HK enjoys top music education: Aristo Sham
Aristo Sham said music teaching in Hong Kong is among the best in the world. Photo courtesy of the Cliburn Competition website.
Hong Kong pianist Aristo Sham says he is honoured to put Hong Kong on the global culture map by showing the world that the city is able to cultivate high-level artists.
The remark came after Sham won the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, a top classical music contest held every four years in the United States.
Speaking at a virtual press conference on Thursday, Sham described the competition as the 'end-game' for him.
'It's one of these competitions that really set you up for life. Whatever you want to do in your career, if you win a prize, it really gives you such an opportunity and also such a platform on a global scale,' he said.
Sham said music teaching in Hong Kong is among the best in the world.
'I would say that studying music in Hong Kong is at a very high level internationally. The music education, especially at a young age, in Hong Kong is really at the highest level globally, there are very few places that can provide as solid and as high level of a foundation,' he said.
Sham also said every musician and performer requires global exposure and knowledge from different cultures.
'It's great that Hongkongers have the opportunity to study overseas, and with the fact that they are able to have such a great foundation in Hong Kong, I think there are a lot of opportunities for success,' he said.
Sham thanked Hong Kong people for their support, saying he is glad to be able to perform in the city on August 30 as the first stop of a concert tour in Asia.
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Prior to her return in early 2023, she had not visited Hong Kong for more than three years. She said that, upon her return, she had to adapt to changes at home following the 2019 protests and the pandemic, despite having learned about the events in the news. 'I have received a lot of information through the internet, like how the government handled the pandemic and people's reactions and their moods. But knowing what happened is one thing, actually living it is another thing,' she told HKFP in Cantonese. It created a 'delay' in understanding Hong Kong's changes compared with her friends at home. 'This delay… is really uncomfortable, because you see yourself as part of the community,' she said. That experience was akin to a 'reality check,' Chung said, citing Ah Yuen's line in the script. 'When [Ah Yuen] returned, she had to observe what was happening in Hong Kong,' Chung said. 'From my reading of the character, she felt powerless to react when the reality hit her.' Chan, the playwright, wanted to capture the stark conflict between people who stay and those who leave. He created the character of Taai-co, played by actor Caroline Chan, who left Hong Kong in hopes of reuniting with Ah Yuen in Europe. But Taai-co was left alone on a foreign continent because of Ah Yuen's return to Hong Kong. A freedom-loving spirit, Taai-co went on the journey alone, but slowly realised her roots as a Hongkonger. The two best friends appear to represent the two groups of Hongkongers – those leaving and those staying. Ah Yuen and Taai-co 'cannot be easily separated, but they also cannot candidly communicate, as both of them are carrying intense emotions,' the playwright said. Flowing Warblers 2.0 The five-night performance of Flowing Warblers last year sparked a rare debate in Hong Kong about the recent exodus and the city's diaspora. In a widely discussed review, playwright Yan Pat-to opined that Flowing Warblers had failed to capture the reality of Hong Kong's diaspora, but also pointed to a mutual misunderstanding among people as the root cause of such failure. 'The people staying in Hong Kong cannot imagine the predicament of those who have left. Likewise… those who have left appeared equally incapable of understanding the situation of those who stayed,' Yan wrote in the Chinese-language review. Asked about this mutual misunderstanding, Chan said it is inevitable that any artistic work cannot represent the full range of human experience. What he wanted to achieve, he said, was to provide the audience with an opportunity to see things differently. 'I think my strategy to write about different characters and their stances is to allow the audience a shift in perspectives, subconsciously,' he said. For the re-run this month, with the play named Flowing Warbler 2.0, Chan and his crew have incorporated what they found missing in the play last year, enriching the details of each storyline. He also hoped the West Kowloon performance, which will open on July 12 and run for seven nights, could spark further interest in the Hong Kong diaspora. It was a pity that last year's debate was short-lived, he said, adding there have been fewer outlets for people to engage in the discussion. Reflecting on Hong Kong's current creative environment, Chan acknowledges there has been uncertainty about 'taboos,' and that playwrights and artists alike have diverted their energy to writing about matters 'skilfully.' 'Frankly speaking, a lot of things could be banned instantly nowadays. But I think there should be a devotion to pushing the boundary and to continuing writing about matters, especially those important to our society,' he said.
