Warren Mok
One of Asia’s most successful opera singers, Warren Mok is also the founder of Opera Hong Kong and the Artistic Director of the Macao International Music Festival. The world-renowned tenor talks to Penny Zhou about his international career, Pavarotti and his early start as an accountant.
Both of my parents are doctors. I learned piano and sang in church during my childhood, and they wanted me to be a doctor, an accountant or a lawyer. I absolutely hated those options.
I had been quite a normal and obedient kid until I was forced to take accounting in college in Hawaii. I was so bad at it I almost flunked.
My professor said to me, “Warren, why don’t you just withdraw? You can at least have a W instead of an F.” So I did, and then I concentrated on music.
But thinking back, I’m glad I learned something in accounting. Now I know how to calculate the budget balance for my company. I even passed the GMET. If I weren’t a singer, I would probably have been a businessman.
I instantly fell in love with opera when I saw “La Bohème.” I couldn’t believe my ears—pure human voices without microphones, in a 2,000-seat theater. I was fascinated.
In 1987, I auditioned for the Berlin Opera. It was one of the top ten opera companies
in the world at the time and I was its first Asian singer.