Zhu Lin stole the show with impassioned cello playing at this Hong Kong Arts Festival concert, with Colleen Lee Ka-ling on the piano. Both are technically accomplished, and there were many moments, such as in Chopin's Introduction and Polonaise Brillante or the tumultuous piano writing in Franck's Sonata in A major, when Lee could have taken centre stage. But Zhu's assertive style meant she often overshadowed the pianist.

At best, Lee bore a musical demeanour of subtle elegance, such as when she sailed through the rippling notes of Beethoven's Judas Maccabaeus variations with clarity, natural grace and a delicate touch. Zhu played with big-hearted legatos, sounding as if she wanted to wring every ounce of emotion out of the notes. She was occasionally over-dramatic in the Beethoven, and bordered on self-indulgence in parts of Franck's sonata. But her style worked movingly with the tragic outbursts in the Adagio of Elliott Carter's Cello Sonata and in Hong Kong-born composer Melissa Hui's Exile, a haunting composition in which the cello sobbed and questioned forlornly against a background of spare piano chords.

Zhu and Lee are multiple prize winners and have played together since they were cohorts at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. Their admirable rapport was much in evidence.

The evening ended with a songful rendering of the encore, a transcription of Debussy's The Girl with the Flaxen Hair that sent the audience home with fond memories of two young Hong Kong-trained talents.