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The following is issued on behalf of the Board of Trustees of the Hong Kong Jockey Club Music and Dance Fund:
Five young talents received Hong Kong Jockey Club Music and Dance Fund (HKJCMDF) Scholarships at an awarding ceremony at the Concert Hall of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (HKAPA) today (July 19).
The awarded scholarships, totalling about $1.58 million, will help the awardees to further their education or training abroad, enabling them to contribute to the development of arts in Hong Kong upon completion of their studies.
The five young talents in the music and dance fields, namely Miss Melodic Chau, Miss Harmonic Chau, Mr Lo Ting-cheung, Miss Betty Wong and Mr Chan Kin-shun, stood out among many applicants. They shared their thoughts during the awarding ceremony, gratefully acknowledged the funding support from the HKJCMDF and undertook to make the best of the opportunity to pursue advanced programmes in music or dance overseas. They also gave demonstrations of their talent, such as piano duo and flamenco dance performances.
Among the awardees are the twin sisters Miss Melodic Chau and Miss Harmonic Chau, who are both graduates of the Master of Music programme at the HKAPA and have achieved remarkable results in international piano duo competitions, including second prize in the IV San Marino International Piano Competition in 2010 and first prize in the IV International Piano Duo Competition in Bialystok, Poland. With the music scholarship, they will be going to Germany to further their training in piano duo performance.
Another music scholarship awardee, Mr Lo Ting-cheung, has completed his master degree studies at the University of Hong Kong and will be pursuing his doctoral study in composition at the University of York in the United Kingdom. He won first prize in the Musica e Arte Composition Contest held in Rome in 2011 and Special Prize for the Best Chamber Music in the 1st Annual International Antonin Dvorak Composition Competition held in Prague in 2010.
As for the dance scholarships, one of the awardees is Miss Betty Wong. A current dance teacher at the City Contemporary Dance Company, Miss Wong will be going to pursue flamenco dance training in Seville, Spain.
Another dance scholarship awardee is Mr Chan Kin-shun. He founded a local musical theatre group in 2009, and will take a master programme at Goldsmiths, University of London, on musical theatre production.
Joining the ceremony were the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Fund, Mr Frank Lee; the Principal Assistant Secretary for Home Affairs, Miss Wong Yuet-wah; representative of the Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) Mr Douglas So; members of the Board of Trustees of the Fund; and the Chairmen of the music and dance audition panels of the scholarship, Dr Chan Hing-yan and Mr Thomas Brown.
The HKJCMDF was set up in 1980 with a $10 million donation from the HKJC for the promotion and development of music and dance education and training in Hong Kong. In 1994, a further capital injection of $22 million was provided by the HKJC to meet increasing demand for support. The Fund has so far (including this year) awarded 283 music and dance scholarships amounting to about $45 million, benefiting more than 200 young local talents in music and dance.
Ends/Thursday, July 19, 2012
Issued at HKT 17:40
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