
Even without words or other weapons, Boom Boom Battle of the Big Bad Bosses is a wild, unforgettable clash – of music, choreography, and epic storytelling.
Art Form: Music
Yat Po Singers
Yat Po singers is the first professional A Cappella theatre company in Hong Kong. The founding directors were Patrick Chiu, Ng Cheuk Yin, and Yuri Ng. Currently led by Co-Artistic Directors Ng Cheuk Yin and Anna Lo, the company produces original works that promote A Cappella art and demonstrate the innovative interaction of music and theatre. The company further enriches the arts scene by nurturing young composers and artists while facilitating audience building and arts education.
The company’s first A Cappella theatre production, Rock Hard, received the Golden Sail Music Award in the Best Serious Composition category from the Composers and Authors Society of Hong Kong in 2009. In 2015, the company received the Award for Arts Promotion from the Hong Kong Arts Development Council. At the Hong Kong Drama Awards, the company has won Best Original Music and Lyrics, Best Sound Design, and a Best Production of the Year award for Our Immortal Cantata (2017); Outstanding Large Venue Production for Requiem HK (2019) with City Contemporary Dance Company; Best Lyrics for Love, Death, and Everything In-between (2020); and Best Original Music (Musical) for Om Encounter (2024).
With the support of The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, the company organised the elderly A Cappella choral and life enrichment project: “Jockey Club Yat Po ‘Happy A-ge-cappella’”. In 2023, the company was awarded the Award for Arts Promotion and Education by the 17th Hong Kong Arts Development Awards for the project.
Yat Po Singers is financially supported by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council and the Art Development Matching Grants Scheme of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
Danger Back to Jazz: Fountain Collective Live Improvisation
Fountain Collective
In a city defined by its restless energy, a collective of artists gathers to embrace the unknown.
Spurred by a mission to “bring danger back to jazz”, Fountain Collective ventures out from the safety of sheet music to transform the stage into a microcosm of urban vitality, where the only certainty is the pulse of the moment.
Join us in exploring the unstoppable spirit of life through the lens of avant-garde jazz.
Art Form: Music
Fountain de Chopin
Established in 2021, Fountain de Chopin (翻騰三周半) is a dynamic Hong Kong-based jazz collective and promotion platform. Operating out of a flagship 4,500 sq ft venue in San Po Kong, the collective is dedicated to demystifying jazz and rooting it within the community through accessible performances, educational workshops, and high-energy jam sessions.
Fountain Collective
At the heart of the platform is Fountain Collective, an avant-garde ensemble formed by seven core musicians: Nelson Fung (bass), Bowen Li (piano), Michael Chan (guitar), Dean Li (drums), Brian Cheung (saxophone), Timothy Wan (saxophone), and Gold Mountain (rapper/GM).
Inspired by Marcel Duchamp’s boundary-pushing artwork, Fountain, the group emerged during the pandemic to challenge musical conventions. While the members possess rigorous traditional training, they champion a philosophy of "bringing danger back to jazz". Their style is defined by free improvisation, genre fluidity, and philosophical risk, embracing jazz as a “multiplayer game” and a medium of absolute interpretive freedom.
History Play (Excerpt)
Rooftop Productions
History Play is a new piece of music theatre from Hong Kong that treats Shakespeare’s Richard II not as a dusty classic, but as a controversial, intercultural interrogation of power.
Rooftop Productions presents a contemporary song theatre work that crashes Elizabethan history into contemporary culture. We follow a young Shakespeare – an "upstart" poet without a university education – as he navigates the paranoia of Elizabeth I’s final years, a time defined by state censorship, recurring plagues, and the shadow of the gallows.
Paid by the Earl of Essex to stage a play about the downfall of a king, Shakespeare finds his poetic genius entangled in the politics of the time. Part historical epic, part eclectic musical, History Play is a genre-blending tapestry where the score leaps from Cantonese Opera to Metal, Madrigals, and Rap. The work asks a biting question: was Shakespeare a visionary out of his time, or a strategic survivor who learned how to write within the rules?
Following a successful premiere as a staged reading in Hong Kong in October 2025, History Play won Script of the Year at the IATC(HK) Critics Awards 2026. This bilingual production is available in both English and Cantonese.
Art Form: Drama
Rooftop Productions
Rooftop Productions promotes the development of contemporary, multidisciplinary theatre performance, training, and multimedia technology. The company’s works integrate a wide range of theatre techniques into its creative process, from live music to live video and even live interaction with mobile apps.
The company also encourages cultural exchange, with an aim to increase both local and international recognition of Hong Kong theatre.
Rooftop Productions was founded in 2014 by Ivor Houlker and Michelle Li, two performing artists who trained in London and have worked throughout Europe. In 2022, they received the Award for Young Artist (Drama) from the 16th Hong Kong Arts Development Awards.
Rooftop Productions’ recent works have won numerous local theatre awards and nominations. Their recent co-production with WestK, Songs of Innocence and Experience, received the Best Original Music (Drama) and Outstanding Production of the Year at the 33rd Hong Kong Drama Awards, as well as the Scenography of the Year Award and nomination for Best Director at the 2024 IATC (HK) Critics’ Awards. Their documentary theatre work Testimony was awarded Best Yearly Performance and Best Scenography at the 2019 IATC (HK) Critics’ Award. Earlier works were awarded Outstanding Scenography at the 8th, 9th, 11th, and 12th Hong Kong Theatre Libre awards.
Introduction to Philip Glass x Leonard Cohen: The Book of Longing, an original Hong Kong production
ANIMA Ensemble
The Book of Longing is an immersive musical theatre experience that bridges Leonard Cohen’s poetic lyrics and Philip Glass’s iconic compositions.
Set within a Zen garden, the work blends music, theatre, movement, visual art, and multimedia projection, brought to life by a cast of 15 performers and an interdisciplinary production crew. Four solo singers embody Cohen. A movement artist personifies longing. A sandpainting artist visualises the passage of time. Together, they create a poetic journey of desire, introspection, and transformation.
This original Hong Kong production, praised for its expressive clarity and innovation, invites audiences into a contemplative world where Eastern aesthetics meet Western musical minimalism.
Art Form: Music
ANIMA Ensemble
Founded in 2023 by conductor Vivian Ip and violinist Nina Wong, ANIMA Ensemble represents a bold new force in contemporary music-making. Rooted in the belief that sound is a primordial language, the ensemble is committed to translating and transmitting its expressive power through adventurous programming and artistic innovation. The name “ANIMA” – Latin for “soul,” “breath”, and “life force” – reflects the ensemble’s mission to connect ancient artistic impulses with modern creative expression.
ANIMA Ensemble specialises in contemporary chamber opera, musical theatre, and chamber music, curating interdisciplinary experiences that engage audiences on intellectual, emotional, and spiritual levels. Philip Glass x Leonard Cohen: The Book of Longing premiered in May 2024 at Freespace, WestK with support from the Hong Kong Arts Development Council. The production received critical acclaim for its expressive clarity and imaginative staging; Hong Kong critic Johnny Lau noted: “High-calibre artistic sensibility has made a comeback, and Hong Kong now stands on an international level.”
The ensemble has since expanded its international footprint, marking a significant milestone with its debut at Carnegie Hall and further enriching its artistic development as Ensemble in Residence at Rutgers University.
The ANIMA Quartet, a core group from the ensemble, has also appeared in performances in partnership with the Macao Contemporary Music Association, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, and Pallas Piano Academy. It participated in the premiere of the Chinese–Western opera Sleepless Moon at the Xiqu Centre in November 2024.
Through its dedication to artistic exploration, collaboration, and community engagement, ANIMA Ensemble continues to shape a dynamic and forward-looking presence in the contemporary music landscape.
Maybe Tomorrow: A Drifting Landscape of Nowhere and Now Here
CHLOEOGRAPHY PROJECT
“What are you pushing forward in the face of endless absurdity?”
Maybe Tomorrow is a responsive, ever-evolving environmental performance featuring the monumental, inflated, mirrored spheres. The reflective vessel captures the surrounding environment and the faces of its audience, transforming its surroundings into a multisensory stage for the here and now.
Drifting through public space like a vessel of memory, Maybe Tomorrow collects local voices, written words, and physical interactions from passers-by. It reflects back fragmented traces of "being and action", distilling them into a living landscape of the “now".
With its profound roots in the emotions of a specific locale, this project is a cultural movement extending from Hong Kong to the world, seeking dialogue with diverse communities. In 2025, the work was featured at Scenofest during World Stage Design (WSD2025) in Sharjah, proving its powerful cross-cultural adaptability and resonance.
This is more than a performance; it is a collective cultural action! Through the tides of transformation, we seek kindred echoes and leave behind deep, human bonds.
Art Form: Dance
CHLOEOGRAPHY PROJECT
CHLOEOGRAPHY PROJECT was founded in 2018 by performing artist Chloe Wong. Its creative practice originates from profound inquiries into life and our times, interweaving dance, scenography, text, the physical body, visual media, and public participation, to transform social observations into a poetic framework. Emphasising environmental responsiveness and participatory engagement, the company’s works explore themes such as belonging, identity, and hope. In an ever-changing era, the project seeks to carve out spaces that respond to life, continuously pushing the boundaries and possibilities of performing arts and action within a contemporary context.
Through interdisciplinary and cross-cultural artistic practices, CHLOEOGRAPHY PROJECT maintains an open stance toward international dialogue and collaboration. Its signature work Maybe Tomorrow was invited as a featured performance for Scenofest at 2025 World Stage Design (WSD) in Sharjah, UAE; its spatial, installation, costume design, and music composition was also shortlisted for the professional Performance Design exhibition. In 2023, the company represented Hong Kong in the Exhibition of Countries and Regions at the Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space (PQ) with Our Atlas; during the 2019 edition, it presented Heaven Behind the Door II at PQ Studio. The group's international footprint extends to the Internationale Tanzmesse NRW in Düsseldorf, the Busan International Dance Market (BIDAM), and the Zawirowania Dance Festival in Poland. Furthermore, the group actively participates in professional networks such as APAM (Australia) and CINARS (Canada), as well as residency programs with OzAsia Festival and Dancehouse Melbourne.
CHLOEOGRAPHY PROJECT is dedicated to creating moments of genuine connection amidst an age of absurdity. By inviting diverse audiences to rediscover joy and hope through shared experiences, it embodies the power of individual and collective consciousness, offers a sanctuary for the soul, and connects the symbolic traces of humanity within contemporary contexts.
Nocturnes: A Dialogue Between Music and Cinematic Art
Fung Lam
Nocturnes is a wordless love letter to Hong Kong, emerging from the first-ever collaboration between composer Fung Lam and photographer–director Wing Shya.
Using only exquisite music and cinematic visuals, Nocturnes is a study of the expression of emotion and thought. Its non-narrative structure opens a space for audiences to explore their own relationship with Hong Kong and find solace in its beauty.
Art Form: Multidisciplinary Arts
Fung Lam
Classically trained as a composer, Fung Lam has established an international presence with performances at the BBC Proms and in many of the world’s venues, including Carnegie Hall in New York, Konzerthaus Berlin, Sydney Opera House, Royal Albert Hall, and London’s Southbank Centre. Described by The Independent as a composer with “a distinctive voice,” he is the first Hong Kong composer to be commissioned by the BBC, a milestone in the global recognition of Hong Kong’s creative voices.
Lam’s catalogue includes more than ten orchestral works, including three BBC commissions and two for the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra (HK Phil). His Endless Forms, premiered by the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the BBC Proms in 2012, received critical acclaim; the Evening Standard wrote “Lam, working with a carefully constructed minimum of material, shapes his musical world with dreamy individuality.”
As the HK Phil’s Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Composer-in-Residence (2013–14), Lam composed Quintessence to mark the orchestra’s 40th anniversary. Under conductor Jaap van Zweden, the work was performed in Hong Kong and on tours across Europe (2015), China (2016), and Asia/Australia (2017).
His recent cross-disciplinary projects include Yet Another Dream (2021), his portrait concert with visual artist and designer anothermountainman; Nocturnes (2022), a music-and-film collaboration with photographer–director Wing Shya; Hyperreality (2023), an installation and concert co-created with media artist Keith Lam for the Hong Kong Arts Festival; and Dimension Flâneur (2025), a cross-disciplinary performance at the East Kowloon Cultural Centre, also with Keith Lam.
Lam holds a doctorate in composition from the University of Sussex and received the Young Artist Award 2011 from the Hong Kong Arts Development Council. In 2017, he was awarded the Certificate of Commendation from the Secretary for Home Affairs, HKSAR.
Wing Shya
Wing Shya is a Hong Kong photographer, director and graphic designer. He has worked with various musicians and artistes on music video and photo shooting projects.
No Sugar No Milk
TS Crew
TS Crew transports audiences to the nostalgic, vibrant heart of a Hong Kong cha chaan teng – a quintessentially local diner.
In these iconic eateries, stories of struggle, dreams, and belonging are shared over quick, affordable meals. No Sugar No Milk transforms one of these humble diners – with its clink of ceramic cups and aroma of milk tea and buttery pineapple buns – into a dynamic stage for an exploration of home, identity, the restless drift of life, and the city’s dualities of East and West, tradition and modernity.
Using elements of physical theatre, martial arts, dance, street art, and circus, No Sugar No Milk merges physical prowess with heartfelt storytelling of Hong Kong’s cinematic daring and street-level grit.
Art Form: Dance
TS Crew
TS Crew is a professional dance and physical theatre ensemble that places a significant focus on contemporary dance, circus, traditional arts, and martial arts disciplines.
TS Crew consists of performers from varied fields, including film, drama, xiqu, dance, martial arts, and stunt work, under the artistic direction of Hugh Cho. Together, they are the driving creative team for “Hong Kong Soul”, the Hong Kong performing arts season at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
As a recipient of the Hong Kong Arts Development Council’s Year Grant, TS Crew has been able to present their productions on local and global stages at various festivals and events. Highlights include the New Year’s Eve Countdown 2023 at New York’s Times Square, the Busan International Dance Festival, Budapest’s Sziget Festival, and the UK’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Their show No Dragon No Lion received the Asian Arts Award for Best Show at the 2022 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Their most recent work, No Sugar No Milk, debuted at the 2025 Edinburgh Festival Fringe and was praised by The Guardian: "Scoring high for TS Crew from Hong Kong, who in No Sugar No Milk combined hip-hop, beatbox, martial arts, circus and lot of physical humour in silly skits."
100 CYMBALS
Toolbox Percussion
100 Cymbals / Ryoji Ikeda is a groundbreaking sound installation and performance that reimagines the humble cymbal as a vessel for profound sonic exploration.
The original 100 Cymbals was created in 2019 by visionary composer and visual artist Ryoji Ikeda for the Los Angeles Philharmonic. The Hong Kong adaptation debuted at TICAFEST in February 2025, under Toolbox Percussion’s curation.
The core concept is an infinite crescendo: an array of 100 suspended cymbals gradually rise in volume from near-silent murmurs to overwhelming harmonic waves. Ikeda meticulously traces the thin line between noise and resonance, where seemingly rudimentary acoustic strikes evolve into polyphonic, choral-like strata. Performers employ unconventional techniques – stroking, tapping, vibrating, and triggering – to elicit rich overtones, micro-variations in timbre, and spatial diffusion. This creates an “abyss of vibration”: a sonic sea that engulfs the listener, blurring distinctions between acoustic purity and electronic precision, minimalism and maximal density.
At its heart, the piece probes perceptual thresholds, or how sustained sonic accumulation affects time, space, and collective listening. The visual element is stark and monumental: a field of gleaming brass discs forms a shimmering landscape, illuminated subtly to emphasise movement and reflection. This fusion of acoustic instrumentation with Ikeda’s signature data-driven aesthetic invites audiences to experience immersion beyond traditional concert formats, akin to an audiovisual installation that unfolds live.
Art Form: Music
Toolbox Percussion
Founded in 2012, Toolbox Percussion is a leading Hong Kong-based contemporary percussion collective dedicated to the promotion, production, and innovation of cutting-edge percussive arts. Driven by a bold artistic vision, the ensemble creates ambitious projects that challenge traditional boundaries through experimental collaborations, interdisciplinary performances, and impactful cultural exchange.
Toolbox Percussion has established itself as a dynamic creative platform and incubator for new percussive arts in Asia. The collective curates and produces innovative programming that explores the full sonic and artistic potential of percussion, often blending acoustic instruments with technology, visual arts, and other disciplines. Key initiatives include Toolbox Core, TICAFEST (Toolbox International Creative Academy Festival), and Outreach Education Series.
Under the artistic leadership of Founder and Artistic Advisor Louis Siu, together with TICAFEST Guest Artistic Director Bei Bei Wang, Associate Artistic Developer Abby Chan, and Executive Producer Shirley Lam, Toolbox Percussion continues to push the boundaries of contemporary percussion.
With a strong commitment to international dialogue, the ensemble actively builds global partnerships and touring opportunities. Recent highlights include the Hong Kong adaptation of Ryoji Ikeda’s 100 Cymbals, successful showcases at major arts expos, and new multi-year partnerships with internationally acclaimed ensembles such as Grammy Award-winning Third Coast Percussion (USA) and leading Australian artists for the presentation of “Song to the Earth” at Asia Society Hong Kong Centre in April 2026.
The ensemble regularly performs at prestigious venues and festivals across Asia and beyond, including West Kowloon Cultural District, East Kowloon Cultural Centre, Echigo-Tsumari Art Field (Japan), Asian Art Museum San Francisco, Tianjin Juilliard School, and MPavilion by Tadao Ando in Melbourne.
Toolbox Percussion is a Two-Year Grant grantee of the Hong Kong Arts Development Council and has also received support from the China National Arts Fund 2026.
Snowmelt
ALAN (Artists who Love Animals and Nature)
Snowmelt is a large‑scale immersive experience merging interactive exhibition, Mixed Reality and live performance into one evolving mountain world.
Audiences enter not as spectators, but as participants. Across a responsive landscape of projection, sound and digital interaction, visitors move through installations that invite self‑exploration — reflecting on instinct, adaptation and the shifting dynamics between predator and prey.
At the core of the experience is a Mixed Reality live performance where physical performers and spatial digital environments coexist in real time. Wearing MR headsets, audiences step inside a shared terrain where virtual landscapes unfold around live bodies, dissolving the boundaries between stage and spectator. The performance redefines theatrical space as something mapped, inhabited and collectively experienced.
Throughout the environment, live performances activate the mountain in 360 degrees. Contemporary dance, physical theatre and movement practices unfold among the audience, creating a space where exhibition, technology and embodied performance are fully intertwined.
In Snowmelt becomes a living system — one that invites audiences to explore resilience not from a distance, but from within.
Art Form: Multidisciplinary Arts
ALAN (Artists who Love Animals and Nature)
ALAN (Artists who Love Animals and Nature) is a non-profit creative platform dedicated to reconnecting art, technology, and the natural world, in an effort to rebuild the fading bond between humanity and nature. ALAN brings together local and international artists to create cross-disciplinary and new media art. Their works question humanity’s place within the greater web of life, opening up new ecological perspectives. By seeing others and listening to difference, ALAN explores deeper possibilities for coexistence – turning empathy into action and demonstrating how compassion and creativity can evolve together.
Traditional & Contemporary Physical Training Research SHOWCASE
THÉÂTRE DE LA FEUILLE
Beyond classics and between the wings, can the ancient mountains and rivers be revived?
THÉÂTRE DE LA FEUILLE’s “Traditional and Contemporary Physical Training Research Programme” consolidated years of physical training, creative development, and experience gained from the previous programme “From 0 to International Tours.” The company invited masters from diverse traditional performing arts to serve as instructors, including practitioners of Chinese martial arts, Hong Kong bamboo sculpting, Indian Kutiyattam Theatre, puppetry and object Theatre, African traditional dance, as well as Japan Nihon Buyo and Kyogen.
The nine-month training and research programme culminated in the production Book of Mountains and Seas – The Fates of Mountains and Rivers, a reimagining of the eponymous Chinese classic that blends geography, mythology, travel writing, shamanic texts, and tales of the beast. Premiering in September 2025 and completing its first overseas tour in March 2026 at the Tokyo KANZE Noh Theater, the production employs contemporary multidisciplinary physical theatre to explore the natural harmony between heaven, earth, and humanity.
This Traditional & Contemporary Physical Training Research SHOWCASE is a combination of video and excerpt performances that highlight the essence of THÉÂTRE DE LA FEUILLE’s ongoing performing arts research programme. It invites participants to explore how the body can serve as a fulcrum to connect tradition and contemporary arts, as well as Eastern and Western performance practices – ultimately inspiring a deeper inquiry into life.
Art Form: Drama
THÉÂTRE DE LA FEUILLE
Théâtre de la Feuille is a Hong Kong-based organisation founded in Paris in 2010. The company aims to investigate the purity of the body, nurture the mind, and enrich the self. Its practice is rooted in tenacious curiosity, creating works that connect audience to artists, reflecting humanity back onto itself. The company has undertaken extensive tours in several countries across Europe, America, and Asia.
Remarks
*Book of Mountains and Seas – The Fates of Mountains and Rivers is co-presented and co-produced by WestK Performing Arts and THÉÂTRE DE LA FEUILLE, and is part of the WestK Creators series.**Book of Mountains and Seas – Traditional and Contemporary Physical Training Research Programme" is financially supported by the Arts Capacity Development Funding Scheme of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.+
+The content of these activities does not reflect the views of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
