Young Hong Kong composer rises to the challenge
Tam Yat-sing lifts three prizes at competition for new Chinese orchestral works
A major competition for new Chinese orchestral works produced six world premieres, including a local composition that won three of the eight prizes.
Dubbed “Chinese Music Without Bounds”, the concert on Wednesday featured three composers from mainland China, two from Malaysia and one from Hong Kong, who made it to the finals from an initial 80 entries and 53 in the preliminary round.
The top prizes, for best orchestra work and best solo and orchestra work, went to Chow Yun-yi of Malaysia and Kong Zhixuan of Jiangsu province respectively.
Chow, with his work Kampung and the City, also won the most votes from the orchestra’s musicians, while Kong added the outstanding young composer and best orchestration prizes for his pipa concerto, A Fantasy of Flying Apsaras.
Without pinpointing anyone, I wanted to express the social chaos in recent times
But the loudest applause went to Tam Yat-sing, the only local composer among the finalists, whose piece, Beating the Petty Person, sent him to the stage three times to pick up the best work on a Hong Kong theme, audience favourite original composition, and media and publishers’ favourite original composition.