After 50 momentous years, little is remembered of the chaos the Hong Kong Philharmonic faced in its early days as a professional outfit. John Duffus arrived in Hong Kong in 1979 as its fifth general manager in as many years. In this entertaining memoir he highlights those problems and illustrates how, with typical Scottish grit and determination, he helped get the orchestra on the road as an international ensemble. John's subsequent concerts as a Hong Kong impresario with superstars Luciano Pavarotti, José Carreras, Plácido Domingo, Kiri Te Kanawa, Yo-Yo Ma and many others – including pop…mehr
After 50 momentous years, little is remembered of the chaos the Hong Kong Philharmonic faced in its early days as a professional outfit. John Duffus arrived in Hong Kong in 1979 as its fifth general manager in as many years. In this entertaining memoir he highlights those problems and illustrates how, with typical Scottish grit and determination, he helped get the orchestra on the road as an international ensemble. John's subsequent concerts as a Hong Kong impresario with superstars Luciano Pavarotti, José Carreras, Plácido Domingo, Kiri Te Kanawa, Yo-Yo Ma and many others – including pop icons Dionne Warwick and Olivia Newton-John – make for fascinating and occasionally shocking stories, as do the almost unbelievable backstage dramas he reveals while managing Andrew Lloyd Webber's Asian companies and bringing CATS and Phantom of the Opera to Hong Kong. Most of the details in this book have never before been published.
With a ten-year background at the BBC in London and with Scottish Opera, John Duffus arrived in Hong Kong in 1979 as the most experienced performing arts manager then to work in the city. He had been appointed the fifth general manager of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra in as many years. It celebrated its 50th anniversary as a professional ensemble in 2024, and has now developed as the finest in Asia. The early years of the Philharmonic were full of problems and many disasters. A first-class honours Music graduate, Duffus had come to Hong Kong with a brief to solve these issues and set the orchestra on an international footing. He overcame most of them, helping the Philharmonic become a true community orchestra with a growing international reputation. Remaining in Hong Kong after eight years with the Philharmonic, he describes more adventures presenting concerts around Asia with such artists as Pavarotti, Domingo, Carreras, Kiri Te Kanawa, Isaac Stern and a host of others. He organised the spectacular Three Tenors concert in Beijing’s Forbidden City in 2001 and Pavarotti’s final concert before a paying public in 2005. As managing director of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Asian companies, he helped bring Broadway-style musical productions to Hong Kong. He later established his own arts consultancy working with the Hong Kong Tourist Association and at the start of the West Kowloon Cultural District, both requiring much problem-solving.
Inhaltsangabe
1 Hong Kong on the Horizon 2 Challenge #1: A Strange Music Director Appointment 3 Challenge #2: Ling Tung’s Dubious Qualifications 4 Challenge #3: What Happened to Due Diligence? 5 I Arrive in Hong Kong 6 My Growing Love For Hong Kong 7 Ling Tung Leads the Philharmonic into the Law Courts 8 Things Finally Begin to Go My Way 9 Discovering the Region and Being Discovered 10 The Much-Disliked Ling Tung Finally Departs 11 The Search For a New Music Director 12 Jury Duty 13 The New Music Director Unveiled 14 Developing the Philharmonic 15 New Audiences – Who? How? Where? 16 Downs and Ups 17 My Final Season: I Start Thinking About My Future 18 My Final Season: China Tour, Glyndebourne, Lawsuit 19 Disaster When Starting My Own Business 20 Excursions into the Soviet Union 21 Macao’s International Music Festival 22 Hong Kong Cultural Centre: Design Misadventures 23 The Superstars: Pavarotti, Domingo and Carreras 24 Musicals #1: My First Attempt to Present CATS 25 Yet More of the Classical Superstars 26 Musicals #2: The Desire for a New Adventure 27 Musicals #3: CATS and Broken Promises 28 Abject Failures at the Hong Kong Tourist Association 29 West Kowloon: A Great Idea Dramatically Watered Down 30 Summary: How Much and Who Paid?
1 Hong Kong on the Horizon 2 Challenge #1: A Strange Music Director Appointment 3 Challenge #2: Ling Tung’s Dubious Qualifications 4 Challenge #3: What Happened to Due Diligence? 5 I Arrive in Hong Kong 6 My Growing Love For Hong Kong 7 Ling Tung Leads the Philharmonic into the Law Courts 8 Things Finally Begin to Go My Way 9 Discovering the Region and Being Discovered 10 The Much-Disliked Ling Tung Finally Departs 11 The Search For a New Music Director 12 Jury Duty 13 The New Music Director Unveiled 14 Developing the Philharmonic 15 New Audiences – Who? How? Where? 16 Downs and Ups 17 My Final Season: I Start Thinking About My Future 18 My Final Season: China Tour, Glyndebourne, Lawsuit 19 Disaster When Starting My Own Business 20 Excursions into the Soviet Union 21 Macao’s International Music Festival 22 Hong Kong Cultural Centre: Design Misadventures 23 The Superstars: Pavarotti, Domingo and Carreras 24 Musicals #1: My First Attempt to Present CATS 25 Yet More of the Classical Superstars 26 Musicals #2: The Desire for a New Adventure 27 Musicals #3: CATS and Broken Promises 28 Abject Failures at the Hong Kong Tourist Association 29 West Kowloon: A Great Idea Dramatically Watered Down 30 Summary: How Much and Who Paid?
Es gelten unsere Allgemeinen Geschäftsbedingungen: www.buecher.de/agb
Impressum
www.buecher.de ist ein Internetauftritt der buecher.de internetstores GmbH
Geschäftsführung: Monica Sawhney | Roland Kölbl | Günter Hilger
Sitz der Gesellschaft: Batheyer Straße 115 - 117, 58099 Hagen
Postanschrift: Bürgermeister-Wegele-Str. 12, 86167 Augsburg
Amtsgericht Hagen HRB 13257
Steuernummer: 321/5800/1497
USt-IdNr: DE450055826