Children's choir does HK proud

ACHOIR of 50 youngsters from Hong Kong has just returned from a three-week North American tour where they found themselves starring in a television show with a viewing audience of about 20 million worldwide.

During the half-hour live broadcast of Music and the Spoken Word on the CBS channel, the choir shared centre-stage with the renowned American Mormon Tabernacle Choir and gave an impressive performance showcasing the best of Hong Kong's musical youth.

Mr Chan Ho-choi, chairman of the board of directors and one of the founders of the choir, said they were presented on television as being ''one of the best children's choirs in the world''.

Since the choir was founded in 1969, it has steadily acquired an international reputation for its high standards of musicianship and performance.

This year, it was the only children's choir to have been invited to perform at the prestigious World Symposium on Choral Music in Vancouver. The symposium is held once every three years and this year involved over 1,000 musicians and conductors from 65 countries.

Mr Dennis Tupman, president of the symposium, later described the choir's performance as ''outstanding'' and said they had ''truly represented Hong Kong with grace, colour and musicianship''.

Mr Tong Shui-wai, the choir's music director and conductor, said the group was aware of their role as ''musical ambassadors'' for Hong Kong.

He said their repertoire was deliberately diverse to reflect Hong Kong's ''unique blend of Eastern and Western cultures''. He also said the choir was a rare opportunity for Hong Kong composers to present their work to an international audience.

Thus the choir presented an adventurous programme that mixed Western religious pieces and traditional folk songs, with Chinese offerings, many of which were specially commissioned for them.

These included ''Chinese Festivals Suite'' by Kenneth Yip, which combined dance and song to offer a brief glimpse into the diversity of Chinese culture, and a modern electronic composition by Dr John Chen entitled ''The Wishing Well'', which expressed the hopes and fears of children in today's world.

The tour also provided an opportunity for choir members, ranging in age between nine and 17, to acquire new experiences, to cement existing friendships and to make new ones.

In addition to performing at major venues before audiences of up to 2,000, the choir also gave pleasure to inmates at an old folk's home and patients at a children's hospital.