From 25 February through to 28 March 2010, Hong Kong Arts Festival will present over 140 performances that feature 41 performing groups.

Valery Gergiev will lead the combined forces of the Mariinsky Orchestra, Opera and Ballet. Christoph von Dohnanyi heads the Philharmonia Orchestra's eagerly anticipated return to Hong Kong with refined interpretations of Austrian and German masterworks. The innovative René Jacobs appears with the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra for two enlightening performances of classical masterpieces by Mozart and Haydn. Hong Kong's own Philharmonic Orchestra, Chinese Orchestra and Sinfonietta will continue to contribute to the Festival.

Keyboard specialist Sebastian Wienand joins the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra on fortepiano; soprano Simone Osborne, one of the youngest Grand Winners of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, brings her sweet crystalline voice to lieder by Schumann and Richard Strauss; and Finnish string quartet Meta4 brings their dynamic and authoritative interpretation of music by compatriots Sibelius and Verneri Pohjola.

An outstanding line-up of jazz and world music is in store: The tango orchestra Cafe de los Maestros formed ; The Guy Barker Jazz Orchestra's Mozart-inspired The Amadeus Project; David Murray Black Saint Quartet; China's world music diva and winner of the 2008 BBC World Music Award, Sa Dingding; Spain's coolest rumba-funk-hip-hop-electro-flamenco outfit Ojos de Brujo; and four exceptional female singers – Patti Austin, Dianne Reeves, Simone and Lizz Wright – join hands to pay tribute to the extraordinary Nina Simone.