Chew Hee Chiat plays an active and diverse role that covers conducting, arranging and orchestrating for its numerous concerts since he joined the Orchestra in June 2002. In recent years, Chew is committed to the cross-disciplinary cooperation between Chinese music and other different sectors and media. 

To promote Chinese music to different age groups, Chew has been zealously seeking cooperation with different types of singers. He conducted the ‘Fatherland’ concert (2022) with singer Mischa Ip and Bo Luk, ‘The Trials of Love – A Night of Cantonese Operatic Songs with Lin Yingshi’ (June 2021), ‘Hins Cheung X HKCO’ (November 2021). Chew has also conducted serval fundraising concert with Ms. Liza Wang being the chairperson of the organising committee. In April 2018, Chew conducted the ‘Listening to Nature’ concert, which had brought the music of Malaysia rainforest into Chinese music as the Orchestra invited a Sape master, who was also a traditional dancer, from Malaysia to join the performance, showing the fusion of Chinese music and arts of the world. 

Chew made his debut in The Hong Kong Drum Festival concert in 2007. Since then he has conducted the Festival concerts for over 10 consecutive years. His work Let the Thunder of Drums Roll VII becomes the Festival standard repertoire, which engages the audiences in the performances together with the artists and the Orchestra. In 2010, Chew conducted the world premiere of four works by Hong Kong composers at the outdoor mass concert ‘Cadenzas of Hong Kong’; in 2008, Chew led the Orchestra’s young artists in the concert ‘Rising Stars of HKCO’. Other notable occasions include the Opening Rally of the Hong Kong Dizi and Xiao Festival in 2005, in which more than 500 players performed his work, A Celebration of Dizi, under his baton. The event achieved a new Guinness World Record as having the largest number of people playing the dizi at the same time. He was widely acclaimed when he guest conducted the Singapore Chinese Orchestra in the concert, ‘A Nanyang Musical Voyage II’, in 2004.

Conducting aside, Chew is a renowned and award-winning composer as well. His works have characteristic features that demonstrate his Southeast Asian cultural heritage. His work Harken Back to Zhou is selected as one of the ‘100 Chinese Music Classics Select’ by HKCO. In 2008, when HKCO became a partner of the YouTube Symphony, Chew won rave response for his YouTube commissioned arrangement of Tan Duns’ Internet Symphony – Eroica for Chinese orchestra. 

He was second runner-up in the International Competition for Chinese Orchestral Compositions 2000 (HK) and winner of the Outstanding Composition Award in the Chinese Music Competition 2002 organised by the Council for Cultural Affairs in Taiwan. Chew received lessons in composition from Saw Boon Kiat of Malaysia and renowned composer Qian Zhaoxi of China before he graduated from the Southeast Missouri State University (U.S.) with a double bachelor’s degree in cello performance and computer science in 1994. Subsequently, he completed his Master of Music degree in orchestral conducting from the University of South Carolina in 1996. On returning home to Malaysia, he began his career in Chinese music conducting, and was the Music Director of the Professional Cultural Center Orchestra (PCCO) of Malaysia.

Chew is also committed to the education and perpetuation of Chinse music. Since 2011, Chew has been giving lectures for the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts on Chinese orchestral conducting. In 2003 to 2010, he was the conductor of the Hong Kong Junior Chinese Orchestra. Chew has also hosted many bilingual workshops to introduce Chinese music to audiences in Hong Kong and internationally.

Graduated in 2012, Rupert Woo was the first Master in Conducting of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (HKAPA). In the Second International Conducting Competition for Chinese Music, Rupert won Second Prize as well as the Outstanding Young Conductor in Hong Kong Award and the Audience Award for the Most Popular Conductor. He guest-conducted the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra (HKCO), the Singapore Chinese Orchestra, the Henan National Music Orchestra, the Academy Chinese Orchestra and the Academy Symphony Orchestra of HKAPA, Fanyin Chamber Orchestra of the Tianjin Conservatory of Music, Windpipe Chinese Music Ensemble etc.

Previously, Wu served as a freelance Instructor in Conducting at the Department of Traditional Chinese Musical Instruments of the Tianjin Conservatory of Music, Resident Conductor of the Conservatory’s Chinese orchestra, and instructor on its postgraduate programme; Wu was a part-time lecturer and conductor in the School of Music of HKAPA, instructor on conducting and erhu at the Chinese orchestra on the Academy’s Junior Music Programme, Resident Conductor of the Hong Kong Juvenile & Youth Chinese Classical Orchestra, and also conductor of Chinese orchestras in several schools.

Rupert holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) in Computer Science from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (2005), a Bachelor of Music (Hons) in banhu performance from HKAPA (2008), and a Master of Music in banhu and gaohu performance from HKAPA (20102). In 2018, Rupert became the Assistant Conductor (Education and Outreach) of HKCO through open recruitment, responsible for the conducting of the Hong Kong Young Chinese Orchestra (HKYCO), which is under the jurisdiction of the HKCO. Under his leadership, the performance level of HKYCO has achieved a noticeable increase that can be said as the best since its establishment. The number of participating member of HKYCO has increased from around 50 to 80.

Rupert has led and conducted various performances of HKYCO, which include: ‘Preservation and Perpetuation of the Classics’ in 2022 and 2021, ‘Let’s Fun@HKCC’ fun day commemorating the 30th Anniversary of the Hong Kong Cultural Centre, Hong Kong Children’s Choir 50th Anniversary concert ‘HKCC & Friends’ and ‘Haw Par Jolly Music Day’ in 2019, Sha Tin Festival’s ‘Melodious Erhu Showcase’ and the Hong Kong International Youth Chinese Music Festival in 2018. Rupert has also led HKYCO to perform inthe ‘Chinese Music Fun! Fun! Fun!’ gala and the Hong Kong Jockey Club Chinese Music 360 Community Performance organised by HKCO. Overseas performances include exchanges and tours in the Greater Bay Area in 2019, as well as ‘Macao International Youth Music Week’ in 2018, where the Orchestra visited Macao, Shenzhen and Panyu and exchanged their music experiences with the local students. 

Rupert was the conductor in ‘The Neon City’ concert (2021) and ‘Conducting Duo’ concert (2018) held by HKCO.

Yim Hok Man is a renowned percussionist with more than sixty years of performing experience. He is Associate Director of The HKCO Orchestral Academy. He was a percussionist with the Central Philharmonic Orchestra for twenty-two years before he joined the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra in 1984. He is also Vice President of the Percussion Society under the auspices of the Chinese Musicians’ Association, a visiting professor at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, the China Conservatory of Music and the Shenyang Conservatory of Music. He also teaches at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Baptist University, and The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. Musicians trained by him can be found in various parts of the world. For more than half a century, Yim has made substantial contribution to percussion music in both China and Hong Kong. He has consummate knowledge in a comprehensive range of Chinese and Western percussion music, from performance to teaching, music composition, and research. His performing experience and repertoire, his efforts in carrying on traditions, assimilating cultures of the East and the West, as well as attention to development and innovation in percussive art demonstrate his artistic virtuosity and solid cultural insights. He has gone on touring performances to dozens of cities on four continents of the world, and has received unanimous acclaim from audiences, music critics, and the media alike. 

Yim’s solo album Master of Chinese Percussion – Yim Hok-man (1) is regarded as a quintessential representation of the art of percussion, and is released worldwide. It has become the benchmark for the testing of amplifiers and the functioning of sound equipment as adopted by audiophiles and audio manufacturers. It also won the recommendation of a U.S. audio magazine as an outstanding masterpiece by one of the world’s five greatest percussionists. 

On the celebration of the 60th National Day of the People’s Republic of China in 2009, Yim was honoured by the Guangzhou Daily as one of the “Top Artists from China since 1949”. In recognition of his distinguished contribution, he was presented with a Commendation Certificate by the Home Affairs Bureau of the Hong Kong SAR Government in 2005. He was awarded ‘Artist of the Year’ by the Hong Kong Artists’ Guild in 1999.