Changing the culture

If a contemporary classical music scene exists in Hong Kong, William Lane is undoubtedly its master.

The violist and composer is the founder and artistic director of the Hong Kong New Music Ensemble (HKNME), arguably the only purveyor of new classical music in the city. And despite the "classical" label, the ensemble is anything but: its focus lies in musical experimentation that blurs the boundaries of "sound, image and imagination".

Lane, a native of Tasmania, Australia, came to Hong Kong by way of an eclectic, worldwide classical education. He left his homeland in 2004 for Italy, where he studied chamber music. In Germany, he studied contemporary classical music at the International Ensemble Modern Akademie, and under luminaries such as Jan Sedivka, Bruno Giuranna, and Garth Knox. In 2007, he lived in India, performing and researching at the Orka-M International Institute of Innovative Music in Mumbai.

"I was a musical nomad for a time," Lane says. "I was searching for a voice, trying to find where I fit in. Australians don't naturally fit anywhere. We're not exactly European, we're not Asian. We all have a bit of a cultural identity crisis. Australians are some of the most well-travelled people in the world because we all want to get out as soon as we can, to figure that out."

In 2008, Lane embarked on a tour with his newly created international collective, Grenzenlos (which means "borderless" or "limitless" in German). The definitional overlap is telling: Grenzenlos' repertoire was similar to HKNME's, composed of what is commonly called contemporary classical music, although Lane refers to it simply as "new music".

The tour began in Beijing and ended in Hong Kong, with a sold-out performance at Osage Gallery in the middle of summer, much to Lane's surprise. The ensemble played avant garde music, some by local composers including Samson Young. "It gave me hope," says Lane.