I began singing in a children’s choir when I was seven and taking individual singing lessons at 14. Opera singing is not a popular career option in Hong Kong. See also: 9 Hong Kong Events You Can't Miss In May 2021 Tatler Hong Kong speaks with Kwong to discover her path to “crescendo”. Previously, she has performed the roles of Mimì in La Bohème, Cio-cio-san in Madame Butterfly, Liù in Turandot, Anna in Anna Bolena, as well as Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni. Carmen is not her first performance-in fact, this is her second time playing Micaëla since 2018. She won the Best Soprano prize in the 18th International Singing Competition Ferruccio Tagliavini in Austria. A music alumna from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Dutch National Opera Academy and the Royal College of Music of London, the 34-year-old was one of the Hong Kong Ten Outstanding Young Persons in 2019. Kwong, a soprano born and raised in Hong Kong, has what it takes to play the part. The role of Micaëla is of a chaste, soft yet determined maiden who demands nothing less in singing skills than the title role.
Betrothed to Don José, she is deserted by him when he falls in love with Carmen, whom he is supposed to arrest for a factory dispute. Performing alongside the international cast is Hong Kong soprano Louise Kwong, who will star as Micaëla, the corporal Don José’s childhood sweetheart from the village. International powerhouses including Canadian mezzo-soprano Carolyn Sproule, winner of George London Prize 2019, as well as Gosha Kowalinska, champion in Spazio Musica 2010 in Orvieto are set to play the title role, whose aria “Habanera” the world remembers this classical production for. Carmen tells the tale of a cigarette factory worker’s passion, true love and jealousy and is set in Seville, Spain in around 1830. This May, Opera Hong Kong brings back French composer George Bizet’s Carmen, one of the most widely performed productions in the world since 1875.
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