Alfredo So hau-leung has some impressive admirers. One of them is Barbara Fei, one of Hong Kong's leading sopranos of the 1960s and 70s, who says: 'He is a marvellous pianist. He has such an innate sense of music. We held many concerts together at that time. It's a pity he didn't pursue a performing career.' So disagrees. 'No, I am not talented,' he often repeats. So why was he hired to accompany Renata Tebaldi and Franco Corelli, two of the 20th century's greatest singers, when they visited Hong Kong in 1973 and gave two recitals? 'The good pianists had all gone abroad,' the 56-year-old explains with a self-effacing smile. So gave up public performances after the Tebaldi and Corelli recitals and devoted himself to arts administration and then the entertainment business, only to return to the concert stage this year - three decades later. 'I did not have the conviction to go for a professional career,' he says. 'I am not the type who cannot live without Beethoven.' Showbiz people know So as the one-time manager of Canto-pop queen Anita Mui Yim-fong and superstar couple Tony Leung Chiu-wai and Carina Lau Ka-ling. So's manner of talking about himself combines shrewdness and modesty in a way that perhaps more befits a veteran manager of artists than an artist himself. So began learning to play the piano when he was five or six years old, but stopped after two years, only to resume lessons several years later. He studied under some of the best teachers in Hong Kong in the 50s and 60s, including Annarosa Taddei, a student of the great pianist Alfred Cortot. But his piano education ended with senior high school. For the rest, it seems he just picked it up by himself. After graduating from the University of Hong Kong in economics and philosophy, he worked briefly as marketing executive for Nestle ('selling milk powder to grocery stores') and programme officer at Radio Television Hong Kong. He was also active as a pianist. So had a big break in 1973, when the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra (HKPO), which had just turned professional, hired him as general manager. His career began to occupy him so much that he could not practise regularly, and had to stop performing. Several years later, he became business manager of the then newly opened Hong Kong Arts Centre. In the 80s and early 90s, he was in the entertainment business, eventually running an artist-management company with Mui. 'But, deep down, classical music remained with me,' he says. 'The entertainment business was just a job.' So emigrated to Canada in 1996, and returned in late 2000. He has not taken any full-time jobs since then, but is studying for a masters in Buddhist studies at the University of Hong Kong, and advises the HKPO as a member of its general committee. So returned to public piano performance in June this year in a chamber recital with cellist Monica Su and violinist Leung Kin-fung (first associate concertmaster of the HKPO). A DVD recording of the occasion shows that, although his fingers might have become a bit stiff after all these years, So was still on a par with his professional co-performers. His touch often combined strength and sensitivity, and his phrasing displayed natural musicality. He will hold another concert next week - a two-piano recital with local pianist Nancy Loo. The programme includes works by Bartok, Rachmaninoff, Schumann, Stravinsky and Infante, some of which are difficult. So has been practising hard. 'Thirty years ago I asked Nancy to schedule a recital together, but it didn't work out,' he says. 'The coming recital is that appointment finally met.' The Two-Piano Recital by Nancy Loo and Alfredo So Hau-leung will be held on December 5 at the City Hall Concert Hall at 8pm. Tickets at $220, $180, $140 and $90 are available at all Urbtix outlets. For programme inquiries, call 8208 8357