Violinist picks up the baton in Vietnam after 37 years with Hong Kong orchestra
Fan Ting, who has been with Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra since 1972, will take up role of chief conductor of Saigon Philharmonic Orchestra
A loss for Hong Kong of the last founding member of the city’s flagship orchestra is a gain for Vietnam.
Fan Ting, a violinist with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra since 1972, will take up a new role as chief conductor of the Saigon Philharmonic Orchestra in Ho Chi Minh City.
“It will be a new chapter for me after 37 concert seasons as an orchestra player,” Fan, who quit Hong Kong Phil this month, told the Post.
“The Saigon orchestra of some 50 musicians is almost like Hong Kong Phil 40 years ago, with excellent players trained in France and Russia, but the group needs ensembleship to play together with articulation. That is the area I hope to contribute to.”
Born in Guangzhou, Fan, a violin prodigy, swam to Hong Kong in 1972 and studied under Lim Kek-tjiang, a violin master and then conductor of Hong Kong Phil. Lim named his young protege assistant concertmaster two years before the orchestra turned professional in 1974.
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