Pioneering conductor to make Hong Kong debut

The Hong Kong Arts Festival, which is taking place through March 23, will introduce Marin Alsop, the artistic director of the Sao Paulo Symphony Orchestra, as a person who has been "breaking the glass ceiling with her baton". It's a fitting description, considering how her illustrious career has been defined by a series of "firsts".

Alsop made the headlines in 2007 for becoming the first female music director of a major US orchestra - the Baltimore Symphony. In 2013, she became the first woman to conduct the BBC's Last Night of the Proms and in September she will become the first female chief conductor of the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra.

The Sao Paulo Symphony Orchestra, which is the first from South America to perform in China, will take the stage for the opening concert of the festival on Thursday. On Friday, it will perform another concert that will feature Chinese violinist, Ning Feng. The orchestra will also hold a series of workshops with local public school students.