Hong Kong's Young Music Makers

Hong Kong's Young Music Makers
Studio One RTHK
Jan 19, 8pm

After a series of competitive auditions that lasted a full year, bassoonist Chan Ting-yuen, vocalist Vivian Yau Tsz-chin, and Chinese instrument group 4 x 4 Plucked emerged as Hong Kong's Young Music Makers of 2011. The annual competition, organised by RTHK since 1980, sets out to identify future musical talents, and its alumni include pianist Eleanor Wong Yee-lun and tenor Warren Mok Wah-lun.

The latest young music makers will perform in an upcoming concert at the RTHK Broadcast Drive headquarters on January 19.

The competition is strenuous and laborious. Aside from standard adjudication from expert panel members, the hopefuls are subject to public voting. So over a period of two weeks late last year, music lovers cast their votes for the 10 finalists based on performances heard and seen on radio and television. Recording sessions were a part of the audition; the contestants were given 150 minutes to record a piece with a half-hour duration.

According to recording engineer Tse Hung-fei, the level of preparedness among the musicians varied: some came fully prepared and strove for perfection, he said, while others arrived at the session late or even left their music scores at home. But everyone's love for music was apparent, Tse added.

The choice of instruments, too, demonstrated the artistic range of the young musicians as many had chosen Chinese instruments. Nor was the music they played mere ear-pleasing tunes. 4 x 4 Plucked - comprising Crystal Chan Sze-tung, Lily Cheung Ka-yan, Henry Ho Man-hin and Liberty Lam Hoi-ki - playing the ruan and liuqin, for instance, played a new and original composition by local composer Clarence Mak entitled Somewhere in the Clouds for the recording. The quartet are students at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts and the Hong Kong Institute of Education.