Celebrities such as Miriam Yeung Chin-wah, Niki Chow Lai-kei and Fiona Sit Hoi-kei flocked to the Regal Hong Kong Hotel's Monaco Room for the Monday launch of singing coach Christine Samson's new summer classes.
Samson trained Canto-pop idols Joey Yung Cho-yee, Miriam Yeung and Janice Vidal, and normally charges stars HK$3,000 an hour for advanced lessons. But from July 22 to August 21, she and her four associate trainers will offer summer classes for youngsters aged between 10 and 15 at the Regal Oriental Hotel in Kowloon City. She also plans to hold classes for adults until September 25. The beginners' classes will cost HK$3,800 for 10 sessions, she said.
Samson, who first started teaching in 1998, said she gives her students' voices a tune-up before she starts her lessons.
'I find any problems with their singing and we fix them together,' Samson said. 'Talent is very important, but passion also matters.'
The veteran singer said she wants to nurture wannabe singers. 'I felt so lucky growing up in a music family,' said Samson, whose bandleader father Lobing Samson, was the dubbed the 'King of Clarinet'. 'It's probably time to give something back.'