Music helped youngsters like Sun Yim find purpose in life, and now they'll pay that forward by playing in the HKGNA concert series
Sun Yim and other young musicians will showcase their talents at the Hong Kong Generation Next Arts' music festival.Sunday will mark the start of the Hong Kong Generation Next Arts (HKGNA) charity's first-ever music festival.
The concerts will showcase a wide variety of genres, ranging from classical to Canto-pop, jazz and a cappella.
The guests will be equally diverse, including such names as cellist Myung Wha Chung, violinist Chee-yun and Canto-pop star Kay Tse.
With an array of different musicians sharing the same stage with new, emerging artists, the festival looks set to deliver on its promise of diversity, community and social harmony.
These young stars have overcome disadvantaged backgrounds and changed their lives through music.
The charity's Musical Angels programme works with underprivileged youth to inspire and change their lives through music. The concerts are a chance for these young people to perform at a large event and set themselves among a larger constellation of world stars.
HKGNA founder and artistic director Michelle Kim says: "To be able to play music and inspire, uplift and entertain audiences is such a gift, and really meant for sharing and bringing joy to others."
Pianist Sun Yim, from St Stephen's Society, is a great example of the power of the Musical Angels programme.
When he joined he was already 21 and he had no musical experience. Now, at 25, he plays piano at major events across the city.
"Music has given me passion and purpose for life. It's helped me to be a more focused and disciplined person," he says. For him, the best part of the upcoming festival is sharing the stage with some of the world's greatest artists and being able to share his music with the audience.
Another performer, pianist Warren Lee, winner of the Ten Outstanding Young Persons Award in Hong Kong in 2012, agrees: "To be able to make great music with such internationally renowned artists has to be at the top of my list."
But that's not the only benefit, he says. He's especially happy that the musicians will be doing it all for charity. "It always gives us, performers, an extra incentive and a higher purpose, to better the world through the arts."
Kim believes concerts will also inspire audiences by making classical music more accessible.
The festival comprises four main shows. The opening gala on Sunday at the Jockey Club Amphitheatre of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts is a collaboration of artists from around the world, playing mainly classical music. Cello, piano and violin are the order of the day.
On Tuesday, the same venue will stage Breaking Boundaries, a fusion of classical, jazz, a cappella and Canto-pop. The show will feature Tse, as well as Musical Angels' Lee Hin, and Lee Shing, from the Art with the Disabled Association, who shows even visual impairment cannot stop someone with a passion for music.
The free Family Christmas Concert on December 7 at the HKAPA Concert Hall has proven incredibly popular, as all tickets for the performance of holiday jingles have already been snapped up.
The festival will wrap up that evening with Stars of Today and Tomorrow, also at the HKAPA Concert Hall, where young artists will once again share the stage with established performers in a collaboration of youth and experience.
Enter the Young Post HKGNA competition to win tickets to the music festival!