Review | Sir John Eliot Gardiner’s CCO plays sumptuous Mozart at Hong Kong Arts Festival concert
The Hong Kong debut of Gardiner’s Constellation Choir and Orchestra was impressive in its attention to detail and colourful musicality
Ending the week with a requiem and a mass may sound like an overload of gravitas. Yet for their Hong Kong Arts Festival (HKAF) concert on March 6, Sir John Eliot Gardiner and his Constellation Choir and Orchestra (CCO) gave Mozart’s two sacred works a buoyancy and transparency that was more uplifting than anything else.
This was the Hong Kong debut of Gardiner’s new ensemble, founded in 2024 after an unfortunate incident that led to his departure from the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra, which he had headed for six decades.
For context: in August 2023, the Britain-born conductor reportedly took the idea of a “punchy performance” too far, slapping and punching the English bass singer William Thomas for exiting the podium on the wrong side during Les Troyens, the opera by Berlioz.
After undergoing cognitive mental therapy, an extended period of reflection and presumably a few anger management sessions, the disgraced octogenarian has managed to stage a comeback with the CCO. In Hong Kong, they kicked off the first of their two HKAF concerts with a compelling account of Mozart’s Requiem.
The orchestra impressed with its attention to detail and colourful musicality, dispelling the myth that Britain’s bustling early music scene prizes neatness and polish over real depth.
The introductory “Introitus”, with its heartbeat-like rhythm, was profound yet never cumbersome, balancing earthiness with ethereality.