Music Lab's mission: take it to the public

What can musical prodigies do when they grow up? For a group of gifted young Hongkongers, the answer was to set up Music Lab, an outfit that aims to popularise classical music with a broader audience. The name reflects their more experimental approach: besides offering music lessons, they often combine performances with different art forms.

One performance in December, for example, alternated classical works with bits of satirical commentary on Hong Kong's political scene and its utilitarian view of music education.

Music Lab's founders and prime movers include pianist Wong Ka-jeng - the subject of an award-winning documentary, KJ: Music and Life, who was performing internationally when he was just 11 - and Samuel Pang, a music teacher and conductor of the orchestra at Diocesan Boys School (DBS).

The idea for an organisation to promote classical music came up when the pair were students at DBS, and they followed up on it soon after graduating.

"Instead of trying to join the Hong Kong Philharmonic or the Sinfonietta, we decided to strike out on our own, as we didn't want to confine ourselves to classical music. We wanted the flexibility to get involved in other art forms like visual arts and stand-up comedy," Pang says.

It also opened up more opportunities for professional musicians in the city. "In an orchestra, there may be only two vacancies for musicians in the woodwind or brass sections. Musicians usually occupy their position in an orchestra for more a decade, and you'd have to wait for them to retire for an opening to come up," Pang says.