Crowdfunding Project (September 2020-April 2021)

Project summary

In search of pipe organs and their communities in Hong Kong

• The goal of this documentary project, to be produced by Concerto da Camera, a registered charity in Hong Kong, is to increase public awareness and appreciation of our heritage, our history, our arts, and our culture. 
• The documentary will bring the public to visit two churches that have a long history: 1) S.K.H. Holy Carpenter Church in Hung Hom, established since 1954, and 2) S.K.H. St. Paul’s Church in Central, built in 1911.
• The documentary will explore the history of the churches, their communities, and their pipe organs built by Nicholson & Co. (Holy Carpenter Church) and W.C. Blackett (St. Paul’s Church), which are of local and regional importance. 
• European music from the 16thto 18thcenturies will be performed by the ensemble.
• The documentary will also premiere a newly commissioned piece for solo organ composed and performed by Hong Kong composer and organist, Erma Lee Wai Shan.
• The documentary will be released across multiple episodes on platforms such as Youtube and Facebook.

Why support this project?

• As a small-scale non-profit organisation with no regular funding, Concerto da Camera, now in its 16thyear, relies on public support to fulfill its mission to promote arts and culture. Highlights of its recent activities include establishing the 1st Hong Kong Early Music Festival (2019) and being shortlisted for the 2019 Top 20 Classical Music News at RTHK Radio 4.
• Your support is needed to rebuild community spirit, and to sustain arts and cultural programmes during these challenging times, where in-person events are suspended with no foreseeable resuming date due to the pandemic.
• Community involvement is the power to raise awareness to local treasures and history. There are only very few churches here that have a playable pipe organ!
• This is a meaningful way to show your support of Hong Kong artists and their creation!

How the fund will be used?

Your donations will be used for all costs associated with this project, including pre-production, production, and post-production expenditures, as well as honoraria for artists and crew.

Contribute any amount

Any pledge amount will be gratefully accepted.

Rewards to supporters:

• HK$500
  • One HK$50 coupon for purchasing Concerto da Camera ’s event ticket in 2021-2023. A coupon can be applied to one ticket only. 
• HK$800
  • Two HK$50 coupons for purchasing Concerto da Camera’s event tickets in 2021-2023. A coupon can be applied to one ticket only. 
• HK$1500
  • Four HK$50 coupons for purchasing Concerto da Camera’s event tickets in 2021-2023. A coupon can be applied to one ticket only. 
• HK$4000
  • Four HK$50 coupons for purchasing Concerto da Camera’s event tickets in 2021-2023. A coupon can be applied to one ticket only. 
  • *A complimentary 45-minute video recording service for your music performance. Limited quota; first come first serve.
• HK$5000
• Five HK$50 coupons for purchasing Concerto da Camera’s event tickets in 2021-2023. A coupon can be applied to one ticket only. 
• *A complimentary 30-minute music lesson (in-person or online, live) with one of our performers. (Lesson choices are piano, organ, music theory, bassoon, or saxophone.) Limited quota; first come first serve.
• HK$6000
  • Six HK$50 coupons for purchasing Concerto da Camera’s event tickets in 2021-2023. A coupon can be applied to one ticket only. 
• *A complimentary 30-minute online, live vocal lesson with our singer. Limited quota; first come first serve.

*Please see Concerto da Camera Limited’s website for conditions.

Profile of CONCERTO DA CAMERA (Hong Kong)

Since its founding in 2004, Concerto da Camera has brought unique, innovative chamber music and arts programmes to audiences of all ages and backgrounds. Its programming strives to increase public interest in classical music, and to foster arts and culture. Its events have taken place in both traditional venues and new spaces, such as beautiful heritage sites, offering memorable experiences to the audience. Sponsors of its past projects include the Hong Kong Arts Development Council, Po Leung Kuk, Ming Pao, RTHK, and Alliance Française de Hong Kong. 

An advocate of new music, Concerto da Camera regularly commissions and performs works by living and Hong Kong composers, and has received multiple supports from the CASH Music Fund.  The organisation also collaborates with artists of disciplines outside music.

Visit www.concertodacamera.org

Concerto da Camera Limited is a registered charitable organization in Hong Kong.

Donations of HK$100 or above are tax deductible and a tax receipt will be issued.

About the artists:

Erma Lee Wai-shan 

Composer & Organist

Lee Wai-shan holds a B.Mus. (Hons.) from The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts and an M.A. in Music from the Hong Kong Baptist University, majoring in music composition and electronic music.  She studied composition with Clarence Mak, Lo Hau-man, Law Wing-fai and Christopher Keyes, and at the Internationales Musikinstitut Darmstadt New Music Festival. Her compositions have been performed in various occasions, including The International Society for Contemporary Music-Musicarama and Le French May. She studied piano with Hui Ling, and holds the Certificate of Piano Performance, Analysis and Pedagogy with distinction from the School of Professional and Continuing Education of The University of Hong Kong and the L.T.C.L. Diploma in Piano Performance. Lee won several prizes including first prize at the Hong Kong Music Competition for Young Pianists (2015) and second prize at the 17th Hong Kong-Asia Piano Open Competition (2012). Also interested in Western early music, she studied baroque basso continuo and improvisation with Sonia Lee.

A past recipient of the Mrs. Lily Pong Scholarship for Church Organists of Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui, Lee currently serves as one of the service organists at St. John's Cathedral and the Church of St. John the Baptist. She has performed at St. John's Cathedral, St. Paul's Church, at a concert organised by the Hong Kong Chapter of the American Guild of Organists at All Saints’ Cathedral, and in “Heavenly Handbells— Advent Evening Prayer” with the Hong Kong Handbell Academy at The Hong Kong Catholic Cathedral of The Immaculate Conception. She has participated in the International Organ Festival Haarlem in The Netherlands, the European Organ Academy in Leipzig, and the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Organ Performance Technique Workshops. Her compositions for organ, “Farewell at Weicheng” and “Variations on Great Are Thy Mercies,” were recently premiered at the Shenzhen Concert Hall and St Paul’s Church respectively. Lee has been studying organ with Wong Kin-yu since 2013.

Athene Mok Tsz Wai     Soprano

Hong Kong soprano Athene Tsz Wai Mok has performed in Taipei, the United States, Hong Kong, Toronto and Tel Aviv. She made her professional debut in Taipei in September, 2019 as the Ghost, the main character of the contemporary chamber opera Ghost Love by Dr. Chan Hing-yan. Her other operatic appearances include Poppea and Valletto in L’incoronazione di Poppea, La Fée in Cendrillon, Morgana in Alcina, Sister Constance in Dialogues of the Carmelites,and Despina in Cosi fan Tutte. She was a semi-finalist at the Classical Singer Vocal Competition, and a winner of the Jessie Kneisel Lieder Competition and a third-prize winner of the Friends of Eastman Opera Competition at the Eastman School of Music.  

An active concert soloist, Athene has made concert appearances including Bach’s Magnificat with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Haydn’s The Creation and Bach’s B minor Mass with the Eastman Philharmonia and Eastman Rochester Chorus, and Haydn’s Nicolaimessewith the Bucknell University Choir and Camerata. She is a doctoral candidate in Performance and Literature at the Eastman school of Music, with a minor in Historical Performance Practice. She received her Master of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music and Bachelor of Music degree from the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. 

Karen Yeung     Concerto da Camera’s Founder and Artistic Director

Bassoonist and dulcian player

Karen Yeung is the founder and artistic director of Concerto da Camera, an active professional chamber music ensemble in Hong Kong since 2004, and a co-founder of the Hong Kong Bassoon Academy, a school offering quality music education since 2010. Under her leadership and vision, Concerto da Camera offers unique, innovative chamber music programmes which promote public interest in classical music. 

Yeung graduated from the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts in 2001. She continued her studies on the modern bassoon at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam under Mr. Ronald Karten, Principal Bassoon of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, and on the baroque bassoon and early music performance studies under Ms. Donna Agrell, bassoonist of The Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century. She has participated in masterclasses given by renowned coaches and historical bassoonists, including Paolo Grazzi and Alberto Grazzi of Ensemble Zefiro (Italy), and Dominic Teresi of Tafelmusik (Canada). 

Ramond Richard

Videographer

Ramond Richard is a director at La Mer Media Production. With a decade of digital experience, he excels a variety of professional storytelling and shooting skills, and has helped companies to extend to a higher level of brand building in this fast pace and highly competitive digital world. His clients of digital marketing campaigns and corporate branding videos have included Lenovo, AIA, Chubb, and HAESL.