Victor Chan Wai-Kwong

Victor Chan received his PhD degree from the university of York (UK) where he studied from 1985 to 1988, under the British Council Scholarship and the British Commonwealth Scholarship. Over the years, Chan is celebrated as an active composer, conductor and contemporary music promoter. Apart from frequent local performances such as in the Hong Kong Arts Festival and the Musicarama International New music Festival, Chan’s works have been presented in many parts of the world and have represented Hong Kong on numerous international occasions including the Asian Composers’ League Festivals, at the UNESCO International Rostrum of Composers Conference (Paris), the International Composers Festival (the Netherlands), the York Festival and Mystery Plays (UK), the Pacific Music Festival (Sapporo), and the Stella Nova Tokyo Music Festival etc.

Chan is a prolific composer and has produced over 80 works to date. His compositions range from opera, orchestral works, to numerous chamber works, choral pieces and songs, may of which are published and released on CD. Important works by him in recent years include Symphonic Psalms in Three Parts (Choral Symphony for soloists, mass choir, and orchestra), Songs of Arial (opera in three acts), and Songs from ‘Shi-jing’ (song cycle for vocal ensemble). Most recently he concentrated himself in writing orchestral music and conducting their performances. In the last eighteen months, he produced five works for the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra alone. Following the premiere of Symphonic Prelude for Orchestra with Piano in January 1997, A Glimpse of Blue was taken on the Orchestra’s 1997 Beijng and Shanghai Tour in May. The more substantial 1997 Symphonic Fantasia ‘Hui’ represented a major work to mark the historic reunification of Hong Kong with China, while Fanfare for Orchestra was specially written for the 1997 WBF/IMF Annual Meetings, the first major international event held in the newly established HKSAR. His latest work From Within (in three movements) was premiered in July 1998 with great success.

Dr. Chan frequently appears as conductor in various concerts and has directed the premieres of many contemporary works. He was the conductor and artistic advisor of the 1992 Hong Kong Choral Festival. In recent years, he has conducted the performances of over 20 performing groups, orchestras, and choirs, both locally and overseas. He was the producer of several contemporary music series on the radio, including the weekly programme on Hong Kong Composers at RTHK-4 from 1993-96. Since 1993, he has been serving as vice-chairman of the Hong Kong Composers’ Guild.