How the Asian Youth Orchestra is marching on after co-founder Richard Pontzious’ death in 2020
- The AYO will hold its first Hong Kong concerts without its American co-founder Richard Pontzious next weekend, before taking off for Thailand, Taiwan and Japan
- This year has seen the orchestra recover to its full size following the lifting of pandemic travel restrictions
A gaping void will be apparent at next weekend’s (August 12-13) homecoming for the Asian Youth Orchestra (AYO), its first concerts in Hong Kong without the larger-than-life presence of its American co-founder Richard Pontzious, who died in 2020.
“He was the fundraiser. He was the writer. He was the musician. He was the whole package,” says Keith Lau, the orchestra’s Hong Kong-born general manager, who has taken over the day-to-day running of the 33-year-old training platform for aspiring professional musicians.
The orchestra was entirely Pontzious’ idea. Back in the 1980s, he was conductor-in-residence at the prestigious Shanghai Conservatory of Music. He had already spent two decades teaching music in Taiwan and Japan, and strongly felt that young musicians in the region lacked the visibility and opportunity to take their careers further.
It was a testament to his power of persuasion that he convinced the legendary violinist Yehudi Menuhin to be the AYO’s founding music director in 1987, and secured long-term patronage from wealthy music lovers in Hong Kong, the city where he decided to launch the orchestra.
Each year, he would audition musicians aged 17-27 for entry to an intense summer camp of rehearsals and masterclasses, followed by high-level public performances in multiple cities. Musicians stay with the orchestra for a year, before a new cohort is recruited.