Hong Kong pianist hits right note for home-grown talent
Talent is a precious commodity in the search for drivers of economic growth, and Hong Kong is at the forefront when it comes to competing for the gifted. Its talent admission schemes attract tens of thousands of new residents on initial visas. As well as being a magnet for talents, it is nice for the city to be seen to nurture those of its own.
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An example is Hong Kong pianist Aristo Sham Ching-tao, who has just won the 2025 edition of the prestigious Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, putting him on track for global stardom.
Sham, 29, is the first pianist from the city to win the event, named after a famous American pianist and held once every four years in Fort Worth in the US state of Texas.
Sham started on the piano at three with his mother, a piano teacher, at home in Hong Kong and began competing internationally at 10 while attending Diocesan Boys' School and studying at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts.
One thing that sets him apart as a talent is that he chose subjects other than music when he studied at London's Harrow School, before moving to the United States, where he graduated from Harvard University with an economics degree and a Master of Music from the New England Conservatory.
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Sham already tours extensively, playing with the London Symphony Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic and the English Chamber Orchestra among others. One of his teachers at the arts academy, Professor Eleanor Wong, said his achievement would inspire the next generation of young musicians from the city.
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