Backstage in Hong Kong: A life with the Philharmonic, Broadway musicals and classical superstars

After 50 momentous years, little is remembered of the chaos the Hong Kong Philharmonic faced in its early days as a professional outfit. John Duffus arrived in Hong Kong in 1979 as its fifth general manager in as many years. In this entertaining memoir he highlights those problems and illustrates how, with typical Scottish grit and determination, he helped get the orchestra on the road as an international ensemble.

John’s subsequent concerts as a Hong Kong impresario with superstars Luciano Pavarotti, José Carreras, Plácido Domingo, Leslie Cheung, Kiri Te Kanawa, Yo-Yo Ma and many others, including pop icons Dionne Warwick and Olivia Newton-John, make for fascinating and occasionally shocking stories, as do the almost unbelievable backstage dramas he reveals – some complete in all their back-stabbing detail – while managing Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Asian companies and bringing CATS and Phantom of the Opera to Hong Kong.

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With a ten-year background at the BBC in London and with Scottish Opera, John Duffus arrived in Hong Kong in 1979 as the most experienced performing arts manager then to work in the territory. He had been appointed the fifth general manager of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra in as many years. Celebrating its 50th anniversary as a professional ensemble in 2024, it has now developed as the finest in Asia.

The early years of the Philharmonic were full of problems and many disasters. A first-class honours Music graduate, Duffus had come to Hong Kong with a brief to solve these issues and set the orchestra on an international footing. With typical Scottish grit and determination, he overcame most of them, helping the Philharmonic become a true community orchestra with a growing international reputation.

Remaining in Hong Kong after his eight years with the Philharmonic, he describes more adventures presenting concerts and recitals around Asia with such artists as Pavarotti, Domingo, Carreras, Kiri Te Kanawa, Isaac Stern, Yo-Yo Ma and a host of others. He organised the spectacular Three Tenors concert in Beijing’s Forbidden City in 2001 and Pavarotti’s final concert before a paying public in 2005.

As managing director of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Asian companies, he helped bring CATS and Phantom of the Opera to Hong Kong. He later established his own arts consultancy working with the Hong Kong Tourist Association and at the start of the West Kowloon Cultural District, both requiring much problem-solving.

|"In a tenure of less than a decade, Duffus — by his own account admittedly, but it tallies with what one remembers from the time — set the Philharmonic on a trajectory toward excellence. Good management seems, as it often is, to have been made up of common sense, standing up for quality, a good Rolodex, and knowing when to compromise. ... Backstage in Hong Kong is a very human book: although Duffus settles some scores, he is also quick to recognize ability, good intentions and the constraints people were working under." — Peter Gordon, Asian Review Of Books|1 Hong Kong on the Horizon 2 Challenge #1: A Strange Music Director Appointment 3 Challenge #2: Ling Tung’s Dubious Qualifications 4 Challenge #3: What Happened to Due Diligence? 5 I Arrive in Hong Kong 6 My Growing Love For Hong Kong 7 Ling Tung Leads the Philharmonic into the Law Courts 8 Things Finally Begin to Go My Way 9 Discovering the Region and Being Discovered 10 The Much-Disliked Ling Tung Finally Departs 11 The Search For a New Music Director 12 Jury Duty 13 The New Music Director Unveiled 14 Developing the Philharmonic 15 New Audiences – Who? How? Where? 16 Downs and Ups 17 My Final Season: I Start Thinking About My Future 18 My Final Season: China Tour, Glyndebourne, Lawsuit 19 Disaster When Starting My Own Business 20 Excursions into the Soviet Union 21 Macao’s International Music Festival 22 Hong Kong Cultural Centre: Design Misadventures 23 The Superstars: Pavarotti, Domingo and Carreras 24 Musicals #1: My First Attempt to Present CATS 25 Yet More of the Classical Superstars 26 Musicals #2: The Desire for a New Adventure 27 Musicals #3: CATS and Broken Promises 28 Abject Failures at the Hong Kong Tourist Association 29 West Kowloon: A Great Idea Dramatically Watered Down 30 Summary: How Much and Who Paid?

With a ten-year background at the BBC in London and with Scottish Opera, John Duffus arrived in Hong Kong in 1979 as the most experienced performing arts manager then to work in the city. He had been appointed the fifth general manager of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra in as many years. It celebrated its 50th anniversary as a professional ensemble in 2024, and has now developed as the finest in Asia.

The early years of the Philharmonic were full of problems and many disasters. A first-class honours Music graduate, Duffus had come to Hong Kong with a brief to solve these issues and set the orchestra on an international footing. He overcame most of them, helping the Philharmonic become a true community orchestra with a growing international reputation.

Remaining in Hong Kong after eight years with the Philharmonic, he describes more adventures presenting concerts around Asia with such artists as Pavarotti, Domingo, Carreras, Kiri Te Kanawa, Isaac Stern and a host of others. He organised the spectacular Three Tenors concert in Beijing's Forbidden City in 2001 and Pavarotti's final concert before a paying public in 2005.

As managing director of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Asian companies, he helped bring Broadway-style musical productions to Hong Kong. He later established his own arts consultancy working with the Hong Kong Tourist Association and at the start of the West Kowloon Cultural District, both requiring much problem-solving.