An 18-year-old Vietnamese accordion player has beaten some 300 young and distinguished contestants from around the region to become the first winner of the Hong Kong Competition for Young Asian Musicians.
Thi Quynh Trang Nguyen scooped the top prize - US$20,000 (HK$156,000) in cash and an 18-month professional performing and recording contract - after a five-month long semi-final round of live recitals. The other three finalists were soprano Sen Guo, violinist Wei-wei Le and cellist Lin Zhu - all from the mainland.
'I am very happy and shocked,' she said. 'I think, from this moment on, I will try my very best to continue to develop and improve my playing skills.'
Organised jointly by Radio Television Hong Kong, the Leisure and Cultural Services Department and Morgan Stanley, the Hong Kong Competition for Young Asian Musicians aimed to 'discover tomorrow's musical stars from Asia'.
The whole event took over a year to put together and was the largest international music competition ever held in Hong Kong. And to boost credibility, its adjudicating panel was made up of some of the biggest names in the classical music world, including Sir Neville Marriner, music director of the Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields; pianist Melvyn Tan; horn player Barry Tuckwell and soprano Margaret Marshall. Ms Nguyen, who performed Malique's Concerto In G minor For Accordion And String Orchestra with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, thanked her teacher Quang Minh Luu, parents as well as the Hanoi National Conservatory of Music (where she has studied since 1992) for their encouragement and support.
Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa was among those who attended the competition held on Saturday.