Beethoven meets space battles in ‘first manga opera' at 2025 Hong Kong Arts Festival
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The composer, born in 1770, and Japanese graphic novels, popular since the late 19th century, do not usually keep cultural company. But in this week's Beethoven Wars: A Battle for Peace – described as the 'first manga opera' – Japanese-style animation unfurls a tale of intergalactic strife to live orchestral music written by the German genius.
It is no coincidence that when it premiered in Paris in 2024, half the audience was under the age of 20 – a youth market that is the Holy Grail of arts programming.
The manga mash-up is the brainchild of French conductor Laurence Equilbey, who will be in Hong Kong to conduct the Insula Orchestra, which she founded in 2012, from March 26-28.
A scene from Beethoven Wars: A Battle for Peace. Photo: HKAF
The word insula – Latin for 'island' – refers to both the orchestra's home base in Paris, on Seguin Island on the Seine river, and to a mysterious, island-shaped area of the brain that connects emotion and consciousness.
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