– Little Kids Jazz World – an Adventure to the Musica Palace! –

@Charlotte Lam

Ng Cheuk-yin | Artistic Director, Composer & Arranger

Ng Cheuk-yin is a composer, music producer, sheng performer and a cappella artist.

Ng is the artistic director of the Yat Po Singers, the first artist associate of the Hong Kong Sinfonietta and music director of the fusion band SIU2. After receiving a post-graduate degree from the Department of Music at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, he went on to study Japanese at the International Christian University in Tokyo and jazz music at Codarts University for the Arts in the Netherlands.

In 2012, Ng received the award for Best Artist from the Hong Kong Arts Development Council. In 2009 and 2013, he won Best Serious Composition in the CASH Golden Sail Music Awards for the theatrical choral concert Rock Hard and the double sheng concerto Before the City Collapses respectively. His choral work Singing Voices of the World was twice awarded the CASH Golden Sail Most Performed Works (Serious Music) Award, in 2014 and 2019. Ng also received the “My Favourite Song” award at the 2018 Ultimate Song Chart Awards Presentation.

Ng’s major orchestral works include the sheng concerto for Chinese orchestra The Seventh Month, the drum-set concerto Fly, the Chinese orchestral work Tang Resonating and the Chinese percussion concerto White.

Other compositions by Ng include music for the dance drama L’Amour immortel, Lady White of West Snake and Di Zi Gui; music for the concert Herbal, Vocal or Motional?, a crossover collaboration between the Yat Po Singers and the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra; and the Yat Po Singers’ productions Requiem HK, Pica Pica Choose, This Victoria Has No Secrets, and Sing Sang Sung. Other genre types include the film score for the McDull movie, Pork of Music; choral works Before We Grow Up, Voices of the World, Music of Love and Ears in Heaven; and pop songs Meet Or Not To Meet and Under the Cherry Blossom Tree by Hins Cheung and Can’t Get Happy by Eason Chan.

Jarita Wan | Original Text & Lyricist

Graduated from the Music Department of The Chinese University of Hong Kong and receiving her Master degree for Creative Writing at The University of Hong Kong, Jarita starred in her musical debut in ActorsFamily’s The Passage Beyond in 2009 and had received wide recognition. She toured around Hong Kong, Macau and Guangzhou for this production for 8 years, including the Musical in Concert with The Hong Kong Sinfonietta and its Decca Records soundtrack recording, where SCMP described her voice as “beguiling”.

She portrayed the leads in Hong Kong and Macau musicals including West Kowloon Cultural District X Hong Kong Repertory Theatre musical The Great Pretender; Actors Family’s A Tale of The Southern Sky, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, A Lesson I Learnt in Bangkok, Beyond Paradise, Woman In Kenzo; Macau Cultural Centre’s Sing High Musical; Brotherhood Theatre’s Off-Broadway classic The Fantasticks; The Only Stage’s The Happy Prince, Dogs; iStage’s Off-Key Buddies, Murder Code D; TheatreNoir’s Animal Farm and HK3AMI’s Ephémère. She has staged her own musical The Nightingale, being the music director, playwright, composer, lyricist and lead performer for it, and was nominated at The 29th Hong Kong Drama Awards for “Best Leading Actress” (Comedy/Farce) and “Best Original Score” (Musical Theatre). She also participated in numerous concerts and has been vocal coaching many productions.

Her concert works includes LCSD’s The Originals Reimagined; East District Council’s East Side Story; Ponte Singers & Orchestra’s A Musical Night; Hong Kong Sinfonietta’s Leon Ko: The Amazing Filmphony, Mcdull in Concert; Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra’s Disney 90th Anniversary Concert; Prudence Lau’s Karma Camelion Concert etc. Jarita has also vocal coached productions include Chung Ying Theatre’s A Christmas Message, The Only Stage’s The Only King 2, Dogs; Theatre Noir’s Animal Farm Musical, Thirteen etc.

Apart from the stage, Jarita participated in the Guangzhou television series The Best Is Yet To Come (Season 4) as the supporting actress. She sang the Cantonese theme for movie Monster Hunt and she voiced for the leads in animations including Sherlock Gnomes 2, SING, The Ice Age series, Cinderella, The LEGO Movie series, Smurf 2, Mirror Mirror and The Lorax. Besides, Jarita also sang for commercial themes including Darlie, Merci and Trolli.

Jarita co-founded Theatre Hikari, advocating performing arts education for schools and charity organizations. She is currently a freelance performing, creative and educative artist, residing in Barcelona.

Kylie Choy | Singer

Kylie is an all-rounded artist and educator. Her debut jazz singing started in Beijing with Beijing Big Band, then she sings and emcees for Saturday Jazz Orchestra, Hong Kong Youth Jazz Orchestra and Happy Go Lucky Big Band in Hong Kong for various events including Shenzhen Fringe Festival, Hong Kong Summer Jazz Festival, Swing Messenger, Hong Kong Youth Big Band Festival and Harbourside Swing Festival,etc..

In 2018,Kylie was one of the featured emerging jazz artists of the jazz festival –Jazz go Central Jazz go Fringe curated by Hong Kong Fringe Club together with her 6 piece jazzified Canto-pop band – Gwat6 Koeng5. She received an interview by The Works (RTHK) with some musicians, and the closing mega concert of the festival was produced as a jazz educational material which was distributed to secondary schools in Hong Kong. Kylie was also featured in Spotlight in Penang (HKFC) performing with Malaysian jazz musicians. Others include Jazz for Kids ( Hong Kong Freespace Jazz Fest 2018 ) and Bop Head Flashmob – Fountain de Chopin ( Hong Kong Freespace Jazz Fest 2023 ).

Before Covid, she studied jazz voice in Thailand and performed with jazz cats in Thailand International Jazz Festival 2020 and Krabi Naga Festival 2020. She was also one of the 9 finalists in the Thailand Jazz Competition.

Theatre performance includes : Isabel , Cabaret Des Années Folles ( Le French May, Hong Kong);The Three Postcards, Sunday in the Park with George ( Theatre Space, Hong Kong);Love Rose Letter (Prospects Theatre, Hong Kong); Educating Mad Persons ( Ryuzanji Company, Japan); Zeelandia- Return to Formosa (TPF x AM Creative, Taiwan); Little Sun (AM Creative, Taiwan); The First Leaf of Dreamsong ( Nancy Koh, Malaysia )

Kylie studied Voice Performance and Choreographic Theatre in Paris,  Voice Pedagogy Institute in Ryder University, and took Estill Voice Training. Apart from performing, Kylie is also enthusiastic in voice and performing arts education, she taught in various schools for musical theatre and vocal programs, musical theatre camps in Taiwan and Macau. Besides private vocal coaching in jazz and other genres, Kylie also coaches in public speaking for corporate executives, cumulative students exceeding 500.

She was a bi-lingual TV presenter for music and cultural programs and singer for various TV commericals- SONY,Panasonic, Genki Sushi, Nestle and Ulferts. Kylie is also a passionate swing and blues dancer.

Jessica Fung | Dizi Player

With over 15 years of experience in jazz guitar, Vincent is one of the raising stars in the local music scene. Vincent has developed his own style and technique, which won him various awards including the Best Guitarist Award in the Caritas Music Competition (2005 and 2007).

Embarking on his career as a full-time musician, he has performed with famous musicians and musical groups including II Divo, Ted Lo, AGA, Cy Leo, Moon Haewon (former vocalist of Winterplay), the City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong, Yin Ng, Robynn Yip (Robynn and Kendy), and Patrick Tang. He also took part in Cy Leo’s project “Lost in Time” in 2018. Besides working with different artists, he has formed his own band Fusion Pig, which focuses on fusion and original pieces. He is also popular in performing at wedding banquets and private events.

As an acclaimed music educator, Vincent has been teaching guitar and ukulele for over 10 years at international schools / institutions such as Harrow International School, French International School, Yew Chung International School and German Swiss International School, as well as conducting private lessons for students of all ages and with different cultural backgrounds.

His teaching philosophy is student-oriented and focuses on the enjoyment of music, history and development of music, techniques on practicing/ performing and processlearning. With a 2 year-old son, He fully understands the importance of teaching children with patience and love, and nurturing them with music. Also, He performs with his students sometimes in student concerts and events, such as with a student ukulele group with different ages to let students get more hands-on experience and grow more interest.

Keith Yeung | Erhu Player

Yeung received the Bachelor of Music (Honours) Degree at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, majoring in gaohu and erhu receiving the training under Professor Yu Qiwei and Zhang Chongxue and was awarded the Cecil Leong Scholarship and K K Chak Memorial Scholarship. He performed with the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra as a soloist for four times.

Yeung aims to promote Cantonese Music culture, including Cantonese Opera, narrative singing and instrumental music. He learned Cantonese opera accompaniment under Tsang Kinman, and started playing the role of ensemble leader when he was 14 as one of the youngest ensemble leaders in Hong Kong. He was once invited by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the People’s Republic of China to perform in Beijing.

In past few years, Yeung also created and premiered several compositions including namyaam(Cantonese narrative singing) “Sahā World”, “Today”, and “Hua-yen Buddhaverse”; Cantonese Opera medley “Splendid young voices”, Suite for Chinese music ensemble “Lotus”.

Yeung formed a Cantonese music band “TroVessional” with four young musicians, and won the gold award in the Nanyang International Music Competition (ensemble division). The band receives subsidies from several government organisations, including Leisure and Cultural Services Department, Hong Kong Art Development Council and Intangible Cultural Heritage Office to curate events and promote Cantonese Music culture.

Cheng Ming Sum | Arranger & Keyboardist

Cheng performed with North Carolina A&T State University Jazz Ensemble in different concerts and events in the US, under the direction of Professor Mondre Moffett. He also performed with different artists and music groups in Fringe Dairy, 1563 at the East, Hong Kong Arts Centre, Hong Kong International Airport, Freespace Jazz Fest., etc., in Hong Kong.

Cheng participates in various ensemble groups, like Happy-Go-Lucky Big Band, the 5422 Collective, Patrick Lui Jazz Orchestra , a Jazz Funk band Soulmates, Jazz Trio Setamluos, a keyboard band the Keyboard Guys and popular music band RE!VO. Cheng had his big band compositions world premiere twice by the 5422 Collective in Fringe Dairy. Cheng studied jazz piano with Ted Lo, Patrick Lui, bass guitar with Wong Tak Chung and saxophone with Jeffrey Chan Chung Ho and Dr. Kenneth Ruff. In recent years, he participated in various concert productions, such as Rubberband world tour 2023, Disney in Concert, Jazz Diva: Ella Fitzgerald by HKPhil 2023, Hong Kong Pop Culture Festival 2023. He is now producing his first re-arranging jazz hymn album, “SOUP”, with several active jazz musicians in Hong Kong, including Patrick Lui, Wong Tak Chung, Tsui Chin Hung and Wong Ka Ho.

Cheng is a pianist, bassist, registered public school music teacher, song arranger and guest tutor of Alliance Bible Seminary, obtaining ATCL Saxophone with Distinction.  Cheng graduated from Master of Christian Studies (majoring in Praise & Worship) in Alliance Bible Seminary and Bachelor of Education (Honours) (Music) in the Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK), majoring in Jazz Piano, minoring in clarinet & flute.

Almond Yeung | Drummer

Born in Hong Kong, Almond involves in all parts of local music industry. During his drumming profession in Hong Kong, Almond has performed actively with the most renowned local jazz artists including Eugene Pao, Ted Lo, Orlando Bonzi, Tsang Tak Hong etc.  He is also a member of a renowned Hong Kong jazz band “In One Stroke” and they have launched their first recordings in 2016. Almond also involved in a large ensemble Shaolin Fez which is leading by a group of Hong Kong philharmonic Orchestra players and had performed at Clockenflap festival in 2012. In recent years, Almond has performed in a hit TV show “I am not a star” in China and has featured in an Asian TV show “Just Jazz”.

Besides, Almond has worked as a guest lecturer at HKIed and teaches drum set regularly at secondary schools and universities.

Programme

The Musica Palace (回憶音樂宮) (Original Song)
Spinning Around the Chrysanthemum Garden (氹氹轉菊花園)
Muo Li Hua (Jasmine Flower) (茉莉花)
Little School Boy (讀書郎)
Over the Snow for Wintersweet Flowers (踏雪尋梅)
Dance of Youth (青春舞曲)
Bright Moonlight (月光光)
May We Be Blessed With Longetivity (但願人長久)
Carousel Spin Spin Spin (木馬轉轉轉) (Original Song)

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