Most people think the humble harmonica is only heard in blues and folk bands. They might be surprised to learn that it's also got a place in classical music, as Robert Bonfiglio is eager to point out.
Based in New York City, the classical harmonica player has enjoyed a long career performing concertos specially written for the harmonica by luminaries such as Ralph Vaughan Williams, Heitor Villa-Lobos and Malcolm Arnold. This week, Hong Kong audiences will get a chance to experience his lilting sounds when he returns to the city after an absence of more than 10 years to perform with the City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong. Under the baton of guest conductor Andrew Sewell, from New Zealand, Bonfiglio will be playing the Villa-Lobos Harmonica Concerto, as well as - somewhat unusually for an American musician - selections from a popular recording he made of Teresa Teng Li-jun's songs.
The tunes will come from The Harmonica Sound of Hong Kong, his album of Teng's songs. He has also recorded an album of Canto-pop veteran Sam Hui Koon-kit's songs.
The Hong Kong connection came about when a savvy music distributor thought his sound would sell in Asia. The 10 albums he released in the late 1980s and 90s did so well regionally that the distributor suggested he do a Hui recording.
'It sold very well,' Bonfiglio says. 'It was fun, as they had taken American pop music and made it Chinese, and I took their music and made it American again.
'Sam Hui, who was playing concerts to 20,000 people at the time, even invited me to do a concert with him, although the timing wasn't right and I couldn't.'