Conducting master classes in Hong Kong that you can sit in on, watched over by French orchestral maestro
- Edith Tam, co-founder of Hong Kong ensemble Le Gai, says there is little support for budding conductors in the city – and she plans to fill the gap
- French conductor Philippe Fournier will give feedback to participants in Tam’s two-day conducting master class, for which tickets are available to watch
We have all played at conducting – with fingers, chopsticks or other implements – when moved by a particularly powerful passage of orchestral music. But it turns out that an increasing number of people in Hong Kong are keen to do it for real.
“A radiography student at the Polytechnic University attended one of my conducting classes,” says conductor and horn player Edith Tam. “He plays the violin and even founded his own orchestra. Conducting is not something that only interests professional musicians.”
Tam is organising a two-day conducting master class next week led by the visiting French maestro Philippe Fournier, founder of Orchestre Symphonique Confluences.
On May 4-5, budding conductors from Hong Kong, Singapore and mainland China will deliver their own interpretations of Debussy’s Prelude a l’apres-midi d’un faune and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No.5 by working with Hong Kong ensemble Le Gai, which Tam co-founded, and receive feedback from Fournier.
Members of the public can buy day passes and sit in on the sessions. On May 2, Le Gai and Fournier will also perform a French concert at St. John’s Cathedral.
