Musicus Fest 2019 - Festival Finale

Hailed as a “miracle” by Gramophone, Trey Lee enthrals audiences with a virtuosity that combines intellectual sophistication with a profound depth of emotions. His concerto debut at Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage won him a standing ovation, with New York Times critic Anthony Tommasini declaring him “the excellent cellist…with enveloping richness and lyrical sensitivity.” The late Lorin Maazel praised him as “a marvellous protagonist…a superb cellist” after conducting Trey with the Philharmonia Orchestra.

Highlights of 2023 and 2024 include touring abroad with the Camerata Salzburg, English Chamber Orchestra, and solo engagements in Vienna, London, Paris, Milan, Budapest, Shanghai and Hong Kong. Trey has worked with notable musicians and groups that include conductors Vladimir Ashkenazy, Yuri Bashmet, Mikko Franck, Hannu Lintu, Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Vassily Sinaisky, Dima Slobodeniouk, the orchestras BBC Philharmonic, Philharmonic Orchestra Radio France, Netherlands Philharmonic, Tapiola Sinfonietta, the Moscow Soloists, and chamber orchestras of London, Munich and Stuttgart.

Seeking to increase the expressive possibilities of the cello, Trey has re-arranged works including Astor Piazzolla’s Four Seasons of Buenos Aires, which he debuted with the Trondheim Soloists. Wang Liping’s The Dream of the Red Chamber Capriccio, co-rearranged by Trey, was premiered by Leonard Slatkin and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in 2017. Trey has given world premieres of two pieces dedicated to him: Bright Sheng’s The Blazing Mirage (recorded for Naxos) and contemporary Finnish composer Kirmo Lintinen’s Cello Concerto.

Trey is a laureate of major international competitions, including First Prize at the International Antonio Janigro Cello Competition. His debut and recital albums under EMI were met with critical acclaim. Numerous media outlets have featured Trey, including a recital recorded for Deutsche Welle during the Covid lockdown. His latest album, Seasons Interrupted, in collaboration with the English Chamber Orchestra is being released by Signum Records in May 2024.

"…No matter how high your expectations are, these players will always outperform them. There is no such a thing as disappointment with these artists…" – Bachtrack

Since being founded in 1987, the Tapiola Sinfonietta has achieved world fame particularly for its mastery of the Viennese Classical repertoire. The orchestra has a unique structure – the artistic planning is in the hands of a team of three consisting of the General Manager and two musicians, in the spirit of modern, shared leadership, guided by joy, artistry and commitment. The orchestra has three Artists-in-Association at a time, each adding his or her own special edge to the artistic policy. In this spirit, the orchestra has collaborated with top conductors and artists from Finland and abroad, namely Hannu Lintu, Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Masaaki Suzuki, Isabelle Faust, Stefan Jackiw, Steven Isserlis and Olli Mustonen.

The continuous development of this alliance of 41 orchestra players has also been heightened by co-productions with top artists in the fields of drama, dance, circus, jazz and popular music. Members of the orchestra also appear as soloists and chamber musicians and play in Baroque, jazz and folk ensembles.

The Tapiola Sinfonietta has a discography of more than 60 titles on the BIS, Ondine and Naxos labels, many of which have received critical acclaim. Its recording of Magnus Lindberg's Violin Concerto with violinist Pekka Kuusisto in 2014 was chosen by French music magazine Classica as the Choc de l'Année (Record of the Year); its Anna Liisa (2015) opera recording in 2015 with director Jan Söderblom was Editor's Choice in Grammophone and HelsinginSanomat (the main newspaper in Finland).

The orchestra acts as an ambassador of Finnish culture on its tours to Asia and Central Europe.

Locally, Kwong's achievements were recognized by the Hong Kong SAR Government with the Young Artist Award in Music (2014) and in the Commendatory Scheme of the Secretary for Home Affairs (2015). She has been invited to perform in several music festivals, including the Hong Kong Arts Festival where she took the roles of Xiao Hong in the opera Heart of Coral, Tong-bi Kang in the opera Datong, and the Grachtenfestival Amsterdam where she performed the role of Fiordiligi in the opera Cosi fan tutte.

Ho Shun-yin is a Bachelor Degree student at The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, majoring in piano studies with Professor Gabriel Kwok. She was awarded the Gold Prize and Soloist Award at the 15th International Chopin Piano Competition in Asia in Tokyo, and has attained prizes at the Hong Kong Schools Music Festival.

 [TJ1]Abbreviated to be less wordy

Busy freelance violist Edwin Lam was awarded the Grantham Scholarship, the HKSAR Government Scholarship, and the Y.S. Liu Foundation Scholarship before graduating with a bachelor's degree in music from The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, and embarking on his career as an orchestral and chamber musician. 
 
As Viola Principal of the Asian Youth Orchestra he toured major cities around Asia in 2013 and 2014, before becoming Viola Principal at the Kent Blossom Music Festival in 2015. There he performed as Viola Principal of the Chamber Orchestra, and collaborated as a chamber musician with peers from across the United States. He has participated in masterclasses with the Endelion Quartet, the Szymanowski Quartet, the Miami Quartet and the Shanghai Quartet.  
 
Since graduation Lam has performed under the baton of a distinguished list of conductors, including James Judd, Ken-David Masur, and Brett Mitchell, and with such noted soloists as cellist Steven Isserlis and violinists Vadim Repin, and Sarah Chang.

George Ng has served as the principal violist of the Diocesan Boys' School's Symphony Orchestra and Senior Strings. In 2016 he toured with the Hong Kong Youth Strings, subsequently joining the Hong Kong Youth Symphony Orchestra. In each case he was one of the youngest players in the orchestra’s history. 
 
Ng currently studies under Born Lau and Samuel Pang, and has participated in masterclasses with Garth Knox, Juan-Miguel Hernandez, Christoph Koncz, Leo Phillips, and Kristjan Jarvi. 
 
He has gained extensive international touring experience at an early age, performing in Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Austria as well as in Macau and mainland China. A performance at the Musikverein in Vienna is one of the memories he particularly cherishes.

After graduating from The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts where he studied with Laurent Perrin, cellist Calvin Wong took his master’s degree at the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts, where he studied under former Kronberg Academy Emanuel Feurmann Conservatory Artistic Director Jan Ickert.  
 
In 2015, 2017 and 2019 he accepted invitations to take part in the Rome Chamber Music Festival, organized by the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and the United States Embassy to Italy. His performances were supported by The Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, Brussels. He has also appeared at the Casalmaggiore International Music Festival, where he won the Taras Gabora Prize. He has performed as a soloist with the Mainzer Virtuosi String Orchestra in both Germany and Italy. 
 
As active on social media as in the concert hall, Wong has accumulated more than 60,000 online followers in mainland China, where he promotes the cello, and has performed solo recitals for his followers in Shanghai and Beijing. His album available on the streaming platform has achieved a play count of more than one million. More music will be released shortly online.  
 
Wong was awarded an Honorable Mention in the Musicus Society 2019 Young Artists Audition.

Born and raised in Melbourne, Australia, Marc Ngan graduated from the University of Melbourne with a Bachelor of Arts. He then moved to Hong Kong to pursue his dream of working in the performing arts industry, continuing his studies and graduating with a BTEC Level 5 Higher National Diploma in Performing Arts (Musical Theatre) from EXCEL, The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (HKAPA), where he was awarded ‘Most Outstanding Student’ in his graduating year.

Based in Hong Kong, Ngan now works in the performing arts industry as a performer, creator and educator.

Ngan won ‘Best Actor’ at the 2017 Hong Kong English Language Drama Awards, and is one of the most sort-out performing arts tutors in Hong Kong. He is also one of Hong Kong’s top English MC, and has worked with numerous corporate companies, assisting them with their management training programs as a role-player and coach.

He believes if a person falls in love with what they’re doing, their energy, passion and soul will guide them to produce their best possible work.

Currently a Form 3 student at St. Mary’s Canossian College, at the age of just 11 Rani Fung was first runner-up in the Parsons Music Scholarship for Wind, Brass and Percussion Instruments (Open Class) in the 72nd Hong Kong Schools Music and Speech Association Festival, and was again a medal-winner in 2021 at the age of 14.

She is currently broadening her experience through participation in music festivals, masterclasses and Asian percussion competitions. She won the championship in marimba, vibraphone, and Chinese drums in the Taipei World Percussion Championship, and has also been a competition winner in Shanghai and Tokyo.

Fung has also been acquiring ensemble experience through participation in the Asian Youth Orchestra Hong Kong Music Summer Orchestra; the Academy Concert Band; Parsons Wind Orchestra; and the Hong Kong Bravissimo Wind Ensemble. She has also appeared in a pop concert as a solo vibraphonist for Justin Lo’s performance at the Hong Kong Coliseum.

Rani Fung is now studying marimba with award-winning Japanese marimbist Eriko Daimo and multi-percussion with Calvin Li.

Based in Rome, Italy, Claudia Frisone is an actress, a dance-theatre performer, director, drama teacher and vocal coach for drama academies, public schools, private students and clients. She graduated in 1985 from the A. Fersen International Academy. Since 2002, she has also been working as an art counsellor and drama counsellor, as well as leading public speaking courses.

Violinist Fan Hiu-sing is the 2021 winner in Musicus Society’s Young Artist Audition program. Winner of the New York International Artists Association Violin Competition, Verão Clássico Festival, and the Adelphi Chamber Orchestra Concerto Competition, he has established himself as one of the eminent young rising stars of the international concert circuit. His institutional and international festival appearances include the Marvão Music Academy, the Verbier Festival, the Festival e Academia Verão Clássico, and the Great Mountains Music Festival and School. During the 2023-24 season, Fan returns to the Cologne Chamber Orchestra as guest concertmaster. 

Fan has collaborated with and been mentored by such renowned artists as Leonidas Kavakos, Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider, Vadim Repin, Itzhak Perlman, Kristóf Baráti, Ferenc Rados, Pamela Frank, Gábor Takács-Nagy, Donald Weilerstein, Aaron Rosand, Pierre Amoyal, the Quatuor Ébène, and the Emerson String Quartet. 

Born in Hong Kong, Fan began violin lessons at the age of four. He was the beneficiary of the Cordelia Lee Scholarship and Betty & Daniel Bloomfield Fund Scholarship while at The Juilliard School, where he earned his bachelor’s degree under Hyo Kang and I-Hao Lee before going on to further studies at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich with Julia Fischer, Christoph Poppen, Lena Neudauer and Veronika Eberle. As the recipient of the Eckstein Scholarship, he is pursuing his Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) degree at Bienen School of Music, Northwestern University.

Toronto born violinist Elissa Lee has appeared as a soloist with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, l’Orchestre Symphonique de Québec, the Brott Music Festival Orchestra, the University of Toronto Symphony Orchestra, l‘Orchestre de Chambre de Montréal, and the Royal Conservatory Orchestra. She won first prize in the 23rd Eckhardt-Gramatté National Music Competition (Strings).

Lee studied with Victor Danchenko at the Royal Conservatory and with Lorand Fenyves at the University of Toronto, where she received a master’s degree in performance and was the recipient of the prestigious Eaton Scholarship. She then moved to Germany to study privately with Andreas Reiner in Munich and Thomas Brandis at the Hochschule der Künste in Berlin where she won second prize in the Gyarfas Competition. She received two Chalmers Performing Arts Training Grants from the Ontario Arts Council, and a Canada Council Grant.

Lee has held positions as Second Concertmaster in both the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra and the WDR Sinfonieorchester, and is now enjoying a busy freelance career.

She has performed as Concertmaster with the Münchner Rundfunkorchester, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Orchster der KlangVerwaltung in Munich, and the Lucerne Festival Strings, and in leading positions with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, the Komische Oper Berlin, the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, the Luxembourg Philharmonic, and the Canadian Opera Company. She has also been a guest of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, and has worked under the batons of Claudio Abbado, Simon Rattle, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Bernard Haitink and Daniel Harding.

Lee has featured as first violinist with both the Kamareli and the Bomari String Quartets, has performed with Louie Lortie, Augustin Dumay, Anton Kuerti, Pascal Devoyon, Kevin Fitzgerald, Lawrence Lesser, and Shauna Rolston, and has been a frequent participant in Open Chamber Music in Prussia Cove, Cornwall. With pianist Jeanie Chung she won second prize at the 2001 Caltanissetta International Chamber Music Competition, and received an Honourable Mention at the Premio Vittorio Gui Competition in Florence.

In 2010 Lee joined Ensemble Made in Canada which created and toured MOSAÏQUE, a musical journey through the country which won a JUNO award for Classical Album of the Year: Solo or Chamber in 2021.

Hila Karni was born in Tel Aviv and took up the cello aged nine. Only four years later she was touring Europe, Canada and the United States.

Karni’s teachers included Zvi Harel, Uzi Wiesel, David Geringas, and the legendary Bernard Greenhouse, who has described her as “one of the most musically sensitive and technically exciting cellists of the younger generation.” She received her chamber music training with Haim Taub, Ilan Gronich, and the Alban Berg Quartet.

In 2006, together with violinist Daniel Bard and pianist Ohad Ben-Ari, Karni founded the successful Trio Mondrian, winning 1st Prize, the Young Award, and the Special Prize for its interpretation of a Brahms trio at the 2007 International Chamber Music Competition in Trieste. At the 2008 Bologna Festival it received the Audience Prize, and in 2009, was awarded the Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship (London). The Italian composer Marcello Abbado dedicated a piece entitled Trio Mondrian to the ensemble. Since 2021 Karni has been a member of Trio Lirico.

She has appeared at numerous festivals - including Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Schleswig-Holstein, Stresa, Kfar Blum, and Ravinia - and at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Megaron Mousikis in Athens, the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, the Konzerthaus in Vienna, the Kölner Philharmonie, the Wigmore Hall in London and Carnegie Hall in New York. From 2013 to 2015 she taught chamber music at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg.

Among her many musical partners are Boris Pergamentschikow, Guy Braunstein, Ralf Gothoni, Bernard Greenhouse, Maxim Vengerov, Nigel Kennedy and the Scharoun Ensemble. She also regularly collaborates with Israeli singer Noa. Albanian composer Dhora Leka wrote the solo piece Improvisus for her. Karni’s recordings of the Romantic Serenades and the Cello Concerto Op. 33 by Robert Volkmann with the Hamburg Camerata, and of Max Richter’s War Anthem with the Deutsches Filmorchester Babelsberg, have received enthusiastic reviews.

Richard Wolfe was born and raised in New York, where he studied violin with Mara Sebriansky and Dorothy DeLay. He graduated from the College-Conservatory of Music of the University of Cincinnati in the class of Walter Levin (1st violinist of the LaSalle Quartet).

After further studies in New York with Gerald Beale, Wolfe lived five years in Israel, where he became a member of the Israel Chamber Orchestra. During this period, he started to discover the beauty of the viola, and played it in an ensemble with principal players from the orchestra.

In 1982 Wolfe established himself in the Netherlands, and in 1984 he began a 35 year tenure as first principal violist of the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra / Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra. With these orchestras he appeared numerous times as soloist, at home and abroad. His recording of Mozart's “Sinfonia Concertante” K.364, with Gordan Nicolić and the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, was released on the Tacet label in 2020.

Wolfe has been a member of chamber music ensembles with notable musicians, such as the violinist Sergiu Luca (“Music in Context”) and cellist Roel Dietiens (“Explorations”), and he and his wife, the violinist Elisabeth Perry, are core members of the Utrecht-based Rietveld Ensemble.

Wolfe is professor of viola at the Utrecht Conservatory, and he has participated in master classes and festivals in France, Germany and the United States.

Violinist Francis, Chik Yiu Ting is a member of the Cong Quartet, which won the Grand Prize in the 2019 Salzburg Mozart International Chamber Competition in Tokyo and the 2nd prize in the 2021 Kreutzer International Competition. The quartet is currently artist-in-residence for the Master of Arts programme of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, where it previously held the role of ensemble-in-residence from 2019 to 2021.

Yiu has attended the Netherlands String Quartet Academy, the Robert Mann String Quartet Institute and the Juilliard String Quartet Seminar in New York, the Heifetz International Music Institute’s Ashkenasi/Kirshbaum Chamber Music Seminar in Virginia, Harpa International Music Academy in Iceland, and Madeline Island Chamber Music in Wisconsin. He has worked closely with the Pacifica, Dover and Shanghai Quartets, and with members of the Danel, Jerusalem, American, Tokyo, Juilliard, Borromeo, Vermeer and Borodin String Quartets.

He obtained his Master of Arts from the Royal Academy of Music in London, and was awarded the Roth Prize for Violin Finalists for his exceptional performance in the final recital. He obtained his Bachelor of Music from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, where he was awarded the Performer’s Certificate, and also studied at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music and The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. He has studied under Hu Kun, Ivan Chan, Ho Hong-yin, Mikhail Kopelman, Simin Ganatra and Joseph Swensen.

Yiu has appeared at the Bowdoin International Music Festival (Maine), the Aspen Music Festival and School (Colorado), the Heifetz International Music Institute (Virginia), the Nyack Academy of Music Summer Festival (New York) and the Hu Kun & Friends International Masterclass. He has also played in masterclasses by world-renowned violinists Pinchas Zukerman, Movses Pogossian, Tasmin Little, Federico Agostini, Renee Jolles, Paivyt Meller and Isaac Malkin.

Chow Yip-wai is the newest addition to the Cong Quartet, the current artists-in-residence in the Master of Arts programme at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He was educated primarily in the United States, graduating with a master’s degree from the New England Conservatory in Boston, where he studied under Avano Ninomiya, having previously earned his bachelor’s degree at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, studying under Robin Scott and Charles Castleman.

Chow has served as first violinist with the award-winning Montclair String Quartet in West Virginia and also as a faculty member at West Virginia State University.  He has appeared as a soloist, chamber musician and concertmaster at a range of venues and festivals, including Carnegie Hall, New York; the Banff Centre in Alberta; Jordan Hall, Boston; the Moritzburg Festival, Germany and Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California. He has been a prize-winner in numerous competitions, including the MTNA Young Artist Performance Competitions and the Brookline Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition in the United States and the Japan-Hong Kong International Music Competition.

Caleb Wong is the violist of Cong Quartet, winner of the Grand Prize in the 2019 Salzburg Mozart International Chamber Competition in Tokyo and 2nd prize in the 2021 Kreutzer International Competition in Belgium. The quartet is currently artist-in-residence for the Master of Arts programme of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, where it previously held the role of ensemble-in-residence from 2019 to 2021.  Prior to the formation of the Cong Quartet, Wong was violist of the Alpensia Quartet in South Korea, sponsored by the Artsylvia Foundation.

Wong received his musical education in Hong Kong, London, Indiana, New York and the Netherlands, studying with Kaori Wilson of the Hong Kong Philharmonic, Kazuhide Isomura of the Tokyo String Quartet, and Edward Gazouleas, artistic director of the Curtis Institute of Music. His other mentors include Ivan Chan, Stephen Wyrczynski, Michael Tree, Mai Motobuchi and Mara Gearman. He has studied and worked closely with the Pacifica, Borromeo, Dover, Juilliard and Shanghai string quartets, and with members of the Cleveland, Danel, Guarneri, Jerusalem, Tokyo, and Vermeer quartets.

Chamber music festivals and institutions Wong has performed at include the Robert Mann String Quartet Institute and the Juilliard String Quartet Seminar (New York), the Ashkenasi/Kirshbaum Chamber Music Seminar at the Heifetz International Music Institute in Staunton, Virginia, Madeline Island Chamber Music in La Pointe, Wisconsin and Harpa International Music Academy in Iceland.

Wong has been a member of The Orchestra Now (TŌN) in New York, the Evansville Philharmonic in Indiana and the Owensboro Symphony Orchestra in Kentucky. During his time in New York, he performed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Carnegie Hall and the Lincoln Center, and recorded with the Naxos and Sorel Classics labels.

Recent performances have included recitals in Tokyo, New York, the Netherlands, France, Singapore and Hong Kong.

Hong Kong native Cheng Yan-ho studied cello under Cheung Ming-yuen, Joliana Lai, Tung Hiu-lo and Professor Ray Wang. He graduated from the Chinese University of Hong Kong with a Bachelor’s in Music, and from the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University Bloomington with a Master’s degree in Cello Performance, under Peter Stumpf and Brandon Vamos. He also worked as assistant to Susan Moses at the Indiana University String Academy and furthered his studies in quartet performance with Marc Danel, Ivan Chan and the Pacifica Quartet.

Cheng is the founding cellist of the Cong Quartet, which won the Grand Prize in the 2019 Salzburg Mozart International Chamber Competition in Tokyo and 2nd prize in the 2021 Kreutzer International Competition in Belgium. The Cong Quartet is currently artist-in-residence for the Master of Arts programme of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, where it previously held the role of the ensemble-in-residence from 2019 to 2021. Cheng has recently toured Europe and the United States with the quartet. Other notable artists he has performed with include Jorja Fleezanis, Antonio Lysy, Mai Motobuchi, Yuri Bashmet and Eric Kim.   

Cheng was awarded a full scholarship for his Master’s studies by the C.C. Chiu Memorial Fund and has also been the beneficiary of the C.F. Hu Postgraduate Memorial Scholarship, the China Soong Ching Ling Foundation’s “Gucci Timepieces and Jewelry Music Fund” Scholarship, and the Li Po Chun Charity Trust Fund Postgraduate Scholarship. He was also a prize-winner in the Cello Concerto competition at the Hong Kong Schools Music Festival.

Luk Wai-chun recently received his doctorate in composition from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, where he studied under Professor Lee Wan-ki Wendy. He is interested in the eclectic stylistic elements of music from across the world, and has explored many different musical idioms, his recent works being influenced by Chinese regional folk music, Chinese traditional opera, Japanese gagaku, jazz and Latin American music.

In 2019, Luk went to the University of South Florida as a visiting scholar to study jazz and conduct research into Latin American music, with fieldwork in Cuba, Peru, Bolivia and Brazil. He has collaborated with many different music groups, including artists from Hong Kong, the USA, Canada, France, Brazil and Thailand.

In the course of his doctoral studies, Luk received several scholarships, including the Composers and Authors Society of Hong Kong Scholarship, the ICS Mok Hing Cheong Postgraduate Scholarship and the Music Scholarship (Local Studies) from The Hong Kong Jockey Club Music and Dance Fund.

His Chinese instrumental composition Tan-Tiao Rock won the Gold Award (Combination of Musical Instruments of the Same Category) at the 2021 Dunhuang Awards, while his pipa solo work Jazz Pipa won the Silver Award at the 2017 Dunhuang Awards. He has also won prizes awarded by Musicus Society, Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra, Catchfire Collective and Tacet(i) Ensemble Call for Scores.

His other compositions have been featured at the São Paulo Contemporary Composers Festival, the Hong Kong Contemporary Music Festival, the International Society for Contemporary Music’s World (New) Music Days 2017 (Canada) and the Intercultural Music Conference and Concerts (USA). One of his compositions, Blue Pole, recently featured at the 67th International Rostrum of Composers in Belgrade, Serbia.

Alvin Chan holds both a Bachelor’s and Master’s in music from The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, where he studied under Dr Lung Heung-wing, James Boznos and Alan Cumberland. He received full scholarships from The Hong Kong Jockey Club Music and Dance Fund, and has also been awarded the SAR Philharmonic Scholarship and the Chan Ho Choi Enchanting Music Scholarship. 

Chan has been the resident percussionist of the Hong Kong Gaudeamus Dunhuang Ensemble since 2018 and has toured to Dunhuang and Quanzhou. In 2019 he co-founded the Vertex Percussion Duo and M.A.R.B.L.E.S. Percussion. The same year, he joined the Sō Percussion Summer Institute in Princeton, New Jersey, where he performed with percussionists from all over the world.

He is also an associated artist of Toolbox Percussion, with the support of the Hong Kong Arts Development Council, and he performed with Third Coast Percussion at the Toolbox International Creative Academy in 2020.

In 2015, Chan toured Mainland China, Taiwan and Japan as a member of the Asian Youth Orchestra and in 2017 he performed as an accompanist at the World Dance Alliance Global Summit in St John’s, Canada, with the support of the Hong Kong Arts Development Council.

He is also a freelance player with the Macao Orchestra, the Hong Kong Sinfonietta and Philharmonia APA.

Hong Kong dizi performer Kung Wai-kin started learning the instrument at the age of eight. He later furthered his studies in dizi in Shanghai, graduating with a Master of Arts from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music under Professor Zhan Yongming, a renowned dizi performer and educator.

During his time in Shanghai, Kung learned from famous dizi masters from all over the world, and also got many opportunities for performances and exchanges, such as the Shanghai Spring International Music Festival, Contemporary Music Week and the Shanghai International Art Festival. In 2018, he was invited to premiere the dizi sonata Sea Breeze and Bamboo Dream in Taipei. He has performed with the Di Sheng Fu Dizi Chamber Orchestra and the Shanghai Conservatory of Music Chinese Orchestra in a number of cities. He took part in and helped organise the 5th and 6th Shanghai Conservatory of Music Chinese Traditional Wind Instrument Week series of lectures and performances. He was also recommended by the school to take part in a teaching exchange project with the Geneva Conservatory of Music in Switzerland.
 
Kung has won multiple awards, including the Dizi Gold Award at the West Lake International Youth Musical Instrumental Competition Higher School Professional Group and gold medal at the Dizi Professional Group in China · Wuxi 4th International Flute Festival and the “Listen to the Rain Cup” dizi professional competition. He received the Excellent Student Scholarship for three years straight from 2018 to 2000. In 2019, he was named an outstanding student by the Shanghai Conservatory of Music “Music Talent to Fly” programme and received sponsorship to give a solo recital. In 2020, he was selected for the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra to host the “Music Integrates” chamber concerts by young music makers and will give a solo dizi concert in June 2022.

Piao Xingji was born into a musical family in 1992 and started taking piano lessons at the age of four, giving his first performance two years later. He received a full scholarship to study at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts under Professor Gabriel Kwok. Piao graduated with a Bachelor of Music and then a Master’s.

Piao has won numerous awards, including First Prize in Piano at the Shanghai Grand Theatre Cup (1999) and National Kawai Piano Competition (2005, China), First Prize and four special prizes at the 5th International Russian Music Piano Competition (2006, San Jose), First Prize at the 14th Hong Kong – Asia Piano Competition (Open Class, 2007), Second Prize and three special prizes at the 11th Grieg International Piano Competition in Norway (2010), Grand Prize at the HKGNA New York Debut Piano Competition (2010), and Second Prize at the 21st International Piano Competition in Italy (2011).

Piao has performed around the world, including China, the United States, Italy, Austria, Norway, Hungary and Poland. He went on a concert tour of China in 2006, and toured Austria, Poland and Hungary in 2008. After winning the top prize at the HKGNA New York Debut Piano Competition (2010), he performed at Carnegie Hall in New York. His recital at the Hong Kong Arts Festival (2013) was critically acclaimed. His performance in Pordenone in 2014 was also well-received and was given extensive coverage in the Italian media. As well as being recorded for a CD release, the concert was broadcast by Radio 3 Rai, Italy’s preeminent classical music station.

Piao co-founded the Bauhinia Trio with violinist Zheng Yang and cellist Jia Nan in 2018. The ensemble has given a number of concerts since then and has collaborated with many artists.

In 2021, Piao was invited to take part in the RTHK programme “Beethoven 32”, which featured 32 pianists associated with the The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts School of Music.

Praised for his “technically superb and musically convincing playing” (Hamburger Abendblatt), León Bernsdorf continues to establish himself in the international classical music scene. Born in Hamburg, Germany, Bernsdorf began his journey at the piano at age 5. One year later he received a scholarship from the Hamburg Youth Music Foundation and was taught by the renowned piano pedagogue Carol Tainton. After his pre-college studies with Volker Banfield at the Hochschule Hamburg, he moved to the East Coast of the US, a place which is now his artistic home.

Bernsdorf gave his orchestra debut at age 15 in the Laeiszhalle Hamburg, performing Grieg’s piano concerto with the Hamburg Youth Symphony Orchestra. Further orchestral engagements soon followed, including the Heidelberg Philharmonic and the Hamburg Camerata. Aside from Germany and the US, he has performed concerts in Canada, Italy, Spain, Russia, Japan, China, and South East Asia. Through his success at the Liszt Competition in Budapest in 2016 (3rd Prize), Bernsdorf has concertized extensively in all parts of Hungary, including solo and orchestra appearances in Budpest, Eger, Miskolc and many other cities.

As a competition veteran, Bernsdorf has succeeded at both national and international contests. In 2017, he was awarded the 3rd prize at the Dallas International Piano Competition. A few months later, he won the 3rd prize at the Jaen Competition in Spain, as well as the “Rosa Sabater” Award for the best performance of a Spanish work. Bernsdorf holds Bachelor and Master’s degrees from Boston University, where he studied with Boaz Sharon and Pavel Nersessian. After finishing his Artist Diploma with John Perry and David Louie at the Glenn Gould School in Toronto, he is now a fourth-year C.V. Starr Doctoral Fellow at The Juilliard School in the studio of Prof. Robert McDonald. He is also working on a dissertation on the piano music of Mieczyslaw Weinberg, whose piano quintet he recently recorded.

Aurélie Entringer won the Concours des Jeunes Altistes de Paris and obtained her master’s degree from the Royal Conservatoire of Brussels. In 2001, Entringer went to study at Indiana University in Bloomington (US) in the class of Atar Arad, where she obtained her soloist diploma and was named “Classic Adami Revelation” in 2004.

In chamber music, Entringer has worked with such renowned artists like Yuri Bashmet, Roberto Diaz, Paul Katz, Maurizio Fuks, Donald Weilerstein, Ilya Kaler, Miriam Fried, StanleyRitchie, Dmitry Sitkovetsky, Julian Rachlin, Janine Jensen, Joshua Bell and Maxim Vengerov. Invited by the soloists of the Metropolitan Opera as part of the UBS Verbier Festival Orchestra from 2000 to 2010, the opportunity was given to her to play under the direction of the greatest conductors of our time such as Claudio Abbado, James Levine, Mstislav Rostropovitch, Kurt Mazur, Zubin Mehta, Yuri Temirkanov, Wolfgang Sawallish, Kent Nagano, Christoph Von Dohnanyi, Emmanuel Krivine, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Paavo Järvi, Jacob Kreisberg and Bernard Haitink.

Entringer currently performs with several renowned chamber orchestras such as the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Mahler Chamber Orchestra and Les Dissonances and as solo viola of such symphony orchestras as the Sydney Symphony and the Brussels ls Philharmonic. She also plays with various contemporary music ensembles, including the lctus Ensemble, Ensemble Musique Nouvelle and Klangforum Wien. Entringer has performed in over 35 countries and plays a 1688 Hendrick Willems viola.

Born in Hong Kong, violist Lee Yat is one of the 2021 honorable mentions of the Musicus Society’s Young Artist Audition program. He received a scholarship prize from the Junior Music Program of Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, where he studied violin and chamber music. At the age of 16, Lee switched to viola. Lee made his debut with the Musicus Society in 2021.

Lee was admitted at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna at the age of 17, where he studied viola under the tutelage of Professor Wolfgang Klos and Professor Urlich Schönauer. He also took baroque viola lessons periodically from Hiro Kurosaki and Rainer Ingomar. In 2018, he received full scholarship at the International Menuhin Music Academy where he studied under Ivan Vukcevic, Maxim Vengerov and chamber music from Gabor Takacs Nagy. He took part in masterclasses given by renowned artists including Richard O’Neill, Nobuko Imai, Gérard Caussé and Pinchas Zukerman.

Lee is the 2nd prize winner of the string competition in University of music and performing arts, Vienna and a recipient of the Dr. Martha Sobotka-Charlotte Janeczek Stiftung. He has performed in festivals such as Wien Modern, Allegro Vivo, Gstaad Menuhin Festival, Megeve Festival, Pablo Casals festival and Beare’s Premiere Music Festival.

Lee currently plays an 1800 John Betts viola loaned to him by the PostScript Collection through the Beare's International Violin Society.

Currently a Greendale Scholar at the Colburn Music Academy, 17-year-old Blues Zhang was born in a musical family. Following his early studies with his mother, Zhang Xi, violinist of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, and Jeremy Williams, music director of the Yew Chung International School, Blues is now under the tutelage of Professor Martin Beaver. He will make his debut with the Musicus Society at the Jockey Club Musicus Heritage Stories concert in November 2022.

Zhang has won numerous awards including the winner of the Colburn Music Academy Concerto Competition, first prize in the Concerto Class, and second prize in the String Sonata Class of Hong Kong Youth Catania Music Competition and Ming Classics Online International Classical Competition. He has participated in various categories in the Hong Kong School Music Festival and won top prizes for nine consecutive years, which includes the Hong Kong Strings Scholarship for Stringed Instruments, Violin Concerto Under 19, Violin Duet Senior Category, and Junior String Quartet.

Zhang is currently the second violin principal of the Colburn Academy Virtuosi and has also served as the concertmaster of the Diocesan Boys’ School’s String Orchestra and Hong Kong Camerata Strings. Zhang was awarded a music scholarship at the Diocesan Boys’ School for three consecutive years and was the youngest member to be selected to participate in the 29th Asian Youth Orchestra. He participated in the 2021 Heifetz International Music Institute with the support of the Dorothy Richard Starling Foundation. He was also selected to participate in the 2022 Meadowmount Music Festival with a full scholarship.

Zhang has collaborated with the Hong Kong Orchestra, Haw Par Music, Hong Kong String Orchestra, the Hong Kong Generation Next Arts, and the Gustav Mahler Orchestra. In 2022 April, he performed Vivaldi Double Concerto alongside cellist Angeline Kiang with the Colburn Academy Virtuosi. In 2021 June, he appeared as a soloist with the Hong Kong Youth Orchestra, performing the 1st movement of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto. He has also performed in various masterclasses including Frank Huang, Kirill Troussov, Janoska Ensemble, Pavlo Beznosiuk, Jing Wang, Leo Phillips, Liang Chai, Richard Bamping, and Leung Kin Fung.

Zhang is a recipient of the Hong Kong Jockey Club Music and Dance Fund, which sponsors his pre-college program.

Born and raised in Hong Kong, cellist Sun Hsin-hou, Richard is currently pursuing a Doctor degree in cello performance at Indiana University Bloomington in the studio of Emilio Colón.

In 2011, Sun had performed and given masterclasses on all the 12 Caprices for Solo Cello by Carlo Alfredo Piatti at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of Louisiana, University of South Dakota, Dixie State University and California State University, Fresno. Festival participations including New Music Festival at Bowling Green University, Castleman Quartet Program at Fredonia and Texas Music Festival.

Sun has a passion for contemporary music; he had worked with composers such as Bright Sheng, Émile Naoumoff and Aaron Israel Levin. A passionate cello teacher, Sun is currently undergoing a project of performing and teaching all the 40 Popper High School Etudes on social media Little Red Book. He is currently playing on a great modern cello by Michael Stürzenhofecker generously on loan from the Elite Music Instrument Collection at the Jacobs School of Music. Sun is one of the member of Musicus Soloists and will be performing with Musicus Society in the Jockey Club Musicus Heritage Stories concerts and Musicus Fest 10th Anniversary concert.

Polish violinist Maria Włoszczowska is recognised for her versatile musicianship, performing as soloist, director/concertmaster, and chamber musician.

Włoszczowska began the 2022/23 season with her solo debut at the BBC Proms performing Kaija Saariaho’s Vers toi qui es si loin with the Royal Northern Sinfonia and Dinis Sousa. As Leader of the Royal Northern Sinfonia, she also directs a number of programmes; one of this season’s highlights includes directing and performing Beethoven’s Violin Concerto.

Last season, Włoszczowska gave her New York recital debut at 92NY with Jeremy Denk performing all six Bach Sonatas for violin and keyboard and they return together this season to the Lammermuir Festival.

Włoszczowska appears regularly at the Wigmore Hall and at international festivals such as Musikdorf Ernen in Switzerland, Lammermuir Festival and IMS Prussia Cove das well as a residency at Yellow Barn, Vermont. Distinguished artists such as Jeremy Denk, Bengt Forsberg, and Dinis Sousa have joined her in recital and other chamber music partners have included Thomas Adès, Alasdair Beatson, Philippe Graffin, Benjamin Grosvenor, Steven Isserlis, Steven Osborne, Hyeyoon Park, Timothy Ridout, and the Doric String Quartet. This season also sees the launch of the Valo Quartet, which she leads; they make their debut appearance in Brussels under the auspices of the Festival Resonances.

Recent seasons have seen projects as a guest leader of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and solo appearances with UK and international ensembles, including symphonic and chamber orchestras in her home country of Poland. This season, Maria returns to Leipzig to appear as soloist with Reinhard Goebel and the Neues Bachisches Collegium Musicum at the Gewandhaus.

Recipient of the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Emily Anderson Prize, the Hattori Foundation Senior Award and Poland's Minister of Culture and National Heritage Prize, she based herself in the UK after completing her studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with Hungarian violinist and conductor András Keller. In 2018 she won both First Prize and Audience Prize at the XXI Leipzig International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition.

Włoszczowska plays on a violin by Francesco Stradivari.

Chan Yik-heng, Eason is the winner of Musicus Society’s Call For Scores 2022. He is a musician and composer whose work bridges genres ranging from contemporary classical, film scores and jazz to pop, R&B and indie. Having graduated in 2020 from Hong Kong Baptist University majoring in contemporary composition, Chan currently works full-time writing film music under award-winning composer Day Tai. Since 2019, he has contributed to a number of local film and TV productions, such as the hit ViuTV series Leap Day, 940920 and the films Ready or Knot, The Way We Keep Dancing, I Still Remember, and Zero to Hero, the latter two of which Chan also provided the piano arrangements for the theme songs.

Chan is active among the local jazz scene, having played in the Happy Go Lucky Big Band, Hong Kong Youth Jazz Collective and he also founded the Laminar Quarter. Chan has performed at venues such as Tai Kwun, Lau Bak Livehouse and at the Freespace Jazz Fest in 2020 and 2021.

Chan is also interested in indie and pop music. He is a collaborator on the upcoming album of local independent artist Lester Lam. Chan produced the first single off the album Shadows, which was released earlier last year.

Prize-winning Loo Sze-wang is the foremost sheng (Chinese mouth-organ) player of his generation in Hong Kong. He has been active both as a soloist and as a chamber musician, having been featured several times at the Hong Kong Arts Festival, the contemporary music festival Musicarama and Radio Television Hong Kong. Since 1983, Loo has performed with different performing groups, including the Song Company of Australia, Xenia Ensemble of Italy, St. Lawrence String Quartet of the States, POING of Norway, Het Collectif of Brussels, Hong Kong Sinfonietta and Macau Orchestra, in various countries including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, United States, Japan, Taiwan, Germany, Singapore, Korea and China. His recent performances include the premiere of Sheng concerto Hark the Phoenix Soaring High, composed by the renowned composer Chan Hing Yan, the recital in the Cornell University, New York and the solo performance with Fulcrum point New Music project in Northwestern University, Chicago.

As a founding member of Chinese Music Virtuosi, a 6-member Chinese instrumental ensemble that performs new and traditional works, Loo has performed at the Garden Festival in Warsaw, Poland, the Melbourne Festival in Australia, Singapore Arts Festival, Buenos Aires International Music Festival in Argentina, New Vision Festival of Hong Kong, and the Chinese Composers’ Festival, among others. The group has also commissioned over a dozen new works, which include works that score for both Chinese and Western instruments.

A graduate of the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, Loo’s sheng teachers included Chen De-ren and Cheng Tak-wai and he has also taken flute lessons from Timothy Wilson and Chan Kwok-chiu.

Studying science at the Baptist College (now Baptist University) in his early years, Joseph Tso is now the third generation of Yuet Tung China Works. To inherit the family business and the traditional Guangcai porcelain-painting skills, he drops out from the College and is dedicated in taking the family business to the next level. With more than 50 years of experience in porcelain painting, he is currently one of the few Guangcai porcelain masters in Hong Kong.

In 2005, Martina Tso graduated from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University with a first-class honors degree in Design, majoring in design culture studies and visual communication design. Tso then pursued her master of comparative literature degree at the University of Hong Kong and worked in TV production after her graduation. Aiming to inherit the family's traditional craft, she has been devoting to Guangcai porcelain-painting design in recent years. She also served as the fourth-generation successor in the Yuet Tung China Work founded by her great grandfather Tso Lui-chung with a history of nearly 100 years, hoping to inherit the traditional craft.

Directed and initiated by renowned cellist Trey Lee, Musicus Soloists Hong Kong (MSHK) comprises some of the best of Hong Kong’s next-generation artists, who come together from all over the world. MSHK’s mission is to become a leading chamber ensemble representing the city on the international scene.

For several years now, Musicus Society has been promoting cross-cultural collaboration of music between leading local and international artists through performances, while nurturing the next generation of talent.

The establishment of MSHK will deepen the Society’s commitment in developing the long-term artistic growth of Hong Kong’s musical talent. Through performances and collaborations with preeminent international artists in Hong Kong and abroad, MSHK gives these highly gifted young artists the opportunity to develop their leadership in ensemble and chamber music performance.

After its official launch in November 2022, Musicus Soloists Hong Kong performed in Weimar and Berlin, Germany in Spring 2023 as its debut overseas performance.

musicussoloistshk.org

David Chung performs extensively on a variety of historic and modern keyboard instruments to critical acclaim in cities across Europe, North America and Asia. He has appeared in the Festival d’Ile-de-France, Geelvinck Fortepiano Festival, Cambridge Early Keyboard Festival, Hong Kong International Chamber Music Festival, Le French May Arts Festival and Hong Kong New Vision Arts Festival, and performed in recital series of the Benton Fletcher Collection, the Cobbe Collection and the Handel House. As a chamber musician he has collaborated with such artists as Runa Baagøe, Victoria Brawn, Lorenzo Colitto, Ian Davidson, Jane Downer, Peter Hanson, Monica Huggett, Henning Kraggerud, Markku Luolajan-Mikkola, and Jari Puhakka. His recordings range across French baroque music and stylus phantasticus works by Bach and his contemporaries.

Chung received his education at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the Royal Academy of Music (London) and Churchill College, Cambridge. His scholarly contributions include articles and reviews in such journals as Early Music, Early Keyboard Journal, Journal of Eighteenth-Century Music, Journal of Seventeenth-Century Music, Music and Letters, Revue Belge de musicologie and Revue de musicologie. His edition of unpublished keyboard arrangements of Jean-Baptiste Lully’s music is recently published by the Web Library of Seventeenth-Century Music. As teacher he has given lectures and masterclasses in institutions including the Trinity College of Music, Texas State University, UT Austin, the Central Conservatory of Beijing, the Tainan University of Technology and Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts.

Anthony Poon was awarded an Honorable Mention in Musicus Society’s Young Artist Audition 2021, and made his Musicus Fest debut in 2022. The Second Prize winner of the Eastbourne Symphony Orchestra Young Soloist Competition also won the Tunnell Trust Music Club Award Scheme 2022/23 , which resulted in his recital tour in Scotland in 2023. As a soloist, Poon played the first movement of Lalo’s Symphonie Espagnole with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and Brahms’ Violin Concerto with the Stamford Chamber Orchestra. As an active orchestral musician, he joins orchestras throughout the UK as guest leader and section principal, including Manchester Camerata, Sinfonia Viva, English Touring Opera, Welsh National Opera and Birmingham Royal Ballet. Poon is a graduate of the Royal Academy of Music.

Li Hiu-ching is currently a secondary six student at the HKUGA College. Under the tutelage of Ms. Beedarn Chao. She passed the Grade eight violin examinations of the ABRSM at the age of eight, and was awarded the Associateship (ATCL), the Licentiate (LTCL), and the Fellowship (FTCL) Violin Recital Diploma by Trinity College London. Li is also a grade 8 student in Piano and Music Theory.

Li has won numerous prizes in The Hong Kong School Music Festival competitions, and has participated in some violin competitions overseas. Including the 1st runner-up of the Intermediate Category (age 13 to 18) and the Special Prize-Best Bach in Cremona International Competition for Strings 2018-Italy Cremona. The 1st prize of The OSAKA International Music Competition Hong Kong Regional in 2017. The championship (Violin Diploma Class) in the 9th HK Students Open Music Competition in 2016 and attained Champion in Violin, Viola & Cello Open Class-Junior Class of 2021 HKIMAF Competition.

Li is actively participating in international music festivals. She has joined the International Music Festival Yilan, Taiwan, Cremona International Music Academy and Festival 2018, HeifetzPEG summer program 2019. This year she participated in the Singapore Violin Festival and the Curtis Mentor Network Program 2021. She attended masterclasses by Ning Feng, Joel Smirnoff, Pierre Amoyal, Christoph Poppen, Professor Zuo Jun, Xiaoyu Yang, Mark Lakirovich, Jacob Lakirovich and Dr Solomiya Ivakhiv.

After joining the Hong Kong Children's Symphony Orchestra in 2015, she made solo appearances with the Hong Kong Children's Symphony Orchestra and has been on tours with HKCSO to Mainland China, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.

Born in Hong Kong in 1980, Dr Chui apprenticed under Mr Jat See-yeu and Professor Wang Dong-ling. After graduated from Queen's College, Hong Kong in 1999, Dr Chui took his first degree at the Department of Fine Arts of The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). He furthered his postgraduate studies at the Department of Chinese Calligraphy of China Academy of Art, where he obtained his Master of Arts and Doctoral Degree.

Chui served as a programme coordinator at the School of Continuing and Professional Studies, CUHK and a part-time lecturer at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, CUHK and Hong Kong Baptist University. He was an Honorary Advisor of the School of Continuing and Professional Studies, CUHK. He also worked in the Chinese Paintings and Calligraphy Department of China Guardian (HK) Auctions Co., Ltd. Baptist University. Chui is currently an executive member of The Jiazi Society of Calligraphy and a research fellow of Modern Calligraphy Research Center of China Academy of Art. 

In 2012, Chui received the Hong Kong Contemporary Art Awards - Young Artist Award, presented by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department. He also received the Award for Young Artist (Visual Arts) at the Hong Kong Arts Development Awards 2015 organised by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council. He was a finalist of The Sovereign Asian Art Prize 2015, 2018 and 2020. Some of Chui’s artworks were collected by the Hong Kong Museum of Art, Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology of University of Oxford and private collectors. Recent selected exhibitions: ‘Classics Remix: The Hong Kong Viewpoint’, ‘Dawn Chorus, Happen with HART’, ‘The 2020 Sovereign Asian Art Prize: Shortlisted Finalists Exhibition’ , ‘New Rhythm of Line – Contemporary Hong Kong Ink Art’, ‘City Rhymes: The Melodious Notes of Calligraphy’, ‘Nine Abysses’, ‘Eighteen’, ‘Nine Abysses-Ancient Melody’, ‘Nine Abysses – Recent Works of Chui Pui-Chee’.

Edward Vanderspar has been Principal Viola of the London Symphony Orchestra for the last 32 years and enjoys a busy career as a chamber musician and soloist. He has a wide concerto repertoire and has given performances and solo recitals all over the world. He is also a frequent Guest Principal with orchestras such as the London Philharmonic Orchestra, World Orchestra for Peace, London Chamber Orchestra and London Sinfonietta. He also serves on juries of major competitions.

Vanderspar is in great demand as a teacher and has given masterclasses at the Royal Academy of Music, Royal College of Music, Guildhall School of Music & Drama, Heidelberg University, Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe and Central Conservatory of Music. He studied in London with Nannie Jamieson and Helen Dowling, and in Switzerland with Max Rostal and Rudolf Barshai.

British violinist Bradley Creswick began his long relationship as Concertmaster of the Royal Northern Sinfonia in 1984 and has recently been appointed Leader Emeritus. His musical life then, as now, was rich and varied, providing personal highlights such as the EMI recording of Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending and Concerto Accademico with Richard Hickox, performing Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 2 for BBC Radio 3 and recording all the Handel Op. 6 Concerti Grossi with distinguished harpsichordist and conductor, George Malcolm.

More recent recordings include Handel Concerti Grossi Op. 3 for Naxos, co-directing six Mozart piano concertos with Imogen Cooper, Venus Blazing by Deirdre Gribbin with RTÉ, Ireland and the Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Viola by Mozart with the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, Switzerland.

In 1987 Creswick moved to London to lead the Philharmonia Orchestra. He maintained his relationship with the Royal Northern Sinfonia, making guest appearances, notably as the soloist at the 1989 BBC Proms playing The Lark Ascending. His London years continued as the leader of the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House. In 1994, he returned to the Royal Northern Sinfonia for a second time.

Taking part twice in the Marlboro Music Festival in America, Creswick is invited regularly to guest-lead a wide range of orchestras. Playing with friends is a vibrant part of his life. He also gives many recitals across the UK.

Photo by Mark Savage

Florian Donderer demonstrates versatility as a sought-after chamber musician, soloist, concertmaster and conductor. He has collaborated with distinguished musicians like Paavo Järvi, Viktoria Mullova, Elisabeth Leonskaja, Steven Isserlis and Lars Vogt. As the first violin of the Signum Quartet, he has performed in Pierre Boulez Saal, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Wigmore Hall and Concertgebouw Amsterdam, with Carnegie Hall as their next debut venue in 2023.

Longstanding Concertmaster of the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, he has also performed with groups such as the Irish Chamber Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Kammerorchester Basel, Norwegian Chamber Orchestra and Sinfonietta Riga. Appearances as conductor include Ensemble Oriol, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, the Kammerakademie Neuss, the Südwestdeutsches Kammerorchester Pforzheim and Festival Strings Lucerne. Florian Donderer is the Artistic Director of Rottweil Musikfestival.

Donderer plays the violin built by German violinmaker Peter Greiner in 2003 and bows by Nico Plog from Antwerp.

Born in Delaware, USA, to Hungarian parents, Paul Pesthy graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music under Jascha Brodsky and the Detmold Music Academy under Nobuko Imai. He has lived in Germany since 1990 and became the Solo Viola at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in 1991. An avid chamber musician and the founding member of the Artis Piano Quartet, he has appeared at the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont, the Musica Reservata in Belgium and the Affinis Music Festival in Japan. He has performed as a soloist with various orchestras, playing viola concertos by Bartók, Bruch (double concerto), Telemann and Britten, as well as Styx for viola, mixed choir and orchestra by Giya Kancheli. Paul Pesthy has been the Solo Viola of the SWR Symphony Orchestra since 1995.

Born in South Korea in 1992, Yehjin Chun started playing the cello at the age of five. She studied with Konstantin Heidrich from 2009 and continued her master’s degree with Jens Peter Maintz at the University of the Arts in Berlin. Since 2019, she has studied with Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt at the Liszt School of Music Weimar.

Winners of multiple competitions, including the Vancouver Kiwanis Music Festival Competition, the Summit Music Festival Concerto Competition in New York and the Asia Youth Competition in Singapore, Chun became the finalist in the Isang Yun Competition and was awarded the Seong-Yawng Park Special Prize in 2018. She has appeared at the International Music Academy in Liechtenstein and performed at Bellevue Palace with the Mainardi Cello Quartet in front of the then President of Germany, Christian Wulff, in 2011.

Chun plays the cello made by Giovanni Grancino in 1705.

Peter Benz studied Architecture at the University of Kaiserslautern and the Bauhaus-University Weimar, Germany, where he received his final degree in 1998. His diverse academic background had enabled him to open and run a successful exhibition and graphic design practice after leaving university. In 2001 he joined the Media Faculty (Media Events) of the Bauhaus-University. Between 2006 and 2023, he held teaching and administrative positions at the Academy of Visual Arts of Baptist University Hong Kong, as Assistant then Associate Professor and Associate Director (Teaching & Learning). Benz was appointed President of Bauhaus University in March 2023.

Konstantin Pfiz has performed as a soloist with orchestras such as Munich Symphony Orchestra, Bremen Philharmonic, Mahler Chamber Orchestra and Orchestra Mozart. As a member of the Clemente Piano Trio since 1994, he has toured internationally with the award-winning ensemble (Munich ARD Competition) and appeared in prestigious venues such as New York’s Carnegie Hall.

Principal Cellist credits include the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra (2014-2017), Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Munich Philharmonic, Bamberg Symphony, Staatskapelle Dresden, and the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra under conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Zubin Mehta, Lorin Maazel, Bernard Haitink and Mstislav Rostropovich.

Camerata Salzburg is an internationally leading chamber orchestra, and has been regularly invited to the most prestigious venues, from New York to Beijing. The Camerata has joined the Salzburg Festival and Mozart Week as a core ensemble since 1956, and their subscription series in the Great Hall of the International Mozarteum Foundation is a pillar of Salzburg’s musical life.

Highlights in recent years include appearances at the Festival de Pâques in Aix-en-Provence, BBC Proms in London, Enescu Festival in Bucharest, Beijing Music Festival and Carnegie Hall in New York. Prominent musician partners have included Anne-Sophie Mutter, Matthias Goerne, Fazıl Say, Renaud Capuçon and Yuja Wang. Most recently, violinist Janine Jansen and pianist Hélène Grimaud are featured as the Camerata’s artistic partners in the 2023/24 season.

Out of boredom, Kenneth Li studied jazz, samba percussion and composition in the UK, where he opened doors to shadow masters like Barak Schmool, Mark Lockheart and Trish Clowes, and took ample stages including the London Jazz Festival, Vortex, Kansas Smitty’s, the Barbican Centre and more all over the country. With his return to Hong Kong, Li has brought with him his psychedelic, genre-blending modern music, his EP <Hey.> written during his UK-bound days, his commitment to joining local neo-chamber ensemble “Sea Island and Ferry” and establishing Korvi Quartet, the only jazz string quartet in Hong Kong, and went on to pursue a doctoral degree in composition at the Chinese University of Hong Kong under the supervision of Professor Wendy Lee to extend his adventure in the musical world.

Aaron Chan was the 2023 winner of Musicus Society's Young Artist Audition.

He remembers sitting in the backseat of his parent’s car as a kid, driving around the chaotic streets of Hong Kong and hearing Fritz Kreisler tunes on the radio. Something about the clear sweet sound of the violin appealed to him. His family had no particular interest in classical music, but Aaron liked it well enough and playing an instrument would help his chances of getting into a good elementary school. So his parents signed him up for violin lessons. 

Learning the violin was fun, and Chan quickly excelled. Before long, he realised that the simple act of pulling a bow across the strings, of creating something beautiful in the moment, could result in a life-changing experience for the person listening. As a quiet, shy boy, he discovered that music could transcend words and gave him a voice.

Chan was helped by a great teacher in Hong Kong who believed in his potential. He studied violin and viola before leaving home at 18 to work with the charismatic Korean violinist Jinjoo Cho at the Cleveland Institute of Music. He followed her to Montreal when she joined the faculty at McGill University’s Schulich School of Music.

And today, he is on a musical roll. He has won the Sylva Gelber Award – a prize given to exceptional young Canadian musicians – twice. He had won the all-important concerto competition at every music school he attended: Cleveland Institute of Music and McGill University for his bachelor’s, and the Shepherd School at Rice University in Houston for his master’s. He is currently a resident of the Rebanks Family Fellowship and International Performance Residency Program at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto.

His performance was praised by critics as displaying “singing tone…bravura technique and poetic imagination. Bravo!”

Chan especially loves playing chamber music, finding total joy in communicating with other musicians through sound alone. He has spent summers at the McGill International String Quartet Academy, the ENCORE Chamber Music Festival in Cleveland and the Verbier Festival’s Soloist and Chamber Music Academy in Switzerland. He is also fascinated with jazz and the freedom it offers, where “mistakes” open up possibilities and playing with a group is a way of sharing musical ideas that is completely spontaneous and limitless. 

Chan thrives on the excitement and unpredictability of live concerts. He is inspired by musicians who play like no one else, and whose approach may seem outside the ordinary yet still manage to pierce the heart. It is the ideal he strives for.

Israeli violinist Gregory Ahss made his solo debut under Claudio Abbado and Orchestra Mozart Bologna. He went on to perform regularly with Abbado, who appointed him Concertmaster of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra.

His recording of Haydn’s Symphony Concertante with Orchestra Mozart under the baton of Claudio Abbado has won numerous prestigious awards, including the Best Concerto of the Year (2015) by the International Classical Music Awards (ICMA).

As a soloist, Ahss also appeared with such conductors as Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Teodor Currentzis, Daniel Blendulf and Andrés Orozco-Estrada, with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra Mozart Bologna, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Munich Symphony Orchestra and Camerata Salzburg.

Ahss is regularly invited to take part in educational projects and masterclasses at Villa Musica, Mozarteum University Salzburg, Maastricht Conservatory, Australian National Academy of Music, Orchestrzentrum Dortmund, Zürcher Hochschule der Künste, Hochschule Luzern and El Sistema Venezuela. He is also a jury member at the Mozarteum University Salzburg and Sendai International Music competitions.

Among his chamber music partners are Natalia Gutman, Janine Jansen, Vilde Frang, James Ehnes, Lawrence Power, Emmanuel Pahud, Gautier Capuçon, Nicolas Altstaed, Sabine Meyer, Alexander Melnikov and Fazıl Say. He also performed as a violin duo partner with Pinchas Zukerman.

Ahss has appeared as guest director with such notable ensembles as the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra Mozart Bologna, Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, Belgrade Philharmonic, Zurich Chamber Orchestra, Gran Canaria Philharmonic Orchestra and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, leading repertoires ranging from chamber symphonies to full symphonic literature from the violin.

Ahss started his education in his native Moscow, at the Gnessin School of Music. He continued his studies with Lena Mazor and Irina Svetlova at the Israel Conservatory, Tel-Aviv Music Academy and later at the New England Conservatory in Boston in the class of Donald Weilerstein.

He previously held the position of Concertmaster of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and is currently Concertmaster of Camerata Salzburg, Lucerne Symphony Orchestra and Lucerne Festival Orchestra.

For over three decades, French-Canadian pianist Louis Lortie has continued to build a reputation as one of the world’s most versatile pianists; he extends his interpretative voice across a broad spectrum of repertoire, and his performances and award-winning recordings attest to his remarkable musical range.

In demand on five continents, Lortie has established long-term partnerships with orchestras such as the BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, Orchestre National de France and Dresden Philharmonic in Europe, and the Philadelphia Orchestra, Dallas Symphony, San Diego Symphony, St Louis Symphony and New Jersey Symphony in the US. In his native Canada he regularly performs with the major orchestras in Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Ottawa and Calgary. Further afield, collaborations include the Shanghai Symphony, the Hong Kong Philharmonic and the National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan, and the Adelaide and Sydney Symphony Orchestras and Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo in Brazil. Regular partnerships with conductors include, among others, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Edward Gardner, Sir Andrew Davis, Jaap van Zweden, Simone Young, Antoni Wit and Thierry Fischer.

In recital and chamber music, Louis Lortie appears in the world’s most prestigious concert halls and festivals, including London’s Wigmore Hall, the Philharmonie de Paris, Carnegie Hall, Chicago Symphony Hall, the Beethovenfest Bonn and Liszt Festival Raiding. Recent special projects have included performances of Liszt’s complete Années de Pèlerinage in one evening and a complete Beethoven sonata cycle filmed at Salle Bourgie in Montreal and broadcast on Medici TV in 2021. Together with fellow pianist Hélène Mercier, as the Lortie-Mercier duo, he has also shed new light on the repertoire for four hands and two pianos both in the concert hall and on several best-selling recordings.

A prolific recording artist, Louis Lortie’s 30-year relationship with Chandos Records has produced a catalogue of over 45 recordings on the label, covering repertoire from Mozart to Stravinsky, including a complete Beethoven sonata cycle and the complete Années de pèlerinage by Lizst, which was named as one of the top ten recordings of 2012 by The New Yorker. His recording of the Lutosławski Piano Concerto with Edward Gardner and the BBC Symphony Orchestra received high praise, as have his Chopin recordings. In duo with Hélène Mercier, he recorded Carnival of the Animals with Neeme Järvi and the Bergen Philharmonic and Vaughan-Williams’ Concerto for Two Pianos as well as Rachmaninov’s complete works for two pianos. Their latest album presenting four-hands and two piano works by Debussy was released in September 2022. Other recent recording projects include the five Saint-Saëns piano concertos with Edward Gardner and BBC Philharmonic, solo piano works by Fauré and the complete works of Chopin with volume no.7 released in August 2022. He has also recorded two acclaimed CDs with violinist Augustin Dumay for Onyx Classics.

Louis Lortie was Master in Residence at The Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel of Brussels from 2017 until 2022; he continues to mentor exceptionally talented pianists, introducing the new generation in series recently including a Beethoven/Liszt symphony cycle at Wigmore Hall and Dresden International Festival as well as Scriabin Marathon at LacMus and Bolzano Bozen Festivals.

During his formative years in Montreal, Louis Lortie studied with Yvonne Hubert (a pupil of the legendary Alfred Cortot), later in Vienna, with Beethoven specialist Dieter Weber, and subsequently with Schnabel disciple Leon Fleisher. In 1984, he won First Prize in the Busoni Competition and the same year he was a prize-winner at the Leeds Competition. Louis Lortie is co-founder and Artistic Director of the LacMus International Festival on Lake Como, taking place annually every July since 2017.

Martin Smith, born in Sydney, Australia, studied at the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole with Natalia Gutman and the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin with Eberhard Feltz. Smith has appeared as soloist throughout Europe, including recent performances with the Orchestre de Chambre de Lyon, the Leipzig Philharmonic, the RTÉ Symphony Orchestra, the Berlin Kammersolisten and the RTS Symphony Orchestra Belgrade. Smith has collaborated with musicians including Kolja Blacher, Leon Fleisher, Midori Goto, Yo-Yo Ma, Menahem Pressler, Heinrich Schiff and Tabea Zimmerman, and continues to work closely with leading composers including John Adams, Thomas Adès, Mats Larsson Gothe, György Kurtág and Salvatore Sciarrino.

As guest principal cellist, Smith has performed and toured with the Bavarian State Opera, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Opera Stockholm, the NDR Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, the SWR Symphony Orchestra Stuttgart, and the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich.

Smith has appeared at leading festivals including the Ravinia Festival, the Piatigorsky International Cello Festival, the Pablo Casals Prades and the IMS Prussia Cove Festival. He has also been honoured with numerous awards including the ECHO Klassik, the Australian Music Foundation and the KPO Young Performer of the Year award.

 

Photo by Neda Navaee

Kwong Po-ki graduated from The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts with a Master of Music degree with distinction, majoring in Yangqin. She receives coaching from Ms. Lee Meng Hsueh who is the principal of yangqin in Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra. 
 
Kwong started playing yangqin at the young age of nine, under the coaching from Mr. Ng Chiu Shing, Ms. Yu Mei Lai, Ms. Wang Yu Jue and Ms. Pan Wei Wen. While at the Academy, she was a recipient of William Au Arts Education Scholarships, Jacky Cheung Scholarships and Parson Music Foundation Scholarships. In 2022, she won the Silver Award in the competition‘Dulcimer Award 2022’. 
 
She is one of the RTHK ‘2019 young music makers’ and participated in radio recording and TV shows. In the same year, she was invited to Canada to perform a concerto as the soloist with HKJYCCO and Toronto Chinese Orchestra. In 2021, she was selected to be the soloist of the Yangqin concerto ‘Rhapsody’ in the Academy Chinese Orchestra Concert Practice of HKAPA. In the same year, she was invited to an Chinese instrumental concert ‘曲中詩，樂中畫’ held by HKJYCCO to perform as a soloist. Same year, she participated in RTHK Radio 4’s program‘student concert hall’. She held the Master of music graduation recital in 2022 which was well received, with playing Teasing Fire (Hong Kong premiere) etc. In the same year, she was selected to be the soloist of the Yangqin concerto‘Girl from Koran’ in the Academy Chinese Orchestra Gala. In the same year, she was invited to participate in RTHK Radio 4’s program ‘四個加埋100歲’. 
 
She is currently the yangqin musician in the The Windpipe Chinese Music Ensemble, the KD music production, the Hong Kong Juvenile and Youth Chinese Classical Orchestra, and the Hong Kong Yangqin Ensemble. She is also a part- time Yangqin teacher of Hong Kong music office.

Harpist Natalie Lo entered the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts at 16 as a Bachelor of Music (Honors) Degree student and is now studying with Ann Huang, the harp principal of the Hong Kong Sinfonietta. She is the recipient of the Hong Kong Academy For Performing Arts Scholarship and will be graduating in 2024. 
 
As an active performer, Lo has performed locally and abroad.  In 2019, she performed in the Scuola Italiana D’Archi festival recital in Italy; in 2022, she was invited to perform at the prestigious USA International Harp Competition as one of the Stars of Tomorrow performers. She then participated in the 14th World Harp Congress Focus on Youth concert in Cardiff. She was chosen in 2023 by the HKAPA School of Music to perform the Glière Harp Concerto alongside the HKAPA Academy Symphony Orchestra as one of the Concerto winners.  
 
She has participated and won various international harp competitions, including 1st place in the 2013 Concours Français de la Harpe, 3rd place in the 18th Osaka International Music Competition 2017, and the Winner in the 4th Hong Kong International Music Competition 2017 (Junior Division). In 2020, Lo won the Gold Medal in the 5th Hong Kong International Harp Competition (Division F), participated in the 28th World Music Competition, and won the national prize. In 2022, Lo has been awarded 5th place at the Korea International Harp Competition, Youth Division. 
 
Lo has taken part in private lessons and masterclasses of world-class harpists, including Isabelle Moretti, Isabelle Perrin, Judy Loman, Emmanuel Ceysson, Maria Luisa Rayan, Catherine Michel, Natalia Shameyeva, Naoko Yoshino, Sivan Magen, Sylvain Blassel, Moya Wright, etc. In 2021, Lo got selected to play in the MET Orchestra Musicians Masterclasses under Mariko Anraku.

 

Lo appears in "Musicus Fest 2023 – Family Concert: Marco Polo's Musical Encounter of East and West" with kind permission from the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts.

“[A] poised, appealing performer with rock-solid technique, warm, powerful, variable tone and a simple, direct expressiveness.” (Strings Magazine)

Critically acclaimed violist Sang-Jin Kim has won several international solo and chamber music competitions. He travels throughout the United States, Europe and Asia, giving more than 70 performances a year. Recent engagements include appearances at the Paris Salle Gaveau, Frankfurt Alte Oper, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, 92nd Y, Kennedy Center, Ravinia and Schoenberg Hall, among others. He was invited to the Marlboro, Aspen and Musicmountain, Rheingau, Villa Musica and Mach-art, Prague Spring, Cervo festivals and the international Musician's Seminar at Prussia Cove.

A former member of the International Sejong Soloists, Kumho Asiana String Quartet and M.I.K. Ensemble, Kim is frequently invited as a soloist with major symphony orchestras in Korea. He has also released more than twenty albums, including his own compositions. Upon receiving the Presidential Award in 2001, the highest civilian award in Korea, he was subsequently designated as an Ambassador of Culture in honor of his achievements.

Kim studied at the Cologne Musik Hochschule in Germany with Rainer Moog and with Samuel Rhodes at the Juilliard School. He is now a Professor of Viola Performance at Yonsei University in Seoul and the Music Director and Conductor of the Seoul Chamber Orchestra.

Violist Lawrence Wong received an Honorable Mention in Musicus Society’s Young Artist Audition in 2023. He performs frequently in solo, chamber, and orchestral settings. Born in Hong Kong, Wong grew up studying music both privately and in school. He has played in school orchestras and as soloist and principal violist on multiple occasions. At the age of 14, Wong was featured as a soloist with the Wien Residenz Orchestra.

In 2016, Wong began his undergraduate degree at the New England Conservatory (NEC) in Boston, under the tutelage of Marcus Thompson. An avid chamber musician, he has performed with the Chestnut Trio in Hong Kong and is one of the founding members of the Blanche Quartet, an NEC Honors Quartet (2019/20). Through winning the award, Wong toured around the greater Boston area and gained more performance opportunities. He has also studied chamber music with world renowned figures such as David Finckel, Joseph Lin, Merry Peckham, Mai Motobuchi, and Soovin Kim. As an advocate for the performing arts, Wong strives to reach more audiences along with his quartet, who aim to share their knowledge on performing arts appreciation.

Wong has performed with various orchestras and conductors, including NEC’s Philharmonic Orchestra with Hugh Wolff, the Juilliard Orchestra with David Chen and David Robertson, the Moscow Players with Yuri Bashmet, the Munich Chamber Orchestra, the Finnish Tapiola Sinfonietta, and the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. He has also been involved in the NEC Baroque Ensemble since 2018, and performed with Ouyang Nana during his studies in Boston. In 2022, he graduated with his master’s degree from The Juilliard School, where he studied under Carol Rodland.

Martin Funda (born 1985) has been a Professor of Violin and Chamber Music at the State University of Music and Performing Arts Stuttgart (HMDK) since the winter semester of 2018/19.

Funda combines tradition with modern relevance, consistently proving how stimulating a multi-faceted and varied career can be and how it can bring about great musical flexibility, whether as a soloist, guest concertmaster, play-lead musician, artistic director or pedagogue. Chamber music remains, however, his core focus, primarily as the leader of the Armida Quartett. It is this form of music-making that he always draws inspiration from, in order to communicate effectively with other musicians and to establish the place of music in other settings. 

As a professor, he sees it as a key priority to pass on to young musicians the necessary knowledge and skills required for a versatile musical career and to support them on the path to becoming individual and self-reliant musicians.

Funda is a chamber and orchestral musician, soloist and pedagogue. He achieved international acclaim as a founding member and leader of the Armida Quartett. After winning the Concours de Genève in 2011, they were awarded the First Prize, the Audience Prize and six further special prizes at the 2012 ARD International Music Competition. This established the Armida Quartett as one of the most sought-after quartets worldwide. The Armida Quartett is the artistic consultant for the new edition of the complete Mozart String Quartets by the publisher G. Henle. This edition was presented by the quartet in a new complete recording of the works in 2021. Their fingerings and bowings are available in the G. Henle app.

He also works as a Guest Concertmaster with Deutsche Oper Berlin, NDR Radio Philharmonie, Basque National Orchestra, Staatsoper Stuttgart, Berliner Barocksolisten and Kölner Kammerorchester. As a soloist, Martin Funda performs with a variety of German orchestras conducted by Gabriel Feltz, Bruno Weil and Niklas Willén, among others.

Photo by Felix Broede

First Runner-up at the 2021 London Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition, Marco Lee Man-hon was selected to perform at the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam in 2018. He has collaborated with such orchestras as the London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and Hong Kong Sinfonietta. He completed his Bachelor of Music degree at The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts under the tutelage of Zong Xiaoqian and graduated from the Master of Music program of the Royal Academy of Music, majoring in double bass under Graham Mitchell and minoring in conducting, supported by the ABRSM Scholarship. He has recently joined the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra as a Bass Gehu (double bass) player. 

“One of the world’s greatest ‘living’ orchestras” Classical Public Radio, USA

The English Chamber Orchestra has been performing across the UK and globally for over 60 years and is the most recorded chamber orchestra in the world. From its beginning, the ECO has worked consistently with the most significant musical figures in classical music starting in 1960 with its first patron Benjamin Britten. The ECO celebrates and builds upon its tradition of maintaining the highest international musical standards, nurturing new talent and focusing on the “best of British” music and musicianship.

As well as its work with Benjamin Britten, the orchestra has toured the UK and abroad with artists such as Daniel Barenboim, Dame Janet Baker, Sir Colin Davis, Placido Domingo, Jacqueline du Pre, Kiri te Kanawa, Yehudi Menuhin, Luciano Pavarotti, Murray Perahia, Itzhak Perlman, André Previn, Karl Richter, Mstislav Rostropovich, Sir Georg Solti, Mitsuko Uchida, Maxim Vengerov and Pinchas Zukerman.

Recent tours have included Bermuda, USA, Mexico, Finland, France, Turkey, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, Slovenia, Austria and Bulgaria, as well as concerts across the UK and at London’s Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Kings Place and Cadogan Hall.

HRH The former Prince of Wales has been the Patron of the ECO since 1977 and the orchestra has performed at many high profile and private Royal occasions including the first concert ever to be broadcast from Buckingham Palace. The orchestra has also recorded many successful film soundtracks including Dario Marianelli’s prize-winning scores for Atonement and Pride and Prejudice.

The ECO is proud of its outreach programme, Close Encounters, which works on musical and performance collaborations with communities and schools around the UK and abroad. In 2019, the ECO became the Professional Orchestra in Partnership at Christ’s Hospital School in West Sussex, a collaboration involving side-by-side performance and one-to-one tuition. In 2022, the orchestra delivered some exciting and far-reaching projects including The Thames Music Makers project in conjunction with Hammersmith & Fulham Council at Riverside Studios, and in 2023, the Windrush Project welcomed children from various schools at the London Transport Museum.

The future promises a further expansion of the programme, bringing musical experiences to widen the orchestra’s community reach.

The ECO recently announced the appointments of Roberto Forés Veses as Principal Guest Conductor and Stephanie Gonley as Leader and Principal of the orchestra.

Future plans include touring projects in Turkey, Austria, Slovenia, Hong Kong and Germany in the next few months.

Photo by Keith Saunders

Phoebe Hui is an artist, researcher and art educator based in Hong Kong, China. Her research-based art practice explores how technology transforms our perception of reality. Her recent research focuses on ideas drawn from the philosophy of science, language, and machine learning. She has worked with an array of media, including robotics, kinetic sculpture, installation, sound, print, and drawings.

Hui received her MFA at UCLA Design Media Art, her MA in Fine Art at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, and her BA in Creative Media from City University of Hong Kong. Hui is devoted to art education and was awarded a Teaching Excellence Award in 2019. She has presented her research-based art practice and papers globally at such venues as Ars Electronica, ISEA, the MIT Media Lab, Asian Contemporary Art Week, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the International Festival of Arts and Ideas, Chinese Culture Center, Tokyo Experimental Sound and Art Festival, Hong Kong Palace Museum, Tai Kwun, Chi Art Space – K11 Art Foundation.

Hui is the recipient of numerous grants and awards, including Artist of the Year (Media Arts) (2022) and Young Artist of the Year (Media Arts) (2012) from the Hong Kong Arts Development Council, the Altius Fellowship, and the United States-Japan Arts Program Fellowship from the Asian Cultural Council. Further accolades include the HKETO Yale-China Art Fellowship, which enabled her to conduct research and exhibit her works at Yale University. She is also the recipient of the Bloomberg Emerging Artist Award, the Hong Kong Art Development Council Art Scholarship and the Hong Kong Design Association Design Student Scholarship. In 2019, she was selected to imagine the 5th Audemars Piguet Art Commission. Hui's work, The Moon Is Leaving Us, marked the first Audemars Piguet Art Commission to be shown in Asia and she was the first female artist awardee in Asia.

Photo is provided by The Alumni Relations Office of City University of Hong Kong

John Mills studied at the Royal College of Music as a scholar under Professor Rodney Friend, one of the great concertmasters.   
 
Mills is leader of the Sinfonia of London under John Wilson, with whom he has released 17 highly acclaimed records. John is also a leader of the English Chamber Orchestra. He works as a guest leader with groups including the London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, London Mozart Players, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and others.   
 
Mills is best known as a chamber musician for 22 years with the highly acclaimed Tippett Quartet; performing and broadcasting across the UK and worldwide. They have recorded extensively, releasing over 50 discs with the quartet for EMI, Decca, Somm, Naxos, Signum, Classic FM and others.  
 
Mills has a fine reputation as a soloist, appearing with the English Chamber Orchestra and performing double concerti with Maxim Vengerov, and with Stephanie Gonley around the UK and abroad. Over the last 10 years Mills has been performing and broadcasting the major violin repertoire worldwide, including performances at the Liszt Hall in Budapest and concerts across New Zealand. Other recent performances include Brahms and Elgar concerti, Erollyn Wallen’s Concerto Grosso with the Refugee Orchestra project and Bach with the English Chamber Orchestra around the UK. 
 
Mills is a regular orchestra leader in commercial music. His studio work includes leading soundtrack sessions for The Batman, Jurassic World, Nightmare Alley, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, Mary Poppins Returns, The Little Mermaid, Matilda, and Marvel’s Doctor Strange.  He has worked closely with composers including Michael Giachinno, Marc Shaiman and Alan Menken. The Tippett Quartet is heavily featured on the soundtrack for the movies Knives Out and Glass Onion by director Rian Johnson.  
 
Mills plays on a c.1720 violin by Francesco Goffriller of Venice.

Vicky Wong has extensive experience in advertising and marketing. She worked for Campaign Advertising and subsequently DDB Needham. Currently, Vicky is Marketing Director of Prestique Limited, a marketing firm based in Hong Kong, where she serves primarily fast-moving consumer goods, arts and cultural entities, sports, and financial clients.

Ken Lo is currently the CEO of SEED Foundation, a charity organization in Hong Kong with the mission to future proof our youths in the digitally-driven economy. SEED delivers a comprehensive learning journey to students from all socio-economic backgrounds, combining academic courses on advanced technological skills with real-life experiences and projects, such that they are equipped with the foundation and domain expertise when they choose their pathways post secondary education.

He is an established business leader with expertise in sales management, business development, strategic planning, and new media, having led Sony Pictures Television in the role of Executive Vice President, managing professionals across 8 locations across Asia. He also had worked for Microsoft and McKinsey & Company.

Currently, Ken is also the Chairperson for RunOurCity Foundation Limited, which promotes running in Hong Kong through large-scale running events, as well as provides long-distance running coaching to youths to demonstrate the virtues and rewards of perseverance and self-confidence, and also serves on the development committee for WWF Hong Kong.

Ken has an MBA from Harvard University and a BASc in engineering from University of Waterloo, Canada.

Sophie Lin has over twenty years of combined experience in international arts management and education covering the North American and Greater China regions. She has worked with some of the most prestigious arts organizations in the world; namely, The Philadelphia Orchestra, New York Concert Artists Guild and New Jersey Symphony Orchestra in the capacity of artist management, orchestra operation, concert production, as well as personnel. In Asia, she has played an instrumental role in the fundraising for the Asian Youth Orchestra across China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. In the field of education, she was the Development Director of American Field Services, an international cultural exchange organization targeted at underprivileged students of Hong Kong.

Among the numerous major international projects, Sophie Lin has consulted for the Concert Series of University of Chicago. Most recently, she collaborated with the Curtis Institute of Music in managing its educational tour to Hong Kong.

Ms Lin received her masters in arts management from Carnegie Mellon University, and her bachelor in piano performance with a minor in violin performance from Duquene University, both on full scholarships.

As a PR/Marketing expertise, Lilian has been working in IT industry for more than 15 years. Recently, she moved her passion to Venture Capital field and dedicates to incubate the start-ups with potentials using their technology to bring about social change.

Lilian started to support the development of Musicus Society from 2012 and she has actively participated in the works of the committees. Lilian was the first Education Chair and built a solid foundation for ‘Inspires!’ – the education program of Musicus Society. Currently, she is acting as Publicity Chair who is responsible to monitor and approval the overall marketing and promotion plan and daily practice.

Lilian is also a writer. Her articles and culture critiques can be found at local newspapers and online media.

Elizabeth Law, Certified Public Accountant (Practising), managing director of Law & Partners CPA Limited.

Ms. Law is also a Chartered Professional Accountant, Chartered Accountant of Canada and Member of Institute of Chartered Accountant of England & Wales, and a Fellow Member of Certified Public Accountants, Australia and the Taxation Institute of Hong Kong.

She is also the founder of the Association of Women Accountants (Hong Kong) and was the founding president of the Association.  She was the President of the Society of Chinese Accountants and Auditors, and Council Member of the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants, and plays an active role in serving the community in both Hong Kong and China, serving as member of many government departments and public organizations including being the member of Equal Opportunities Commission, Hon. Treasurer of Hong Kong Council of Social Services, Member of The Advisory Group of McGill University in Asia, and Council Member of China Overseas Friendship Association etc.

To acknowledge her excellent achievements in promoting the industry, she was awarded the Outstanding Accountant Ambassador in 2003 and one of the 100 Outstanding Chinese Women Entrepreneurs in 2007.

Angela Ho is the founder and principal of Angela Ho & Associates, a law firm specialized in corporate finance and restructuring laws, especially public listings. She has been practicing law for nearly 18 years and has spent 4 years working at an investment bank. She was President of Hong Kong Federation of Women Lawyers from 2002 to 2005 and is Honorary Vice-President of Guangdong Foreign Related Investment Law Association.

Leonie Ki joined New World China Enterprises Projects Limited as Managing Director since 1997. She is Non-Executive Director of New World Development Co. Ltd., Director of New World First Bus Services Limited (Kunming, PRC), and an independent non-executive director of listed companies. She was the founder, partner and Chairman/CEO of Grey Advertising Limited in Hong Kong and Mainland China. From 1995 – 97, she joined The Better Hong Kong Foundation as Chief Executive.

Leonie Ki has lectured extensively at universities in Greater China. Being a veteran advertising professional, and popular author and columnist, she wrote a best-selling advertising book in Chinese, which was one of the top ten most influential books in Taipei in 1990.

Leonie Ki is committed to community and public services. She is currently a Council member of UNICEF, a life member of the Children’s Cancer Foundation, and a Court and Council member of Lingnan University. She also sits on the Advisory Committees of EMBA/CUHK, Career Advisory Board of HKU, the Asian Advisory Board of the Cheng Yu Tung Management Institute, Richard Ivey School of Business (The University of Western Ontario, Canada), and has been a member of CPU and the Commission on Strategic Development. She is also a CPPCC member of Yunnan Province.

Janice Choi was appointed by the Government to the General Committee of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Society Limited in November 2002 for 4 consecutive years involved mainly in its re-organization. Afterward, she was elected to the new Board of Governors, and is still serving on the Board. She is also a founding member and was a director of Opera Hong Kong, of which tenor Warren Mok is the Artistic Director.

Janice Choi has been a practicing solicitor admitted to the Supreme Court of Hong Kong since 1982. She is qualified as a solicitor in England and Wales, as an advocate in Singapore, and as a barrister in Victoria, Australia. She has been a China Attesting Officer appointed by the PRC Government since 1993. Janice is legal director of Sun Wah Group and non-executive director of SW Kingsway Capital Holdings Limited (stock code: 188), and consultant of Rowland Chow, Chan & Co. Solicitors & Notaries.

Chui-Inn Lee has extensive experience in the arts, media and entertainment sectors, as both a business executive and a pianist. In the 1990s, she was the general manager of IMG China, then the world’s leading sports and music management company. She was one of two key members who created the ground-breaking Chinese National Basketball League with the Chinese Basketball Association. She was influential in helping the state-run sport in China move into the commercial era. From the late 1990s to the early 2000s, she was vice-president of business development at Star TV, previously the Asian subsidiary of News Corporation, and executive producer of the international award-winning film Rice Rhapsody, directed by Kenneth Bi, and starring Sylvia Chang, Martin Yan and Melanie Laurent.

In classical music, Ms. Lee has brought leading European orchestras and international artists to tour China, and in 2010, she co-founded Musicus Society, of which she continues to serve as president. In 2020, she was awarded a Commendation for Community Service by the Chief Executive of Hong Kong SAR.

Ms. Lee received her MBA from Harvard Business School, and graduated magna cum laude from Cornell University with a Bachelor of Arts. She attended the pre-college and college divisions of The Juilliard School in New York on Julliard scholarships, studying piano under Oxana Yablonskaya and Jane Carlson. She has won numerous awards in North America and Hong Kong, including the Juilliard Concerto Competition, the International Grand Rapids Young Keyboard Artist Competition and the Canadian National Competition. As well as performing as a soloist, she has also formed a trio with her siblings, cellist Trey Lee and violinist Chui-Tan Lee.

Xu Xia, mezzo soprano, is currently the Artistic Director of Shenzhen Concert Hall and Vice President of the Shenzhen Musician Association. In 1981, she graduated from the Arts Department of Jiangxi Normal College and was assigned to Jiangxi Song and Dance Theatre as a solo singer. In 1984, she was admitted to the Voice Opera Department of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music and studied with Zhou Xiaoyan, the renowned Chinese coloratura and vocal educator. In 1987, she was transferred to the Second Artillery Force of Beijing as a solo singer in song and dance troupe of the Political Department. During her career as a soprano, she has won many prizes in competitions nationwide.

In 1990, Xu Xia played a key role in the construction planning of Shenzhen Concert Hall. After the opening of the concert hall, she initiated important programs such as The Sound of Spring, Happy Summer for Families and Listen to the Sound of Autumn. With the support of Shenzhen government, she further created the popular Beautiful Sunday program for the Shenzhen public.

Xu Xia received her Masters in Arts Management from Shanghai Music Conservatory and Masters from the EDP program at Guanghua School of Management at Beijing University.

Ms. Kai-yin Lo is one of the most internationally acclaimed designers. In 2007, She was named the “World’s Leading Chinese Designer” by the Hong Kong Design Centre, recognized to be the most important award for designers of Chinese heritage.

Apart from being Hong Kong’s most successful jewelry designer, she is also a well-known historian, patron, and Chinese art collector. She has written three books on Chinese art and culture.

Mr. Darwin Chen was Manager of Hong Kong City Hall upon its completion, and from the 1970s, he was Director of Cultural Services. At City Hall and Cultural Services, Mr. Chen brought to fruition numerous projects, including a subsidy scheme for local performing arts presentations, and the professionalization of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and the Hong Kong Academy of Ballet. This was followed by the founding of the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, the Hong Kong Dance Company, and the Hong Kong Repertory Theatre.

From the mid-1980s, Mr. Chen continued to serve Hong Kong in different capacities: as Commissioner for Television and Entertainment Licensing, Deputy Secretary of Constitutional Affairs responsible for the drafting of the Basic Law, Commissioner for Labour, and Director of Buildings and Lands. After his retirement from the Civil Service, between 1993 and 2000, he served as Chief Executive of the Community Chest. He continues to be Senior Advisor of the Community Chest, and is Vice President for Asia of United Way International, of which the Chest is a member, and Vice Chair of the Asia Pacific Philanthropy Consortium.

He has also been Chairman of the Hong Kong Arts Development Council and the Committee on Performing Arts.

Sir David Akers-Jones has served in many important posts in the Government of Hong Kong, including Principal Assistant Colonial Secretary, Secretary for the New Territories, Secretary for Home Affairs, Chief Secretary, Acting Governor of Hong Kong, Special Assistant to the Governor Lord Wilson, and Chairman of the Hong Kong Housing Authority.

Sir Akers-Jones was appointed as an Advisor on Hong Kong Issues (港事顧問) to the Government of the PRC from 1993 to 1997, and is actively involved with, whether in the capacity of chairman, president, vice-president or otherwise, Wu Zhi Qiao (Bridge to China) Charitable Foundation, the Hong Kong Girl Guides Association, the local chapter of Outward Bound, the Hong Kong Football Association, World Wildlife Fund Hong Kong, the Jackie Chan Charitable Foundation, Operation Smile China, and English Speaking Union (Hong Kong).

Mr. Tung Chee Hwa is the Vice Chairman of the Eleventh National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, People’s Republic of China. He is the Founding Chairman of the China-United States Exchange Foundation (“CUSEF”). Prior to these appointments, Mr. Tung served as the First Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (“HKSAR”), People’s Republic of China from July 1997 to March 2005.

As the First Chief Executive of HKSAR, Mr. Tung presided over the historic return of Hong Kong to China and successfully turned the “One Country Two Systems” and “Hong Kong people governing Hong Kong” with “a high degree of autonomy” from a concept into an everyday reality.

The Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (“CPPCC”) is one of the most important institutions of the People’s Republic of China. Members of the CPPCC are made up of distinguished former senior government officials, well known professionals, outstanding academics, members of different political parties and people from different religious and ethnic groups from all across China. Major responsibilities of the CPPCC are to participate in the formulation and development of policies, to monitor the work of the government, and to promote consultative democracy. It plays a key role in ensuring that the opinions from the public at large are reflected to the government, and that government policies are communicated to the people.

The China-United States Exchange Foundation is a non-profit organisation registered in Hong Kong and was established in January 2008. Mr. Tung is the Founding Chairman and is supported by friends in Hong Kong, China and the United States. The mission of the Foundation is to promote understanding and strengthen relationships between the US and China. This is being done by fostering open dialogue between opinion leaders from governments, think tanks, academia, media, and business communities of both countries.

Born in 1937 in Shanghai, Mr. Tung spent his childhood in Hong Kong. From 1954, he spent six years in the United Kingdom, first in secondary education and then in tertiary education, graduating from the University of Liverpool with a BSc in 1960. From 1960-1969, he lived and worked in the United States, first as an engineer with General Electric in Massachusetts, and then in the family business in New York. In 1969, Mr. Tung returned to Hong Kong to help run the family business. He had a successful and distinguished career in business, while at the same time, served in various public sector and advisory positions in Hong Kong. In 1997, he took on the position as the first Chief Executive of HKSAR.

Mr. Tung is married to Betty Chiu Hung Ping. They have three children and nine grandchildren.

Tiffany Soong has over 25 years of experience in art and media. She co-founded Gurung Tea, a social enterprise and certified B Corp, aiming to improve livelihood of farmers in Nepal. She held senior positions in Phoenix Culture and Global Culture Asset Management (GCAM)where She has led the team to provide design, exhibition, development and implementation plans of museum and culture projects in China. Prior to joining GCAM, she founded Magic Beans Media where she achieved nationwide coverage of her self-produced preschooler TV programs.

Tiffany received her MBA in from Yale University. She is an advisor to Museum of Contemporary Art Shanghai (MoCA Shanghai) and she had curated an exhibition at MoCA in 2014.

Mr. Wong is a Solicitor of Hong Kong and Solicitor of England and Wales. As a senior partner of Liu, Chan and Lam, his areas of practice include contentious and non-contentious commercial and company matters, insolvency and financial restructuring. With the experience and knowledge gained from his legal profession, Mr. Wong serves as the Honorary Legal Advisor of Junior Chamber International Hong Kong, Legal Advisor of Hong Kong Paediatric Rheumatism Association and Vice-Chairman of Hong Kong Anti-Doping Appeal Panel of the Sports Federation & Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, China. His other roles in public service include serving on the Board of The Tsinforn C. Wong Memorial Scholarship (run by Jean M. Wong School of Ballet).

Mr. Wong is also the former Vice President of the Lions Club of Hong Kong Island.