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Andrea Fessler
A former lawyer, Andrea Fessler arrived in Hong Kong in 2004 after working in New York, London and Tokyo. She founded Premiere Performances of Hong Kong in 2007, which brings world-class recitals to the city and runs the annual International Chamber Music Festival. Evelyn Lok speaks to Fessler about what’s in store this year.
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HK Magazine: How did you go from working in the legal department at Star TV to founding a music company?
Andrea Fessler: I started Premiere Performances in 2007 and I had my first recital series in the fall. I worked at Star TV around the same time and did both for about two years. In 2009, right after we launched the Chamber Music Festival, I went to London for the summer, came back, and James Murdoch [Rupert Murdoch’s son] had come in and had restructured the whole company, so my job was gone. I never intentionally gave up my career as a lawyer, but circumstances changed, and I didn’t stop to notice. Premiere Performances has continued to grow, and in the spring of 2012, I was very luckily awarded the Springboard Grant from the Home Affairs Bureau, which enabled me to hire some staff.
Andrea Fessler: I started Premiere Performances in 2007 and I had my first recital series in the fall. I worked at Star TV around the same time and did both for about two years. In 2009, right after we launched the Chamber Music Festival, I went to London for the summer, came back, and James Murdoch [Rupert Murdoch’s son] had come in and had restructured the whole company, so my job was gone. I never intentionally gave up my career as a lawyer, but circumstances changed, and I didn’t stop to notice. Premiere Performances has continued to grow, and in the spring of 2012, I was very luckily awarded the Springboard Grant from the Home Affairs Bureau, which enabled me to hire some staff.
HK: You’re like the champion of chamber music in Hong Kong!
AF: When we started the festival, there really wasn’t much chamber music in Hong Kong—it wasn’t even on the mandatory curriculum at the APA in those days. One of the things I was always interested in was bringing concerts that were of a world-class standard: the kind of concerts that you would see at Carnegie Hall or the Lincoln Center. That was very important to me. I started simply with pianists, because we didn’t have to do anything in the concert hall except get the piano tuned.
AF: When we started the festival, there really wasn’t much chamber music in Hong Kong—it wasn’t even on the mandatory curriculum at the APA in those days. One of the things I was always interested in was bringing concerts that were of a world-class standard: the kind of concerts that you would see at Carnegie Hall or the Lincoln Center. That was very important to me. I started simply with pianists, because we didn’t have to do anything in the concert hall except get the piano tuned.
HK: What sparked your passion for chamber music?
AF: Chamber music is really interesting to watch—there’s this adrenaline and a lot of spontaneity. In Europe, and maybe even in the US, chamber music is an essential component of what musicians will play regularly. In China and Hong Kong, we’re still lagging behind. If you’re playing with an orchestra you can kind of hide: if you’re playing by yourself you can kind of make it up. But if you’re playing in a chamber orchestra, there’s no hiding, there’s no conductor, and there’s only one instrument on a part—so if you screw up, everyone knows it’s you. It’s a very integral part of a music education.
AF: Chamber music is really interesting to watch—there’s this adrenaline and a lot of spontaneity. In Europe, and maybe even in the US, chamber music is an essential component of what musicians will play regularly. In China and Hong Kong, we’re still lagging behind. If you’re playing with an orchestra you can kind of hide: if you’re playing by yourself you can kind of make it up. But if you’re playing in a chamber orchestra, there’s no hiding, there’s no conductor, and there’s only one instrument on a part—so if you screw up, everyone knows it’s you. It’s a very integral part of a music education.
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