More than 100 young musicians began arriving in Hong Kong last weekend to prepare for the Asian Youth Orchestra's 15th anniversary regional tour. Keith Lau Kwok-hung, 31, is general manager of the Hong Kong-based orchestra
It's amazing to think that the Asian Youth Orchestra is 15 years old. The orchestra gets no government money. It all comes from private contributions and individual donors. The economic climate hasn't been as good as in recent years, and we've still managed to raise our budget of US$1.5 million. It's been an incredible achievement.
This is my seventh year with the orchestra. When I first got involved, it was almost by accident. I was working for the front office of the Kowloon Hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui when the orchestra stayed there. I met the founder, Richard Pontzious, and afterwards I went to the concerts and got to know more about the orchestra.
At that time the orchestra was operated by just two people - Richard and a secretary. They were looking for more people to get involved, to help the orchestra and to expand a little bit. So they asked me if I was interested in joining them and I said 'yes'.
It was all very different for me because music wasn't my major in university. I studied biology. I didn't know much about music and - like many Hong Kong people - I hadn't been to many concerts.
I do a lot of co-ordination work and help organise the travel for 120 people. In the early years especially, it was quite difficult to get visas for mainland musicians. It wasn't like with Japanese or Hong Kong people who just go to the consulate and get their visa in 30 minutes.
The Chinese musicians had to line up and they had to get all the documents ready. They had to wait half a day and then they'd be told to go away because they didn't have the proper documents.
