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Polish saxophone phenomenon The WHOOP Group lands in Hong Kong
bringing two sensational performances of classical music and beyond

For immediate release
27 June 2025

Saxophonists extraordinaire, breakers of rules, magicians of classical-jazz fusion, and total heartthrobs – The WHOOP Group is undefinable, irrepressible, and irresistible. The award-winning saxophone quartet from Poland will be bringing their sensational performances to Hong Kong this summer, making their début with Hong Kong Sinfonietta and Music Director Emeritus Yip Wing-sie on 12 Jul (Sat) to perform Rachmaninov’s timeless Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, specially arranged for saxophone quartet by HKS Artist Associate Anna Lo. On 13 Jul (Sun), The WHOOP Group will also present an enthralling recital of music spanning three centuries and various genres, yet united in their striking allure and luminous energy.

Both concerts will take place at Hong Kong City Hall Concert Hall. Tickets are now on sale at URBTIX with a 20% discount when you purchase standard tickets to both concerts.

Composed of the most outstanding Polish saxophonists, The WHOOP Group is an extremely energetic saxophone quartet brought together by their love for music and their long-term friendship. Specialising in classical and contemporary music while also at perfect ease in other genres such as jazz and film music, the quartet has won all chamber music competitions in which they participated, including the FNAPEC Musiques d’Ensembles Competition in Paris, International Chamber Music Competition in Bydgoszcz and National Chamber Music Competition in Warsaw. After releasing their début album Crimes, they were nominated for “Discovery of the Year” at the prestigious Coryphaeus of Polish Music Award 2018, and in 2023 the group received a Fryderyk Award (Polish equivalent of the Grammys) for the album Debut. Their video recording of Vivaldi’s Storm – which is the Presto from “Summer” of The Four Seasons – has reached over 30 million views online.

In their first visit to Hong Kong, The WHOOP Group will join hands with Hong Kong Sinfonietta and Music Director Emeritus Yip Wing-sie on 12 Jul (Sat) to present Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. Originally written for solo piano and orchestra but specially arranged for saxophone quartet by HKS Artist Associate Anna Lo, the work is one of Rachmaninov’s most celebrated masterpieces marked by its stunning virtuosity, boundless imagination and one of the most iconic romantic passages in classical music – its Variation XVIII, widely recognised for being a recurrent theme in the classic Hollywood film Somewhere in Time. The concert will also feature Greig’s enchanting incidental music to Peer Gynt, as well as excerpts of Bizet’s captivating L’Arlésienne.

On top of their collaboration with the orchestra, The WHOOP Group will also take centre stage on 13 Jul (Sun) in a recital showcasing the endless possibilities of the saxophone. Instantly recognisable classics such as Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro Overture and Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue will be juxtaposed with jazz and film music discoveries, promising an uplifting afternoon of great tunes, extraordinary musicianship and fantastic energy.

Hong Kong Sinfonietta feat. The WHOOP Group

Rachmaninov Paganini Rhapsody

12 Jul 2025 (Saturday) | 8pm
Hong Kong City Hall Concert Hall
$500, $340, $200

Music Director Emeritus/Conductor: Yip Wing-sie
The WHOOP Group (Saxophone Quartet)
Jakub Muras, Mateusz Dobosz, Krzysztof Koszowski, Szymon Zawodny
Arranger: Anna Lo (HKS Artist Associate)

Programme
Grieg – Peer Gynt (excerpts)
Rachmaninov/Anna Lo arr – Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op 43
Arranged for Saxophone Quartet & Orchestra (world première) (Commissioned by Hong Kong Sinfonietta)
Bizet – L’Arlésienne (excerpts)

HKS Recital Series:

Re: SAXOPHONES – There are no rules!

13 Jul 2025 (Sunday) | 3pm
Hong Kong City Hall Concert Hall
$450, $320, $180

The WHOOP Group (Saxophone Quartet)
Jakub Muras, Mateusz Dobosz, Krzysztof Koszowski, Szymon Zawodny

Programme
Mozart/Muras arr – The Marriage of Figaro Overture, K492
Vivaldi/Koszowski arr – The Four Seasons (excerpts)
Holst/Koszowski arr – St Paul’s Suite (excerpts)
Guillermo Lago – Ciudades (Cities) (2011) (excerpts)
Krzysztof Koszowski – Evolution of Classical Music
Krzysztof Komeda/Muras arr – Before the Day Rises
Krzysztof Komeda/Smoczyński arr – Svantetic
Krzysztof Komeda/Muras arr – Rosemary’s Baby
Gershwin/Muras arr – Rhapsody in Blue

Half-price tickets available for full-time students, senior citizens, people with disabilities and their minder, and Comprehensive Social Security Assistance recipients
10% discount for group bookings of 4 or more standard tickets
Discount packages
Suitable for 6 years old or above
Tickets at URBTIX
Tickets online at POPTICKET (no handling fee)

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Yip Wing-sie Music Director Emeritus/Conductor

A highly respected and influential figure in Asia’s orchestral music scene, Yip Wing-sie shifted from being the Music Director of Hong Kong Sinfonietta – a position which she had held since 2002 – to Music Director Emeritus in May 2020. Other positions she had previously held include Principal Conductor and later Music Director of Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra and Resident Conductor of Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra.

Winner of the First Prize as well as “Lyre d’Or” in the 35th Concours International de Jeunes Chefs d’Orchestre de Besançon, France in 1985 and a prizewinner in the 8th Tokyo International Conducting Competition in 1988, Yip is in great demand as a guest conductor in Asia. Orchestras she has conducted include the Central Philharmonic Orchestra of China, China National Symphony Orchestra, China Philharmonic Orchestra, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic, Osaka Philharmonic, New Japan Philharmonic, Tokyo Mozart Players, the symphony orchestras of Sapporo, Yomiuri, Taiwan, Tasmania, Melbourne and Queensland as well as the Auckland Philharmonia of New Zealand. In Europe, Yip’s engagements have included concerts with the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse and the Chambre Orchestre de Besançon in France, Warsaw Philharmonic in Poland and Spain’s Tenerife Symphony Orchestra. She has also conducted at prestigious venues and festivals such as the Vienna Musikverein (Grossersaal), Beijing Music Festival, Fukuoka’s Asian Month Festival in Japan, Hong Kong Arts Festival and Macao International Music Festival. Yip has collaborated with such renowned artists as Augustin Dumay, Fou Ts’ong, Shlomo Mintz, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Itzhak Perlman and Pinchas Zukerman. Operas she has conducted include Guo Wen-jin’s Poet Li Bai and the world premières of Pierangelo Valtinoni’s opera for children Alice in Wonderland, and La Peintre with Taiwan Philharmonic.

Over the years Yip has taken Hong Kong Sinfonietta on tour to France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Lithuania, Canada, the USA, Japan, Korea, Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Taiwan, and in South America in Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay.

Born in Guangzhou and brought up in Hong Kong, Yip graduated from the Royal College of Music in London and the Indiana University at Bloomington, USA, where she obtained her Master’s Degree in violin performance and conducting. As the winner of the Koussevitsky Scholarship and the Seiji Ozawa Fellowship Award, Yip also attended the conducting seminar and fellowship programmes at the Tanglewood Music Center. Her mentors included great maestros such as Norman Del Mar, Leonard Bernstein, Seiji Ozawa, Gustav Meier and David Atherton.

Accolades Yip has received internationally include “Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Mérite” bestowed by the French Government (2015), “Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres” by the Ministry of Culture and Communication of France, Fellow of the Royal College of Music (FRCM), and she was also named the Ong Teng Cheong Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, National University of Singapore. In Hong Kong, she received an Honorary Doctorate from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and an Honorary Fellowship from the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (2022). She was also a recipient of the “Hong Kong Women of Excellence in the Six Arts Award” from the Hong Kong Federation of Women and the Bronze Bauhinia Star (BBS) from the Hong Kong Government (2013), and was University Artist at The University of Hong Kong (2011-2012).

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The WHOOP Group Saxophone quartet

The WHOOP Group is an extremely energetic and extraordinary saxophone quartet composed of the most outstanding Polish saxophonists, who were brought together by their love for the saxophone and music, and by their long-term friendship. They are one of the most promising chamber groups in the current music scene.

The WHOOP Group specialises in performing classical and contemporary music in their own arrangements, as well as their original compositions for saxophone quartet, but they are also at ease in other genres (jazz, film and entertainment music). The group very often performs as soloists with symphony orchestras and big bands. The musicians combine virtuosity and liveliness with outstanding musicality and perfection, and are developing at a rapid pace and enjoying the recognition from audiences all over the world. Their video recording of Vivaldi’s Storm – which is the Presto from “Summer” of The Four Seasons – has reached over 30 million views online.

Individually, the musicians are laureates of numerous prestigious prizes in chamber and solo competitions, as well as multiple scholarship holders. As a quartet, they won all chamber music competitions in which they participated, including the FNAPEC Musiques d’Ensembles Competition in Paris, International Chamber Music Competition in Bydgoszcz and National Chamber Music Competition in Warsaw. After releasing their début album Crimes, they were nominated for “Discovery of the Year” at the prestigious Coryphaeus of Polish Music Award 2018, and in 2023 the group received a Fryderyk Award (Polish equivalent of the Grammys) for the album Debut, where they performed as soloists in Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with the Warsaw Saxophone Orchestra.

The WHOOP Group has inspired other artists to write works dedicated to them. Composers who have written for the group include Wojciech Kostrzewa, Krzysztof Falkowski and Oscar-winning composer Jan A P Kaczmarek, who entrusted the ensemble with the solo part in his monumental Silesian Rhapsody. The group has also appeared as guest artists in various projects with such musicians and groups as the L U C & Rebel Babel Film Orchestra, Maciej Obara, Dorota Miśkiewicz, Henryk Miśkiewicz, Paweł Gusnar, Krzysztof Herdzin, Joanna Kulig, Małgorzata Kożuchowska, DAGADANA, Andrzej Kowalski Quartet etc.

Among many others, the group has performed at festivals and venues such as Un Violon sur le Sable in France, Roppongi Hills in Tokyo, Christopher Summer Festival in Vilnius, Swaledale Festival in England, Musik in den Häusern der Stadt in Hamburg, La Folle Journee de Varsovie and the Warsaw National Philharmonic.

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