A FORMER army colonel, who gave up the military life after 35 years to be close to music, was so impressed with the Hong Kong students studying at his music college in Britain that he used a careers exhibition here to search for new talent.
George Cauchi, secretary of the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, took part in the recent Education and Careers Expo in Wan Chai even though he knew that only a few of the student visitors to the Convention Centre would consider music as a career.
His mission was to find talented piano students from the territory. ''All the Hong Kong students that came through to our college are keyboard students. There must be some good teachers, a strong keyboard culture in Hong Kong,'' he said.
Two Hong Kong piano students are being sponsored at the college by Britain's Associated Board of Royal Colleges of Music. One of the three others from Hong Kong is sponsored by the Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club.
To Mr Cauchi, 55, who studied the violin as a child but didn't manage the standard his own college's students now aspire to, discovering a talent is a great joy. He beams as he talks about pianist Tam Ka-kit, a Royal Northern College of Music graduate and now teacher.
Mr Tam was a co-founder of the Canzone Trio which has staged successful performances in Hong Kong, Taiwan, New York and other major cities since 1987. The trio performed earlier this month at City Hall, just before Mr Tam returned to England to resume his teaching post.
