Striking a fresh chord

It was 10:30 am on a sunny Saturday morning. A handful of cozily dressed musicians carrying cellos or violins got out of their vehicles at the Bay Opera of Shenzhen, a key cultural landmark in the Qianhai Cooperation Zone, facing a peaceful bay.

Shortly afterward, two large orchestra coaches arrived with the rest of the Hong Kong Philharmonic members. The rehearsal would start in half an hour. There was still time to grab a cup of coffee.

Four hours later, the 96-member group, fully dressed in formal black attire, took the stage in the packed opera hall. The orchestra, one of Asia's most reputable, performed its first New Year concert on the Chinese mainland in its 52-year history.

To make life easier for those onstage and offstage, the concert was held in the afternoon. By the same evening, both the audience and the musicians would return to their destinations in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

"It's definitely a routine for me, because I do this every week," says Paul Luxenberg, who was on the orchestra coach. He has lived in Hong Kong since joining the orchestra as principal tuba in 2001, and currently lives there with his wife and two children.

The Los Angeles-born tubist has been sought after in the region. A graduate of the renowned Juilliard School, he not only plays as a soloist and with an ensemble, but also teaches at music institutions in Hong Kong and Shenzhen, Guangdong province. During the past three months, he recalled at least 20 trips crossing from Hong Kong to Shenzhen.

When he travels farther north to cities like Wuhan — where he has given multiple master classes, performed in recitals, and judged an international competition — he usually buys an extra ticket. That's because his hefty instrument, a piston-valve F tuba from the German instrument maker Meinl Weston, usually rides next to him on the high-speed rail. If the tubing were laid out straight, the length would be an astonishing 3.7 meters — not something that the nature-loving Californian would carry on one of his climbing expeditions.

But for this concert, big instruments — the harp, tuba, double basses, timpani and percussion — crossed through Hong Kong-Shenzhen customs without any fuss. What used to take half a day to get clearance, now takes only half an hour, according to Vanessa Chan, director of orchestral operations.

New customs policies in 2025 from the Qianhai authority and Chinese customs have made the border crossing less daunting. The new policies, aiming to facilitate the mobility of high-level talent living in the region, also paved the way for this midday concert.

Featuring festive orchestral works inspired by Budapest and Vienna, the program was conducted by an energetic Hungarian conductor, Gergely Madaras, who often turned around to face the audience during each piece, providing anecdotal commentary. The scene was filled with laughter and warm applause.

Some classical music fans traveled for hours just to attend the event, despite the fact that the same program had already been performed on Dec 29 and Dec 30 at Tsim Sha Tsui's Hong Kong Cultural Centre, where the orchestra is based. It is also where most of the orchestra's 100-plus concerts are held each year. Mainland music lovers used to race against time to attend a concert and catch the last train heading back.

Now, the orchestra is coming to them. "Just because it's the Hong Kong Phil onstage," says Li Jun, a classical music lover who explained why he'd traveled from Guangzhou in Guangdong on the day of the concert.

"It's important not just for our orchestra, but for any big orchestra, to have a little bit of touring. During tours, you have an exchange of ideas and also culture," says Benjamin Moermond, the orchestra's principal bassoon in his 16th season.