Tributes to maestro behind Hong Kong’s first professional orchestra

Tributes have been paid to the conductor who played a key role in establishing the Hong Kong Philharmonic as a professional orchestra in 1974.

Lim Kek-tjiang, who had suffered from diabetes for years, died on Thursday morning at his Melbourne home aged 89. He is survived by two sons.

“Maestro Lim took the painstaking first step to bring about Hong Kong’s first professional orchestra that we are all proud of today,” said Fan Ting, Lim’s student from 1972 to 1975 and now principal of the Phil’s second violin section.

Chow Fan-fu, author and biographer of the orchestra, concurred. “Without Lim’s inspiration and hard work, we would not have had a professional orchestra in 1974.”

Born in Borneo when it was under Dutch control, Lim was the oldest of four brothers, all renowned musicians. He studied violin on a scholarship at the Amsterdam Conservatory and under the legendary violinist George Enescu in Paris, where he was also taught conducting by Eugene Bigot.

He returned to Jakarta in 1956 and became conductor of its radio symphony orchestra. Three years later he arrived in Beijing to lead the radio orchestra.

Lim made his debut with the flagship Central Philharmonic in 1961 as a violinist and as conductor a year later. He was sidelined during the Cultural Revolution and allowed to leave for Hong Kong via Macau in 1968.