The Music Office promotes knowledge and appreciation of music in the community, especially among young people. During the year, it ran an Instrumental Music Training Scheme for 4 808 trainees, along with 19 youth orchestras, bands and choirs which together had 1 462 members. It also organised 261 short-term music interest courses for 2 698 participants, and another 402 music-related activities which attracted around 167 577 people. These included a music camp, several youth music events, and a variety of educational programmes for students and the community.
As part of the office's cultural exchange programme, the Hong Kong Youth Symphony Orchestra visited Russia and participated in the International Music Festival EURASIA in Yekaterinburg in October 2015. The orchestra staged three performances in the Concert Hall of the Sverdlovsk Philharmonic Ekaterinburg and the Concert Hall in Alapayevsk, two of which were joint performances with the Ural Youth Symphony Orchestra. The Hong Kong Youth Symphonic Band visited Taiwan and participated in the 24th Chiayi City International Band Festival in December 2015. The office also organised exchange activities in Hong Kong for youth music groups from Taiwan, Singapore and the United States.
