Profile | ‘The biggest toy in the world’: how playing organ at Royal Albert Hall set Hong Kong’s Eric Chan on path to be organist
- Organist Eric Chan thought it was time to ‘give back to Hong Kong’ when he returned to his birthplace two years ago. He’s still waiting to play in the city
- He recalls discovering the pipe organ at school, and how playing at London’s Royal Albert Hall made him decide to study the instrument for a professional career
In psychology there is something called the “mere exposure effect”. It describes how people are wired to develop a liking for things that they are more exposed to, with or without their conscious recognition.
The flip side of it is apathy towards the unfamiliar.
This is the challenge for Hong Kong organist Eric Chan Chun-him. Even regular concertgoers in the city don’t often get to appreciate the sound of a pipe organ, because there are only three concert halls equipped with full-sized ones, and the ones in churches are small and do not produce the grand sounds, he says.
The 28-year-old, who graduated from the Royal College of Music in the UK with distinction and has performed in London’s St Paul’s Cathedral and the Royal Albert Hall, among many other prestigious European venues, has not had the chance to give a recital in Hong Kong.
02:57
Hong Kong organist Eric Chan shares the charm of the centuries-old keyboard instrument
Speaking in his living room in Lai Chi Kok, Kowloon, where a large electric organ dominates one corner, the 28-year-old tells the Post why he chose to return to the city of his birth in 2022.
“I thought that after I have had the privilege of studying with the greatest teachers and performing at some of the world’s biggest venues and collaborating with some of the world’s best conductors, I really should give back to Hong Kong,” he says.
When he is not teaching organ and piano, he is kept busy as an accompanist in music competitions and for choirs. He is also a composer, and passionate about mixing pipe organ music with traditional Chinese instruments.
Chan was 14 years old when he first heard a pipe organ played – in Leicestershire, in the UK, where he attended secondary school.
“The organ at my old school chapel was hidden behind the altar and the pipes were inside a wall, sealed off. I just couldn’t figure out what the instrument was for my entire first year in the UK,” he says.
Music is universal and there’s no need of separating Western and Eastern music. You can blend them together to make great music.
He started taking organ lessons when the school’s director of music suggested that he learn the instrument after he got a grade eight with a high distinction for piano. (Grade eight is the highest level of music exam in the UK.)
Becoming a professional organist never entered his mind. That was until he played the pipe organ in the Royal Albert Hall, the second largest instrument of its kind in the UK.
This serendipitous moment came when he was still at school. Chan received a call from the Leicestershire Schools Symphony Orchestra. They were performing at the Royal Albert Hall and looking for a guest organist from the English county. He agreed to play with them, not knowing that it would set his life on a totally different path.
Organists are usually given time alone to try out an instrument before a performance, as each grand pipe organ is uniquely designed to fit a particular building. So there was a 17-year-old Chan at the historic venue, all by himself for around 45 minutes.
“That organ just had everything you would ever want. It was like the biggest toy in the world. I remember the most memorable sound for me was when I played the 64ft long pipe – the longer the pipe, the lower the sound.
“When I started playing, the whole building started shaking. My body was resonating with the sound and it was such an amazing experience,” Chan says.
He likens the pipe organ to a whole orchestra with all the different combinations of sounds it can create on its own.
“The organ has the power to fill huge spaces in large concert halls and in large cathedrals. With just the movement of my fingertips, I am able to create sounds that are so powerful that it almost feels like I have a superpower, to be able to do that,” he explains, while demonstrating by playing Felix Mendelssohn’s Organ Sonata No 4 on his home organ.
“After the concert, I walked out of the Royal Albert Hall. Right in front of me was the Royal College of Music, just on the opposite side of the road. I told myself I must go and study organ in this college.”
It is that memory that sustains him in the most challenging moments of his career.
In Hong Kong he is still waiting for the chance to show off his skills on the pipe organ at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre, the largest in the city.
“I did submit proposals to perform at the Cultural Centre, but during Covid-19 they cancelled many concerts. So there’s a long queue right now to perform,” he says.
While he awaits the opportunity to perform in Hong Kong, Chan says he is fortunate to have a busy touring schedule abroad.
In July, he is giving a solo recital at La Sagrada Familia church in Barcelona, Spain. And in October, he will take two pieces that he arranged for the organ and the suona, a Chinese wind instrument, to an organ festival in Italy.
“Last year, for an organ festival in Madrid, I arranged some pieces for the organ and traditional Chinese instruments and the audience were blown away,” he says.
“That sparked my interest in doing this and keep doing this in the future. Music is universal and there’s no need of separating Western and Eastern music. You can blend them together to make great music.”
The Leisure and Cultural Services Department presents free organ concerts and talks at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre. On June 1, German organist Jens Korndorfer will give a recital at 4pm. Register at www.art-mate.net/en/doc/74414
