Review | Carmen: Hong Kong is a fun adaptation of the classic opera that does away with original ending ‘fetishising violence against women’
by South China Morning Post
More Than Musical’s version of Georges Bizet’s opera set the Sevillian tale in a futuristic Hong Kong, and replaced all the bullfighting with horse racing
The removal of key scenes and characters resulted in some awkward breaks but, all things considered, the result was entertaining and featured strong performances
PUBLISHED: August 2021
Carmen Hong Kong Coverage by Sing Tao Newspaper
More Than Musical is proud to be presenting Carmen adopted to a local Hong Kong scene with creative interactive media at Freespace, West Kowloon.
PUBLISHED: July 2021
REVIVED CLASSICS
By Vogue Magazine in Chinese
How can classical performing art such as opera keeps pace with the times and continue a dialogue with the modern society depends on how each generation of creators and performers can bring the this forward with extraordinary vision and creativity. More Than Musical, a non-profit organization based in Hong Kong, strived to break the threshold of opera, so that a more diversified audience can enjoy opera in a new way.
PUBLISHED: Jul 2021
La Bohème film, set in New York with Chinese leads, modernises Puccini’s opera
BY SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
Hong Kong group More Than Musical has made its first foray into film with a contemporary reimagining of Puccini’s opera La Bohème
The group is now preparing to perform a version of Bizet’s Carmen that follows a young woman in a future Hong Kong trying to find her place in the world
PUBLISHED: Jul 2021
The ex-Goldman Sachs banker who turned "La Boheme" into a movie
by NIkkei Asia
Armed with infectious enthusiasm and some fresh ideas about opera, former Gladman Sachs partner turned impresario Rumiko Hasegawa founded a theatrical company in 2016 and decided to make a splash in Hong Kong cultural circles with scaled-down, theatrically charged versions of 19th-century operas.
PUBLISHED: Jul 2021
More Than Musical Founders Interviewed
by China Daily Hong Kong
The majority of opera attendees in Europe and the US are middle-aged or older and the situation is no different in Hong Kong where the average age of Cantonese opera-goers is 60 and above. It was primarily to draw a varied demographic of audiences that Choi and Rumiko Hasegawa co-founded non-profit opera company More Than Musical in 2016. They wanted to make opera more relevant and accessible to people across the board and help it gain more admirers.
PUBLISHED: October 2019
HKUST Alumni Kaleidoscope
"Our goal is to break down any barriers between the opera and the audience," explains Lucy. "We condense the content into shorter, easier to digest pieces; choose smaller and trendy venues where the audience can get up close and personal with performers; and recruit young and vibrant talents that the audience can better relate to."
PUBLISHED: April 2019
OPERA MAGAZINE (UK) REVIEW
“The young cast smoothly calibrated opera-house volume and intensity to the audience’s close proximity. Karen Chia-Ling Ho’s Tosca, with broad emotional shading, bore the lioness’s share of the drama.”
PUBLISHED: January 2019
Paying patron perspective review
"...How does one edit a perfect opera down to a cast of four and still maintain the essence of the work? ... The result was way more than I expected. Director Nicholas Muni created a thoughtful and respectful option. ... The challenge was met creatively and with artistic integrity. Go and support it." payingpatronperspective.globspot.com
PUBLISHED: October 2018
Asian review of books
"... More Than Musical presents its productions as something along the lines of opera updated and streamlined for the 21st-century ... the net result has an esthetic that strikes me as being as much theatre as opera. ... Necessity, as they say, is the mother of invention, and there were moments of brilliance." Peter Gordon, Asianreviewofbooks.com
PUBLISHED: October 2018
HONG KONG ECONOMIC JOURNAL
Featuring our founders’ stories
HKEJ covering More than Musical and our founder stories
PUBLISHED: October 2018
DINERS CLUB JAPAN MEMBERS MAGAZINE
“Signature” Magazine - An interview with Rumiko Hasegawa
PUBLISHED: October, 2018
Hong Kong Baptist University Alumni Magazine HORIZON
A modern impresario in the making.
PUBLISHED: Friday, 27 July, 2018
Comeback Girl Podcast
In this podcast, More Than Musical's Lucy Choi about her remarkable path to a glittering career in the opera world.
RELEASED: Monday, 2 July,2018
SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
Who says opera’s boring? Hong Kong music enthusiast aims to stage classics with a fun and modern twist.
PUBLISHED: Saturday, 27 January, 2018
ASIAN REVIEW OF BOOKS
More Than Musical is making a bet that streamlined adaptations in non-traditional spaces and environments will appeal to an opera-shy millennial audience.
PUBLISHED: Tuesday, 19 December, 2017
ASIAN REVIEW OF BOOKS
Operatic aspirations aside, this must surely have been among the best evenings of theatre put on by a local Hong Kong company in quite some time.
PUBLISHED: Sunday, 18 June 2017
This article appeared in the ARB as:
“La Traviata”, Hong Kong, 17-18 June 2017
The Beautiful Art – An Interview with Rumiko HasEgawa
Ms. Hasegawa knew that the audience was missing a truly beautiful art where drama was matched with heavenly music. How could she make opera a part of the modern lifestyle?
PUBLISHED: Monday, 09 October, 2017
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Hong Kong Economic Journal
How the successful career woman Rumiko Hasegawa became the founder of an NGO - More Than Musical.
PUBLISHED: Tuesday, 06 June, 2017
Timeout Family - Hong kong
Originally from Tokyo, Rumiko Hasegawa has lived in Hong Kong with her husband and 19-year-old daughter since 2010. A former partner at Goldman Sachs, she is also the founder of More Than Musical.
PUBLISHED: Tuesday, 01 November, 2016
SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
Hong Kong group to strip down operas and bring them to the people
Works such as Verdi’s La Traviata to be condensed to length of a typical movie and staged in nightclubs and bars by a non-profit company set up by two opera fans hoping to broaden genre’s appeal.
PUBLISHED: Tuesday, 18 October, 2016
This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as:
"Pop-up operas to bring classics to the masses"