40 Years of Brilliance: HKAPA's Artistic Legacy (Highlights of the Academy's Notable Productions)

The School of Film and Television was established in September 1996 with own Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours) Degree Programme. The School aims to be a professional centre of excellence and to both reflect and influence existing practice in the local film and television industries.

The School's first cohort of degree students were graduated in 1998.

The Rite of Spring was the winner of the Hong Kong Dance Award 2000 and won The Best School Participant of the Grand Prize Prague 2000.

In September 2001, the Senator of Science Research and Culture of the Berlin Government invited the School of Dance to perform The Rite of Spring at the Theatre am Halleschen Ufer in Berlin. Later in May 2002, the School began its European tour with a week-long stay in Paris at the invitation of the Conservaloire de Paris. Together, students performed the piece, as part of Le French May Festival.

The Rite of Spring was choreographed by Natalie WEIR and performed by the Academy Dance Ensemble.

Trojan Women, directed by LAM Lap-sam with CHAN Suk-yi as movement director, marked the first time the Academy's Open-air theatre was used for a drama performance. Later rebuilt, the Hong Kong Jockey Club Amphitheatre opened on September 28, 2010.

A new School of Chinese Opera was established on September 1, 2013 and the Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours) Degree in Chinese Opera was offered.

Monkey King and the Skeleton Demon was one of the performances in Gongs and Drums since the establishment of the School.

Breathing at Zero —  a multi-media performance with music, lighting and installation

“Sometime at ground zero, human with robotics makes the response to most basic survival with their greatest effort and more…….”

In May 2021, the audiences came to the Academy Drama Theatre to explore with our media artist GayBird (alumnus from the School of Music) and School of Theatre and Entertainment Arts through a special theatrical journey with media, music and robotics!

The School of Music, in collaboration with the Schools of Theatre and Entertainment Arts, Dance, and Drama, presented the Academy Opera The Merry Widow, composed by Austrian composer Franz LEHÁR, in March 2024. This production was directed by veteran opera director Harry SLIVERSTEIN and conducted by guest maestra Vivian IP. The audience was totally enthralled by the students' captivating performances.

The 10^th  Anniversary production, The End of the Long River, was written by the graduate CHEUNG Tat-ming and co-directed by the Dean of Drama, CHUNG King-fai and the Senior Lecturer, LAM Lap-sam. The production used a cast of over forty actors, including, in addition to current students, all the faculty of the School as well as a number of graduates.

The Academy celebrated it 20^th Anniversary with a showcase of performances by students, including the major graduation production by the School of Dance, West Side Dance Story. This massive and ambitious production included a specially commissioned danced version of the West Side Story, and an original musical Vision Party, a Cantonese opera Heaven Shaking Bow, and a Film and Television retrospective screening.

The Taming of the Shrew, which coincided with SHAKESPEARE's 450^th birth anniversary, was one of the Academy's significant performances to mark its 30^th Anniversary. The inter-school performance also showed the talents of faculty and students, as well as the "collaborative culture".

The Taming of the Shrew  that used Chinese opera, dance, drama, movement, music and visual imagery to bring alive SHAKESPEARE's play for a contemporary audience.
 

What the Buddha Said

A whimsical and darkly humorous exploration

07.05.2025 – 10.05.2025
Academy Lyric Theatre

Playwright: Cheung Fei-fan
Composer / Musical Director: Frankie Ho
Lyricist: Chung Chi-wing
Director: Tony Wong