Conductor's career hit highs and lows

Ling Tung, a controversial conductor of the city's flagship orchestra in the 1970s, died of brain cancer in Philadelphia on Saturday. He was 78.

'The late maestro was in a coma for a week before he died in his sleep peacefully. His family and friends were with him,' said Houng Wang-leung, a former cellist with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, of which Tung was the music director from 1979 to 1981.

An accomplished violinist from a prominent music family from Shanghai, Tung started his music career with a degree from the Curtis Music Institute in Philadelphia. He scored one accolade after another during his career, which included a spell as a violinist with the Philadelphia Orchestra and conductor of the US Seventh Army orchestra in Europe.

In 1979, shortly after the release of two acclaimed recordings with the Philharmonia Orchestra in London, he was appointed music chief of the Hong Kong Philharmonic. His tenure was best remembered for heated controversy over the dismissals and appointments of players, which led to his downfall in just three years.

'He was given a mandate to raise the orchestra's level within a short time and he did that by bringing in expatriate players,' said Houng. 'Some 40 per cent of the players were changed, and that caused a huge uproar among the players, who took their complaints to the press.'

Professor Benedict Cruft, now dean of music at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts and then Tung's associate concertmaster, recalled the rancour between Tung and the players 'rapidly extended to his relationship with the press', and 'the working conditions became very uncomfortable'.