21 December 2012

Dear all,

I am writing on behalf of the Foundation to express our sincere gratitude for your support in the past year. Thank you for attending our events, and telling your friends, families and colleagues about our work.

2012 has been a fruitful year for us. The Foundation has vigorously pursued a multi-faceted approach in making an impact on classical music, and has launched various initiatives aimed at building audiences, encouraging the creation of new musical works, and supporting new artists. We have achieved many milestones, many of which could have been accomplished without the dedication, enthusiasm, and commitment of our Directors and Executive Committee Members. A special mention goes Winnie Tam, Edmond Cheuk, Felix Tham, Chuifun Poon, Sunny Kang, Yang Ge Fang and April Chao for their contribution and hard work.

Nurturing the next generation of classical musicians
We sponsored the Junior 1st Prize sponsor of the Menuhin Violin Competition in Beijing in April 2011 and co-hosted the Showcase of the Menuhin Competition Oslo 2010 Winners Concert. We also organized a discussion session with the audience in the concert hall of the Middle School of the Central Conservatory of Music, which attracted over 800 students and parents. We would like to take this opportunity to thank the 2010 competition winners, Yu Xiang and Kerson Leong, for their superb performances, as well as their parents, who shared their experience in raising their talented children with the audience. We are also very grateful to Mr Zhang Qing Hai and his company, Cadenza, for sponsoring the discussion event.

Opening premier learning opportunities to all
We launched the inaugural violin master-class on 8 January 2012 in collaboration with Premiere Performances of Hong Kong (PPHK) and the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts (HKAPA), as part of the 3rd Hong Kong International Chamber Music Festival (HKICMF). Cho Liang Lin, Artistic Director of HKICMF, presided over the performances of four talented young violinists selected by the Foundation to receive the Lin Yao Ji Master-Class Scholarships. Professor Lin offered guidance to each of the four players, ranging from technical instructions to suggestions on musical interpretation to phrasing, in the presence of an audience of nearly 100 observers.

Internationally renowned cellist Desmond Hoebig also gave a cello master-class on 14 January 2012. Four talented young cellists were awarded the Lin Yao Ji Master-class Scholarships and received valuable instructions from Mr Hoebig. The event was well attended by local students and music lovers. Special thanks go to Ms Sunny Kang, a member of our Executive Committee, who generously offered her residence as the master-class venue.

1st Lin Yao Ji International Competition for Composition
We successfully organized the 1st Lin Yao Ji International Competition for Composition on 1 July 2012. We are extremely grateful to Members of the Competition’s Adjudication Panel – Professors Chen Yi, Victor Chan and Steven Stucky, who all worked very hard to study and evaluate the large number of entries received. A total of 67 pieces submitted from all over the world, and the works were judged without the names or origin of the composers being known to the adjudicators to ensure a fair result. The panel chose three winners and awarded another three honorary mentions. We gratefully acknowledge the generous donation of the prizes for the winner in each of the 3 categories by the China Foundation, Giver Trust and Mr Scott Shu Kun Cao respectively, and for their continued support of our causes.

Other projects – community outreach initiatives
As part of its music education initiative, the Foundation partnered with a newly established youth-led initiative “Project DISCOVER” and held a successful fund-raising concert in August 2012. Project DISCOVER aims to bring chamber music to a wider community by presenting interactive educational performances of chamber music in openly accessible venues. All proceeds generated from the concert have been ear-marked for forthcoming projects co-organized by Project DISCOVER and the Foundation, with a view to broadening the reach of chamber music in Hong Kong.

Way forward
We hope to ride on the success of 2012 and continue further developing our programs and initiatives in the coming year, in order to deliver a stronger impact on our target beneficiaries. Your support will again be critical in determining our work in 2013.

I wish all of you Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!

With best wishes,

Lin Wei 林蔚
Chairman 主席

Downloadable version available here.