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Christopher Halls

Despite having “culture junkies” for parents, Andrea Fessler could never have foreseen becoming a champion of chamber music in Hong Kong or running a festival for small ensembles that would become an important fixture in the city’s classical music calendar.
The Vancouver-raised Harvard Law School graduate and former corporate lawyer is the founder of performing arts group Premiere Performances (PPHK), which will hold the 18th and final edition of its Beare’s Premiere Music Festival, which started in 2009 as the Hong Kong International Chamber Music Festival, in January.
With preparations for the event under way, the Post sat down with Fessler to discuss her unwavering mission and plans for the future.

You set up Premiere Performances in 2007. Was there a scarcity of chamber music in Hong Kong back then?
The only [regular] presenter of chamber music in those days was the Hong Kong Arts Festival, which brought in big names like the Emerson or the Borodin quartets.
I once went to a Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra concert and saw a brilliant up-and-coming pianist called Kirill Gerstein, a last-minute replacement. I went home, Googled him, and discovered that he’d played at the Vancouver Recital Society (VRS), an organisation from my childhood founded by Leila Getz.
It then occurred to me that somebody ought to start this in Hong Kong, remembering the VRS’s impact in Vancouver, and seeing too that performances here in Hong Kong were mostly given by amateurs masquerading as professionals.
So after about six months of me saying somebody should start this, I called up Getz, who still runs the society today, and she basically gave me loads of advice and a road map of what I needed to do.
And the rest is history?
Yes, that led to my very first recital series, which was a rising-star piano series. That moved from the Sheung Wan Civic Centre to Hong Kong City Hall for the second series, which featured Stephen Hough.
That big success meant that I was on a lot of people’s radar, and in the meantime, we had the idea of starting a chamber music festival, which we launched in 2009 as the Hong Kong International Chamber Music Festival, and renamed the Beare’s Premiere Music Festival in 2019.
How has PPHK grown over the years?
When I started it in 2007, it was just me and a personal assistant. And when I launched the chamber music festival in 2009, I also hired a dedicated staff member to help, because I was still working as a lawyer and PPHK was a part-time job on the side.
Then in 2012, I was given a very big government grant, which was the very first “springboard grant” under the Arts Capacity Development Funding Scheme, and what was then the Home Affairs Bureau launched the very first matching grant scheme.
It was a game-changer. Being a capacity development grant, it meant that I could go out and get an office and hire staff, and actually, Henry Leung, who is our general manager today, was in that very first cohort of hires that I made in 2012.

There are eight of us now at PPHK. I’ve always curated the recital series myself and had an artistic director for the chamber music festival because, as I said, I’m not a musician and would have had no idea how to put together a chamber music festival programme.
When our current artistic director, Lin Cho-liang, came on board in 2012, the festival was taken to a new level, given his experience as a chamber musician.
How many concerts do you put on these days?
We probably do about 125 concerts a year now, which includes public concerts that are ticketed, as well as school concerts.
And now you have ventured into jazz as well?
Yes, this year we launched a Premiere Performances Jazz Series, which I’m really excited about. We have a collaboration with Jazz at Lincoln Center, and so far we’ve brought six groups to Hong Kong, five of which have come from New York.
2027 is a milestone for PPHK, correct?
Yes. Right now, I’m also focusing on our 20th anniversary season. I’m looking to bring back a number of artists who have made their debuts with us, or artists like Stephen Hough that have been significant to our own history. Aristo Sham will also be coming in January 2027 together with a young Australian cellist named Benett Tsai, who will be making his Hong Kong debut.
The final instalment of the Beare’s Premiere Music Festival will take place on January 23-30, 2026. How do you feel about that?
There are many reasons for making the decision to end the festival, but I think first and foremost, we really felt like our mission had been accomplished. Given that the whole point of the festival was to spark an interest in chamber music, I think we’ve accomplished our mission.


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Performing arts in Hong Kong

Hong Kong chamber music festival founder on why it’s mission complete ahead of final event

Premiere Performances founder Andrea Fessler poses at the performing arts group’s office in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong. The Vancouver-raised impresario started Beare’s Premiere Music Festival “to spark an interest in chamber music” in Hong Kong. After 18 years, she says that has been accomplished. Photo: Sun Yeung

Viola maestro Masumi Per Rostad (centre) performs with the Miro Quartet at the Beare’s Premiere Music Festival in 2024. Photo: PPHK

Premiere Performances started its Beare’s Premiere Music Festival in 2009 as the Hong Kong International Chamber Music Festival. Photo: Sun Yeung

Thrilling Bruce Lee dance show explores Hong Kong star’s life and career

Ong Tze-shen gives a consummate portrayal of Bruce Lee in the Hong Kong Dance Company’s “Kung Fu Artistry”. Photo: Arliugraphy, courtesy of HKDC

Eight years of rigorous martial arts training sees the Hong Kong Dance Company’s dancers ideally placed to pay tribute to Lee’s life and work. Photo: Arliugraphy, courtesy of HKDC

Ong Tze-shen (centre, in glasses) performs as the young Bruce Lee in a scene from the show. Photo: Ray Cheung

The opening scene of “Kung Fu Artistry” gives a colourful portrait of Hong Kong life in the 1950s. Photo: Worldwide Dance Project

Violinist Midori works her magic in a duo of concerts at Hong Kong City Hall

Japanese-American violinist Midori and Lithuanian pianist Ieva Jokubaviciute perform at the Hong Kong City Hall for the “HKS Recital Series: Midori Violin Recital”, on November 27, 2025. Photo: HK Sinfonietta

Midori plays the violin unaccompanied as a tribute to the victims of the Tai Po fire during the November 27 concert. Photo: HK Sinfonietta

Midori plays beside conductor Daniel Raiskin during “Great Violin Concertos: Midori Plays Mendelssohn” at Hong Kong City Hall on November 29, 2025. Photo: Hong Kong Sinfonietta

Midori plays Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor during the November 29 concert. Photo: Hong Kong Sinfonietta

Pianist Mao Fujita delivers a technical masterclass alongside HK Phil in poignant concert

Japanese pianist Mao Fujita playing Rachmaninov’s “Piano Concerto no. 3 in D minor” with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra on November 29, 2025 (Photo: Eric Hong)

Japanese pianist Mao Fujita showed technical wizardry alongside the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre on November 29, 2025. The concert featured guest conductor Roberto Gonzalez-Monjas. Photo: Eric Hong

Fujita plays Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No 3 in D minor with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. Photo: Eric Hong

Conductor Roberto Gonzalez-Monjas leads the orchestra during the “Mao Fujita Plays Rachmaninov” concert on November 29. Photo: Eric Hong

Fujita and Gonzalez-Monjas stand for applause with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. Photo: Eric Hong

Champion Hong Kong pianist Aristo Sham joins Rome-based orchestra in powerful concert

Aristo Sham stands on stage with the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia - Roma at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall on November 20, 2025. The Hong Kong pianist stepped in as the soloist in Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G, replacing Italian pianist Beatrice Rana, who had to cancel her visit. Photo: LCSD

The Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia – Roma performs at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre, with Daniel Harding conducting. Photo: LCSD

The orchestra played two concerts in Hong Kong, on November 20 and 21, before heading to their next concert in Taichung, Taiwan. Photo: LCSD

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Premiere Performances boss Andrea Fessler opens up ahead of the 18th and final Beare’s Premiere Music Festival


Premiere Performances boss Andrea Fessler opens up ahead of the 18th and final Beare’s Premiere Music Festival.


World of performing arts

Hong Kong chamber music festival founder on why it’s mission complete ahead of final event

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Premiere Performances boss Andrea Fessler opens up ahead of the 18th and final Beare’s Premiere Music Festival

Premiere Performances boss Andrea Fessler opens up ahead of the 18th and final Beare’s Premiere Music Festival