Hong Kong orchestra marks 40 years of hitting the high notes for so many
Dr Yip Wai-hong, founder of the Pan Asia Symphony, reflects on how it has opened the door to a musical life for those both near and far
An orchestra that has welcomed new arrivals to Hong Kong and shown itself to be an ideal training ground for the young marks its 40th anniversary this weekend.
Dr Yip Wai-hong, founder and music director of the Pan Asia Symphony Orchestra, said the ensemble was first set upfor local musicians and graduates.
“I was then head of the music department at the Baptist College and our first batch of graduates needed a platform to perform,” Yip said.
“It was also near the end of the Cultural Revolution in China, so I opened the door to those mainland musicians arriving in Hong Kong who were professional players but spoke no Cantonese or English.”
Yip, 85, who taught music in Wuhan before coming to Hong Kong in 1961, remembered one of the newly arrived immigrants.
“There was a double bass player from the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra and he was a carpet worker during the day and came to the rehearsals at night with a piece of bread and a bottle of water for dinner while playing Beethoven and Mozart,” he said.
Pak Chit-man, 81, used to be the principal clarinet player at the Beijing Central Philharmonic Orchestra but arrived in Hong Kong jobless in 1984.
“I am grateful to Pan Asia for taking me in as well as my son and daughter who were young violinists before they got into the Hong Kong Philharmonic as full-time players a few years later,” he said.
Yim Hok-man, another Central Phil player from Beijing, spent 18 months with Pan Asia before becoming principal percussionist for Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra in 1984, a post he still holds.
“I was referred to Pan Asia just three days after I arrived, and it was a pleasant surprise to see so many musicians from all parts of China, including some of my former associates in Beijing,” he said.
Jimmy Shiu, head of RTHK Radio 4, recalled his student days at Pan Asia. “I studied music at Baptist College at the time and the orchestra allowed me to practise my violin as much as my managerial skills, which is essential to my subsequent career,” he said.
The orchestra has seen established musicians play their first notes to a city audience. These include Andrew Ling Hin-yau, principal violist for HK Philharmonic, Kitty Cheung Man-yui, associate concertmaster for HK Sinfonietta, and conductors Yu Long and Yip Wing-sie.
“I conducted Pan Asia in 1983 when I was still a violin student in London and just about moving to conducting,” Wing-sie, the daughter of Yip, recalled.
Lio Kuok-man, assistant conductor at the Philadelphia Orchestra, said Pan Asia gave him the opportunity to debut first as a pianist then as conductor. “Which orchestra would allow a 17-year -old to conduct a public concert? For this I am forever grateful.”
Businessman Choi Kin-chung is helping cover the cost of the Beijing Concert Hall for Sunday’s anniversary event. “This is only a small token of appreciation for Dr Yip’s spirit of working quietly over all these years,” he said.
