The City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong (CCOHK) was founded in Hong Kong in 1999 and is one of Asia’s leading

chamber orchestra Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numbe ...

s. Members are professional musicians experienced in playing a diverse range of styles from early music to tango, Bollywood and jazz.

Background

CCOHK was founded in 1999 by oboist Leanne Nicholls, who is also the artistic director. It is known for having a very large repertoire spanning many different styles. French conductor Jean Thorel served as chief conductor from 2008 to 2016. Previous and current guest conductors include Anthony Inglis,

Philip Walsh Philip, also Phillip, is a male given name, derived from the Greek language, Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominent Philip ...

, Nicholas Routley, Peter Leech,

Richard Honner Richard St John Honner (30 November 1897 – 10 November 1962) was an Australian surgeon, gynaecologist, obstetrician and an Olympic athlete. He competed in the men's 400 metres and the long jump at the 1924 Summer Olympics. Early life an ...

, Richard Harvey, Lorenzo Colitto (guest concertmaster),

Vahan Mardirossian Vahan Mardirossian (born 26 May 1975, in Yerevan) is an Armenian pianist and conductor. Life Settled in Paris in 1993, Mardirossian entered the Conservatoire de Paris in Jacques Rouvier's piano class, and was also admitted in Jean Mouillère's ...

, Colin Touchin, Nicholas Cleobury and Jonathan Berman. City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong is in high demand with performing engagements for Hong Kong Ballet,

Le French May French May Arts Festival (藝術節) is an annual arts festival organized by the Association Culturelle France - Hong Kong Limited to promote French art and culture. Events include visual arts, operas, classical and contemporary dance, music and ...

Arts Festival, RTHK Radio 4, the

World Harp Congress The World Harp Congress is a private nonprofit organization founded in 1981 as an outgrowth of the International Harp Weeks held in The Netherlands for twenty years under the leadership of Phia Berghout and Maria Korchinska. The organization ...

, the Hong Kong Contemporary Music Festival and the Hong Kong International Piano Competition. Since 1999 the orchestra has performed with many world-class artists including Sir James Galway, Dame Evelyn Glennie,

Dame Emma Kirkby Dame Carolyn Emma Kirkby, (; born 26 February 1949) is an English soprano and early music specialist. She has sung on over 100 recordings. Education and early career Kirkby was educated at Hanford School, Sherborne School for Girls in Dorse ...

, Sir Thomas Allen,

Christian Lindberg Christian Lindberg (born 15 February 1958) is a Swedish trombonist, conductor and composer, Biography Early life and career Lindberg was born in Danderyd. As a youth, he learned to play the trumpet, and subsequently began to learn the trombone ...

Sarah Chang Sarah Chang ( ko, 장영주; born Young Joo Chang; December 10, 1980) is a Korean American classical violinist. Recognized as a child prodigy, she first played as a soloist with the New York Philharmonic and the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1989. Sh ...

, Mario Brunello, Julian Lloyd Webber, Edgar Meyer,

Branford Marsalis Branford Marsalis (born August 26, 1960) is an American saxophonist The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed inst ...

Richard Galliano Richard Galliano (born 12 December 1950, Cannes, Alpes-Maritimes) is a French accordionist of Italian heritage. Allmusic biography/ref> Biography He was drawn to music at an early age, starting with the accordion at 4, influenced by his father ...

Sir Neville Marriner Sir Neville Marriner, (15 April 1924 – 2 October 2016) was an English violinist and "one of the world's greatest conducting, conductors". Gramophone (magazine), Gramophone lists Marriner as one of the 50 greatest conductors and another com ...

The King’s Singers The King's Singers are a British a cappella vocal ensemble founded in 1968. They are named after King's College in Cambridge, England, where the group was formed by six choral scholars. In the United Kingdom, their popularity peaked in the 19 ...

The Swingles The Swingles are a vocal group. The Swingle Singers originally formed in 1962 in Paris, France under the leadership of Ward Swingle. In 1973, Swingle disbanded the French group, and formed an English group known initially as Swingle II and late ...

and

Kirill Troussov Kirill Troussov (born ) in Saint Petersburg, is a German violinist and violin teacher based in Munich, Germany. Career Kirill Troussov began playing the violin at the age of four and was taught by Irina Etigon at the Saint Petersburg Conservat ...

. In addition to hosting masterclasses, workshops and soirées for kids, CCOHK has conceived, scripted and produced its own highly successful orchestral-theatre programmes aimed at engaging and educating children in Hong Kong. These include Magnificent Mozart, The Star Bach and Bug Symphony which won the Public Choice Award at the YAMawards in Portugal 2017.

Tour

CCOHK has performed in Taipei, Italy and China at historical locations such as the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing and the San Filippo Teatro in L'Áquila (since devastated by earthquake). In 2018, CCOHK was invited to perform at the 20th China Shanghai International Arts Festival.

Recordings

Recordings include a CD featuring the world premiere of Richard Harvey's Concerto Incantanto with Danish recorder virtuoso Michala Petri on OUR Recordings.

References

Notes

"More About the Chief Conductor." City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong. 27 Nov. 2008

"The MUSICIANS." City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong. 27 Nov. 2008

External links