2025 Music Office Annual Gala
23 February 2025 (Sun) 3 pm
Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall
More than 400 young musicians from the acclaimed symphonic band, choirs and orchestras of the Music Office (MO) will showcase their talents and demonstrate the multifaceted charisma of Hong Kong as the “East-meets-West Centre for International Cultural Exchange” with a repertoire embracing a cultural diversity across time; the most outstanding MO trainees and music group members of the year will also be awarded.
Performing Groups
Music Office Youth and Children’s Choirs
Hong Kong Youth Chinese Orchestra
Hong Kong Youth Symphony Orchestra
Hong Kong Youth Symphonic Band
Conductors
Lai Wing-yan
Dr Joseph Kam
Kwok Kin-ming
Kevin Ling
$135 $115 $90
Tickets are available at URBTIX from 23 January
Half-price tickets are available for full-time students, senior citizens aged 60 or above, people with disabilities and the minder, Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) recipients
For ages 6 or above
Ticketing Enquiries: 3166 1100
Telephone Booking: 3166 1288
Internet Booking: http://www.urbtix.hk
Programme Enquiries: 2796 1003/ 3842 7784
Prize Presentation Ceremony
Music Office Youth and Children’s Choirs | |||||||
Enter with Song | Andy Beck | ||||||
We are the Voices | Jim Papoulis | ||||||
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Hong Kong Youth Strings | |||||||
Adagietto, from Symphony No. 5 | Gustav Mahler | ||||||
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Hong Kong Youth Chinese Orchestra | |||||||
The World Takes on a New Look for Spring, from Peking Opera Taking Tiger Mountain by Stratagem (Suona and Orchestra) |
arr. Xia Feiyun | ||||||
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National Spirit | Zhao Jiping | ||||||
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~Intermission~ |
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Hong Kong Youth Symphonic Orchestra | |||||||
Adagio, from Symphony No. 2 in E minor, Op. 27 | Sergei Rachmaninoff | ||||||
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Hong Kong Youth Symphonic Band | |||||||
March on Eight Folk Tunes (It happened one day in May) Crescent Moon Dance |
Yasuhide Ito Akito Matsuda |
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Music Office reserves the right to change programme and artists |
Lai Wing-yan
Lai Wing-yan is currently Senior Music Officer of the Musicianship and Training Support Section of the Music Office. Her responsibilities include overseeing the organization of choral and musicianship training programmes, and providing support to the Instrument Music Training Scheme.
Lai graduated with first-class honour from the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, where she majored in Piano Performance under the tutelage of Nancy Loo. She is also a holder of the LTCL and the FTCL in Piano Performance. In addition to appearances as a solo and collaborative pianist and in chamber recitals, Lai also has extensive choral conducting experience. She received various scholarships and participated in numerous masterclasses.
Lai has served as the conductor of the Music Office Children's Choir since 2014, and led the choir to exchange with the All-American Boys Chorus in 2016. Besides, she has participated in several overseas tours of the Music Office Youth Choir, of which she currently conductors. Apart from teaching duties, she has collaborated with many guest musicians. |
Joseph Kam
Dr Joseph Kam is currently Senior Music Officer of the String Section of the Music Office, and conductor of Hong Kong Youth Symphony Orchestra, Hong Kong Youth Strings and the Music Office Instructors’ String Orchestra.
Dr Kam, a violist, violinist and orchestral conductor, graduated from the University of Michigan, where he obtained his Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees. He received several awards and scholarships from the University, including Graduate Merit Award, Humanities Award, and Rackham Block Fellowship, etc. He was also appointed as a viola faculty in the Interlochen Music Festival (Michigan, USA).
As an active conductor, Dr Kam launched his conducting career since his debut with Metropolitan Youth Orchestra in 2005. He has been conducting the Hong Kong Youth Symphony Orchestra since 2007. He led the Hong Kong Youth Symphony Orchestra to perform in 2010 Shanghai Expo and 2015 International Music Festival EURASIA in Yekaterinburg with high acclaims. In 2017, Dr Kam led the Hong Kong Youth Strings and participated in the 8th International Youth Music Festival in Bratislava, Slovakia with a huge success. He was awarded a special prize for winning the “Best Orchestral Conductor”.
Dr Kam also conducted frequently as a guest conductor, including Ural Youth Symphony Orchestra in Yekaterinburg (Russia), the Filharmonie Bohuslava Martinu in Czech Republic, the Adelphi Symphony Orchestra in Long Island (New York), the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign-Illinois Summer Youth Music Senior Orchestra, Asian Youth Orchestra Alumni Orchestra and Macao Orchestra, etc.
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Kwok Kin-ming
Kwok Kin-ming is currently Senior Music Officer of the Chinese Music Section of the Music Office and conductor of the Hong Kong Youth Chinese Orchestra and Music Office Instructors’ Chinese Orchestra.
Kwok obtained the Master of Music degree from the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, majoring in Chinese orchestras conducting, under the tutelage of renowned conductor Professor Yan Huichang. Kwok was the second runner-up and awarded Outstanding Young Conductor in the Hong Kong International Conducting Competition for Chinese Music in 2011.
As a conductor, Kwok has collaborated with many renowned orchestras, including Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, Jilin Chinese Orchestra, Macao Chinese Orchestra, Wuxi Chinese Orchestra, Feiyun Chinese Orchestra and the Chinese Orchestra of the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts.
In 2016, Kwok led the Hong Kong Youth Chinese Orchestra (HKYCO) to tour in Shanghai and Shenyang, where the orchestra jointly performed with the Chinese Orchestra of Shenyang Conservatory of Music. In 2018, under his baton, the HKYCO presented a joint concert titled TOGETHER with Singapore National Youth Chinese Orchestra in the Lion City. In 2023, he led the HKYCO to Xi’an for music exchange, and conducted an exchange concert jointly presented by the HKYCO and the Xi’an Conservatory Chinese Orchestra.
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Kevin Ling
Kevin Ling is currently Music Officer of the Wind Section of the Music Office, serving as a saxophone instructor, and conductor of the Hong Kong Youth Symphonic Band.
Ling is one of the most active saxophonists in Hong Kong’s contemporary scene. He graduated from Trinity College of Music in the UK and the Education University of Hong Kong, where he earned a Postgraduate Advanced Diploma in Performance and a Master of Arts in Music Education respectively. Meanwhile, he attained the FTCL in Saxophone from Trinity Guildhall, and received the Music Monetary Award from the Trinity College and the Instrument & Equipment Award from the EMI Music Sound Foundation.
Ling spares no effort in promoting saxophone music in Hong Kong. In earlier years, he founded the Hong Kong Saxophone Ensemble with fellow local saxophonists, and frequently participates in many international saxophone events. He also set up the Holiday Sax, a local saxophone ensemble that provides a platform for young players and students to perform in public. Ling regularly works together with local and overseas composers, and premieres their works at various saxophone events around the world. He is also a freelance player of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and an instrumental instructor of the Education University of Hong Kong. Apart from coaching and performing, Ling also served as an adjudicator, and was invited by the Instituto Cultural do Governo da R.A.E. de Macau to be one of the adjudicators in the Macao Young Musicians Competition.
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