Various venues

One of the highlights of our Arts Month in March is the long-standing Hong Kong Arts Festival, now back for its 54th edition. Running from February 27 to March 27, the 54th Hong Kong Arts Festival will gather more than 1,100 performers, musicians, and artists to present more than 45 distinct programmes in a packed schedule of over 170 performances. Not to be missed is the Kagami by Ryuichi Sakamoto & Tin Drum mixed-reality performance honouring the late Japanese composer; legendary Sir John Eliot Gardiner’s performance with the Constellation Choir & Orchestra for two nights only; the Asia premiere of La Bella Otero by the Ballet Nacional de España; Canadian troupe The 7 Fingers (Les 7 Doigts) presenting Duel Reality, a blend of contemporary circus antics, theatre arts, and Shakespearean romance and drama, and more.  Here’s a more detailed guide to this year’s Hong Kong Arts Festival.

In honour of its silver jubilee, the formidable Hong Kong International Literary Festival (HKILF) is pulling out all the stops this March to present a diverse programme filled with author talks, literary lunches, workshops, showcases, cultural walks, trivia nights, and poetry events. With more than 60 events taking place from March 1 to 8, an exciting lineup of authors has been announced, featuring the likes of award-winning Argentine-American writer Hernán Diaz, whose novel Trust was recognised with the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction; acclaimed Indian writer Amitav Ghosh, who will discuss his upcoming work, Ghost-Eye; and Chinese writer Hu Anyan, who will present his poignant nonfiction memoir, I Deliver Parcels in Beijing.  Marquees and talks will be hosted across venues such as the Hong Kong Central Library, Asia Society Hong Kong Center, Fringe Club, China Club, and Soho House. Programme details, venues and timings for individual talks and marquees, and ticketing arrangements will be released to the public soon.

From March 20-29, Jimmy O. Yang’s sold-out Hong Kong leg of his 2025 comedy show will be available to watch on the big screens exclusively in Emperor Cinema locations in Causeway Bay Times Square and Tsim Sha Tsui iSquare. Captured in 4K and reengineered for cinema acoustics, viewers can fully immerse themselves in the applause, laughter, and whoops that rang through the Hong Kong Coliseum last summer. Those who have seen O. Yang’s work in movies and TV series such as Silicon Valley, Crazy Rich Asians, and Interior Chinatown will know that his professional comedy is performed in English, but for his Hong Kong show, which he described as a homecoming, O. Yang had especially whipped out his Cantonese skills and worked in local elements as a tribute to Hong Kong comedy culture. Tickets for ‘Jimmy O. Yang Finally Home’ are available for $120, while VIP Cinemer members can enjoy a discounted price of $108. Find out more details (and early-bird ticket gifts) here.