In close collaboration with the Hong Kong Arts Festival and Young Friends of the Hong Kong Arts Festival, the British Council supports the Festival's educational Plus programme. In 2005, The Yellow Earth Theatre conducted a full-day teachers’ workshop for over 100 primary/secondary school teachers of various disciplines on the significance of adopting dramatic skills in their teaching.  A special matinee show of The Nightingale was also exclusively staged for Young Friends of Hong Kong Arts Festival.

The education programme we commissioned with the Hong Kong Arts Festival was stronger than ever in 2006! We put together specialists from the diverse UK representation in the 2006 Festival to offer you exclusive moments with artists from the Birmingham Symphony Chorus, Red Priest and of course, the National Theatre.

Meet The History Boys

The National Theatre's performance of The History Boys in Hong Kong in February 2006 was a sell out. For those who were not lucky enough to have acquired tickets for the show, the Boys were at the British Council for an exclusive event where they told Hong Kong audience their behind-the-scene stories of starring in the National Theatre’s hottest play in recent years.

			Date: 16 Feb 2006 (Thu)
			Time: 16.00 - 17.00
			Venue: Level 3, British Council, 3 Supreme Court Road, Hong Kong

Producing and Programming for a National Company

The National Theatre is known for presenting a diverse mix of both new and classic plays. With seven or eight productions going on at one time, Associate Producer Pádraig Cusack revealed to theatre enthusiasts the successful factors of the National Theatre's productions, operations and policies.

Talk 1

			Date: 17 Feb 2006 (Fri)
			Time:16.30 – 18.00
			Venue: Common Room, G/F, Hong Kong Academy for Perfoming Arts

Talk 2

			Date: 18 Feb 2006 (Sat)
			Time: 12.00 - 13.00
			Venue: Fringe Theatre, Fringe Club, 2 Lower Albert Road, Central

*Talks by Pádraig Cusack were produced by the Hong Kong Arts Festival and supported by the British Council.

Choral Conducting Masterclass with Simon Halsey

Co-presenting with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus presented Requiem by Fauré, Schicksalslied by Brahm, Five Mystical Songs by Vaughan, O Magnum Mysterium by Lauriden and Beautiful Valley of Eden by Julian Andersen on 17 February 2006 at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre.

Chorus Director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus for 21 years and Chief Conductor of the Rario Choir Berlin, Germany, Simon Halsey, leads the Birmingham Symphony Chorus into becoming one of the finest, multiple award-winning choruses in the UK. Simon Halsey coached Hong Kong music teachers with his ‘second to none’ (Birmingham Post) conducting skills with support from the BKH Bishop Mok Sau Tseng Secondary School Choir.  

			Date: 16 Feb 2006 (Thu)
			Time: 16.00 - 18.00
			Venue: SKH Bishhop Mok Sau Tseng Secondary School, 26 Wan Tau Kok Lane, Tai Po, NT

*Performances by the City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus were commissioned by the Hong Kong Arts Festival. Masterclass with Simon Halsey was produced by the Hong Kong Arts Festival and supported by the British Council.

Recorder Bravura

Featuring Piers Adams (Recorders) and Howard Beach (Harpsichord) from the Red Priest. A specially-programmed early afternoon of music highlighting music from the 15th century to today including baroque sonatas, canzonas by Handel and Bach as well as modern works and an array of dazzling showpiece transcriptions.

			Date: 23 Feb 2006 (Thu)
			Time:12:30 – 13:15
			Venue: University Chapel, Hong Kong Baptist University

*Performances by the Red Priest were commissioned by the Hong Kong Arts Festival. Recorder Bravura was produced by the Hong Kong Arts Festival and supported by the British Council.