“Magician of sound” François-Frédéric Guy is returning to Hong Kong for two exceptional concerts of Romantic music, with Hong Kong Sinfonietta under the baton of Christoph Poppen (5 November), and for a recital of Beethoven, Chopin and Liszt (6 November).
On the occasion, we talked with the artist, who reflected on his last concert in Hong Kong in 2018 as part of Le French May Festival, already with Hong Kong Sinfonietta.
“As you can imagine, I am absolutely delighted to be back playing in Hong Kong”, says Guy. “These two years of pandemic have been really painful for everyone, especially for the artists who had to stop their activity completely. In 2020, my cycle of Beethoven piano concertos with the Hong Kong Philharmonic has been postponed. Nevertheless, I am delighted to be back with Hong Kong Sinfonietta and it is such a pleasure to work again with Maestro Christoph Poppen with whom I have already played several times.”
Regularly premiering contemporary pieces (Mantovani, Murail, Dumont,etc.), the virtuoso pianist seems to always be coming back to Beethoven and the romantics. A music that he finds still echoes for the audience nowadays: “It seems to me that Beethoven is not only one of the greatest composers of all time, but also the composer who radically changed the history of music. The alpha and omega. He opened the doors and broke the bonds of expression by leading the way for the Romantics who took up the Beethovenian challenge of expressing deep human feelings in music. And this is timeless and invaluable!”
A world-renowned pianist, François-Frédéric Guy often conducts himself while performing. The artist confesses to “finding it fascinating to immerse [him]self in the orchestra”. He added: “You have to remember that Mozart or Beethoven (with the exception of his famous 5th concerto because he was deaf) conducted their own concertos from the keyboard. We can therefore see a return to the roots! The perfect encounter between the soloist, the orchestra and the chamber music leads to a real complicity and team spirit for the greater benefit of the music. Of course, working with a great conductor, such as Maestro Poppen for example, also brings this musical success. But I would say that Play-Conduct is an additional, exciting and enriching musical experience!”

Hong Kong Sinfonietta under the baton of Christoph Poppen
Guy did not make any exceptions for the two upcoming November programmes: “For this return to Hong Kong, Chopin will be at the very centre of both programs. We will perform his splendid and so moving second piano concerto with HongKong Sinfonietta conducted by Christoph Poppen. In the recital, Chopin will once again be the hero with four of the most famous nocturnes and the great 3rd piano sonata. This romantic masterpiece is also very “late Beethovenian” and I thought it could be preceded by the most moving of Beethoven’s piano sonatas: the penultimate one opus 110. The recital will begin with Liszt’s “Blessing of God in Solitude,” a huge meditative masterpiece that reflects his two main obsessions: God and humanity!”
Tickets are selling fast for these two exciting concerts: don’t miss the chance to hear the lyric Piano Concerto No 2, by Frédéric Chopin with Hong Kong Sinfonietta, or the beautifully deep Bénédiction de Dieu dans la Solitude by Liszt during Guy’s one-night recital.
Tickets details here.
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