One of Canada’s most exciting young pianists, Avan Yu achieved international recognition when he triumphed at the Sydney International Piano Competition in 2012, winning First Prize along with nine special awards. He has performed extensively throughout Europe, North America, Asia and Australia and at venues such as the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Koerner Hall in Toronto, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Philharmonie in Berlin, the Salle Cortot in Paris and the Sydney Opera House.
Recent engagements include Ravel's Concerto for the Left Hand with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, Rachmaninov Piano Concerto no. 3 with the Kingston Symphony (Canada), Rachmaninov Piano Concerto no. 2 with the Regina Symphony Orchestra, Hans Abrahamsen Left, Alone (Canadian Premiere) with Toronto’s Esprit Orchestra, Beethoven Piano Concerto no. 1 with the Kamloops Symphony and the KSHG Orchester Muenster and solo recitals in Auckland, Sydney and Melbourne.
In Germany, he has performed at festivals such as the Rheingau Music Festival, Heidelberger Frühling, Kissinger Sommer and Ruhr Klavierfestival, and for the President and the Bundestag President of Germany. His latest recording of Liszt's Transcriptions of Schubert's Winterreise and Schwanengesang, released by Naxos, won positive reviews from critics at Gramophone magazine, American Record Guide, Fono Forum, among others.
Gui Li has been studying the violin since she was five with her grandfather as her very first violin teacher. She made enormous improvements after a major training at Wuhan Conservatory of Music (Middle School Section) and won the Second Prize at the National Violin Competition in the Mainland and the Best Performance of a Chinese Composition for solo violin. She then gained a Bachelor’s Degree from The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (APA) with a full scholarship and became a Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Orchestral Fellow of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra in 2006.
Gui Li is an active musician both inside and outside school. Besides taking part in different school concerts and solo recitals, she has also joined different local orchestras and participated in various masterclasses by world-renowned violinists and teachers, such as Joseph Silverstein, Charles Castleman, Lin Cho-liang and Kurt Sassmannshaus. Also, she was the recipient of a number of scholarships from the APA, including the Chan Chung-On Violin Performance Merit Award, The Academy Non-Local Scholarship, Duchess of Kent International Scholarship and The Dorset Foundation Weinrebe and Hosier Scholarship. Moreover, she led a quartet to tour Thailand, as representatives of the APA.
Currently Second Associate Concertmaster of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, Wang Joined the orchestra in 2008.
During his school days Wang twice won First Prize in the violin competition at Shenyang. In 2004 he was awarded a full scholarship to study at the Central Conservatory of Music under renowned Professor Lin Yaoji. While still a student he was appointed Concertmaster for various orchestras and music festivals, including the Shenyang Music Conservatory Youth Orchestra, China Youth Symphony Orchestra, the orchestra of the 1st and 2nd Canton international Summer Music Academy, and the orchestra of for the opening concert of the 6th Music Festival organized by the Central Conservatory of Music. In summer 2007 he joined a music academy directed by Maestro Seiji Ozawa, who highly praised Wang’s performance, leading to tour performances across Japan as concertmaster. In 2008 Wang was invited to attend the Pacific Music Festival in Japan.
An active soloist, Wang has made a number of concerto appearances including performances with the HK Phil, Shenyang Symphony Orchestra, Central Conservatory Of Music Orchestra, Shaanxi Symphony Orchestra and Shanghai Summer Music Festival.
In 2021 May, he played the solo in The Red Violin at the Le French May arts festival movie in-concert. In October, he was invited by The Chopin Society of Hong Kong — Joy Of Music Festival 2021 to perform Saint-Saëns violin concerto and La Muse et le Poète with HKPhil. Recently he finished his own online recording project of the 24 Caprices by N. Paganini.
Wang Liang plays a 1788 Joseph Gagliano violin, donated by The Ladies Committee of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Society.
Yu Sun, born in 1983 in Shanghai, is the first Chinese violist to have worked at Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, he also served as Principal Violist at Gerwandhausorchester Leipzig, Basel Symphony Orchestra and Hong Kong Phil. From 2023 he will be the principal violist at renowned Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich.
Sun studied at Shanghai Conservatory of Music and at Escuela Superior de Musica Reina Sofia in Madridt, before he continued his studies in Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin under the tutelage of Professor Tabea Zimmermann. He received Master Degree of Music and Konzertexamen (Doctor’s Degree).
Between 2007-2009, he worked at Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra with world leading conductors and toured throughout Europe. Sun served in Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra as a viola tutti since 2010 before he entered Basel Symphony Orchestra in Switzerland as principal viola in Jan 2013. Sun also played as guest principal viola at the Hamburg State Opera/Hamburg Philharmonic Orchestra.
As a soloist, Sun performed with the China National Centre for Performing Arts Orchestra and the Berlin Concert Hall Orchestra.
Sun coached Asian Youth Orchestra between 2016 and 2018.
Richard Bamping has been Principal Cellist of the HK Phil since 1993. He has performed with many of the finest musicians of recent history — Lord Yehudi Menuhin, Leonidas Kavakos, Mstislav Rostropovich, Carlo Maria Guilini, Valery Gergiev, Leonard Bernstein, Lorin Maazel, Sir Colin Davis and Claudio Abbado, to name but a few.
Bamping has performed many of the staples of the solo cello repertoire with orchestras from Europe to the Far East. He has a great passion for playing chamber music with friends and colleagues whenever he gets the chance.
Bamping's cello, dated 1674 was made in Cremona by Andrea Guarneri and is one of only nine surviving examples of his work.