Fitting reward for good conduct as Lam bows out and steps up

 

 

24 July 2005

South China Morning Post

 

Conductor Ken Lam King-kei says he's learnt just about all he can in Hong Kong. Not only is he the director of the Hong Kong Voices choir, he also conducts the Hong Kong Chamber Orchestra, leads the University of Hong Kong's choir, and is musical director of the Hong Kong Melody Makers, a new youth choir.

 

Which is why he's leaving shortly to start a two-year conducting programme at the Peabody Institute, part of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. It's a long way from his day job as a lawyer, but the music bug has been biting Lam for a long time.

 

"This is what I've been building up to for the past four or five years," says the 34-year-old. "I can't really see myself going on with a career as a professional support lawyer indefinitely. But it allowed me to have the flexibility to work with four groups that are fantastic.

 

"I'm going to the Peabody because I realise that's the next stage. Hong Kong is great at providing the choirs and orchestras for the practical side of learning and I've had a wonderful time making music with them, but there's a limit to what I and they can do. The next step for me to improve is to get the training from a good conservatory."

 

The Peabody is one of the best. It accepts only four conducting students each year. Lam was among 17 hopefuls who were invited to audition last February. Heading the Peabody's two-year programme is Swiss-American maestro Gustav Meier, who directed the conducting programme at Tanglewood in Boston.

 

"He retired once already, but was persuaded to come back and teach again," Lam says. "The Peabody is also one of the few conservatories where students have an orchestra to conduct. To carry an orchestra is expensive and there are only eight people in the programme in total. It's going to be a lot of fun."

 

Lam started out studying music in London's Guildhall School and playing violin in the Hong Kong Sinfonietta. To get a sense of the business side of the industry, he worked at budget classical label, Naxos, as legal and business manager.

 

His Peabody term begins in September, and he'll also stop over in Bulgaria next month to cram in a conducting workshop.

 

"To put it simply, a conductor is basically a leader," Lam says. "He or she has to convince however many musicians he's working with to go along with his or her vision, and he has to be absolutely convinced of what it is the composer wanted.

 

"To be honest, there aren't many Hong Kong schools with teachers trained in conducting. A lot of people have potential, but they haven't been trained properly. I don't consider myself a good conductor either, but if we had people at the educational forefront training young people, we could be phenomenal."

 

As for the groups Lam is leaving behind, the Hong Kong Chamber Orchestra has decided to forgo finding a permanent replacement for now, and will perform as an ensemble. Hong Kong Voices will rotate guest conductors, trying out different baton leaders when its new season begins in September. The HKU choir is turning to an undisclosed local conductor.

 

However, the one group Lam has worked with the least appears to be the one he'll miss the most. Formed only this year, the Melody Makers is a youth choir started by the Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups. Its debut will take place next Sunday, at St John's Cathedral, Central, singing the Rutter Requiem, a choral work composed in 1985 by John Rutter for his late father. "The federation director Rosanna Wong Yick-ming approached me wanting to start a new choir," Lam says. "She's a great person who really has a vision. She sees how a choir can also serve a social function. She wants music to do something for the community, whereas musicians like myself see music as an end in itself.

 

"We auditioned over 150 singers and these are just kids, not music majors. But in two months, the amount they managed to absorb is phenomenal."

 

This is why, despite his reservations about the government's cultural policies, Lam intends to return after two years and reclaim his

stewardships. "I think Hong Kong is a place where you can get things done," he says.

 

"I know so many people here who are so sincere in their music-making. Hong Kong's next generation is very talented. They face more pressure than youth anywhere else but they rise up to it. It's a fighting quality."

 

Hong Kong Melody Makers, featuring soprano Yuki Ip, Jul 31, 3.30pm, Li Hall, St John's Cathedral, Central, free (but ticket necessary). Inquiries: 2123 9598

 

 

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